I decided about 6 months into grade 12 that I wanted to move out of Brisbane and study elsewhere. If I was going to justify moving away from my friends and family it had to be somewhere that was the best. It is so motivating when everyone around you is trying their best, and I decided that the University of Melbourne was the best place for that.
Studying at University of Melbourne to me represented a reset of my life. Moving away from everyone and everything I knew feels like a new chapter in my life. The University’s location means that I can experience the city of Melbourne just 10 minutes’ walk away.
I originally intended to major in genetics and go into a career in genetic engineering, but after my first two semesters of chemistry I was hooked. It’s just so interesting studying everything at the smallest level possible without having to go into too much maths.
Studying was always just something that was expected of me and that was it. Now I’m studying exactly what I want to study and I find myself keen to go to lectures when a really good lecture series comes up. If you approach classes as something you’re interested in and not just a thing you “have to do” because of school, everything becomes so much more fun and interesting.
If I could give advice to a prospective student interested in doing science, it's that you should try a lot of subjects in first year. Don't just do random stuff but try subjects that you think you may be interested in or that are similar to what you think you want to do.
Don't avoid a certain subject because you think it might be hard. Pigeonholing yourself into a major fresh out of high school is a bad choice. Try out new things even if it’s on a whim and there's a slight chance you'll be surprised.