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burntcopperBeen reading a fair bit of Academia!fic recently, mostly SGA aus. Lots of people on my flist going on about uni life. And I'm sitting here going 'er, no, never did that, never experienced that, have no idea about that.'
Probably because I went to art college rather than normal uni. My further education had no seminars, no discussions, and few essays.
It mostly consisted of a few informal lectures, some with slides, that took place in studios with the lights turned off and the blinds drawn. I think we went to the lecture hall less than ten times in three years. Office hours weren't something talked of, you just grabbed the teacher when they were meandering around the college, or hopefully lurked in the studios to catch them. We spent a large amount of it taking photos and making art, with an even larger amount of time developing and printing. (photography is 20% taking photos, 80% printing) The occasional essay was written, and the occasional class was had, which were more like informal school classes than anything I've seen described. Old plastic chairs pulled into rows in a studio. Had a couple of dissertation meetings in the winter of our last year, since you do them early in art college, due to the last portion being taken over by the final show. I spent them bouncing and squeeing about the concepts and information in my head and getting gently steered towards the threads that would be relevant, and as my supervisor put it to my parents at the final show, 'I now know more about medieval warfare, battlefield practicalities and siege weapons than I ever wanted to know.'. Couple of assessments per year. No exams whatsoever, and due to it being photography, lots of having to get in at 8:30/9am to get equipment or turn up for a class, and staying late into the evening to keep printing.
In conclusion, I read academia fic and it's like a completely foreign world. My uni experience was very different from everyone else's.
Probably because I went to art college rather than normal uni. My further education had no seminars, no discussions, and few essays.
It mostly consisted of a few informal lectures, some with slides, that took place in studios with the lights turned off and the blinds drawn. I think we went to the lecture hall less than ten times in three years. Office hours weren't something talked of, you just grabbed the teacher when they were meandering around the college, or hopefully lurked in the studios to catch them. We spent a large amount of it taking photos and making art, with an even larger amount of time developing and printing. (photography is 20% taking photos, 80% printing) The occasional essay was written, and the occasional class was had, which were more like informal school classes than anything I've seen described. Old plastic chairs pulled into rows in a studio. Had a couple of dissertation meetings in the winter of our last year, since you do them early in art college, due to the last portion being taken over by the final show. I spent them bouncing and squeeing about the concepts and information in my head and getting gently steered towards the threads that would be relevant, and as my supervisor put it to my parents at the final show, 'I now know more about medieval warfare, battlefield practicalities and siege weapons than I ever wanted to know.'. Couple of assessments per year. No exams whatsoever, and due to it being photography, lots of having to get in at 8:30/9am to get equipment or turn up for a class, and staying late into the evening to keep printing.
In conclusion, I read academia fic and it's like a completely foreign world. My uni experience was very different from everyone else's.
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-16 06:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-16 08:15 am (UTC)So I can still somewhat related to these school!fics but only on a superficial level. My labs where fun. My lecturers allowed us to bring booze to class. My disseration appointments? They happened in pubs, when I happened to bump into my advisor (or once, rather famously, in the womens washroom...he being a he).
I never had to get up early though since the lower level students had full use of the lab until 1 pm. My final project was completely entirely between the hours of 10:30 pm and 5:00 am however.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-16 11:58 pm (UTC)*laughs* Nor mine. (There is an essay option for third year mathmos - History of Maths. I mention this just to have an excuse to quote from the utterly brilliant advice for mathmos on essay writing: "Unless you are very confident of your writing style, keep to short sentences, and straightforward constructions. Use words that you know you understand, and that are appropriate for a formal essay. Keep the grammar simple, and check your spelling, especially of proper names.")