Q&A: Student life

As you may know, I’m currently in my first year of university. Since I began sharing my blog with my followers on Tumblr, I have received quite a few questions in relation to my uni, my course and living in Melbourne. I’ve decided to post a few of my answers here for everyone to see and to help anyone who may have the same queries.

Q: If it isn’t to personal what uni do you go to and what is your course called? It sounds really interesting xxx
I attend La Trobe University and my course is called Strategic Communication 🙂

Q: I am thinking about doing a Communications/PR course after I finish school! Is it good? What subjects did you study in Year 12? Would do you have to be good at? Sorry about all the questions hahaha! Btw you have a beautiful blog xxxxxxx
I absolutely love studying communication! It’s so interesting, relevant and fun – it can lead you in so many different directions. My course allows me to learn about everything from PR through to journalism, marketing and event management. In Year 12 I studied English, English Lit, Legal Studies, Drama, Italian and Psychology. Some skills that are beneficial are being outgoing, being a skilled writer and speaker, being a great listener, being a problem-solver and being creative. I’d definitely recommend you do a Communication/PR course if you are passionate about it – just keep in mind that PR isn’t the only type of strategic communication, nor is it as glamorous as it’s made out to be.

Q: Hi, I’m a Year 12 student from Sydney. This is going to sound so odd – I stumbled across your wordpress and saw that you were attending La Trobe Melbourne, and I was wondering if you could give me advice? What have you heard about the on-campus accomodation? Menzies, Glenn and Chisholm college? Do people like it, hate it, etc? If you could please answer it would be incredibly helpful, thank you!
To be honest, I haven’t heard a whole lot about the campus accommodation and I don’t have any personal experience with it. It’s hard for me to imagine living on campus and enjoying it because I don’t have the need – I’m local and still live with my family at home.  What I do know is that each “college” seems to have a different vibe – i.e. Chisholm is very multi-cultural and houses a lot of international students. If you haven’t already you can find information and testimonials from students about the accommodation and each different college HERE. The facilities seem okay from the outside but I haven’t seen enough to make a real judgement. People who do live on campus seem to really love it and make close friends they will keep for life. I’m not sure how much it costs to stay on campus either (I’ve heard expensive – don’t know how correct that is) but if you’re planning on moving interstate for uni it’s worth trying it out, at the very least you will make some new friends and have a comfortable “home-base” in Melbourne for a while. You can always rent a place with a few roommates instead if you find that living on-campus isn’t for you.

Q: Hey, totally random question.. I’m thinking about moving to Melbourne, probs in the next year or so. What is it like living there? xxx
Melbourne is a great place to live. I keep reading that it has been voted one of the most liveable cities in the world and when I think about it, I can see why! I love living here. Melbourne genuinely just has a great atmosphere and culture. It can be a relaxing and calm place to be – or filled with excitement and things to do. There’s really something for everyone (wow – I sound like a tourism ad) and “liveable” is the perfect word to describe it. I’ve always been surrounded by a great environment with nice people, lots of facilities and opportunities. I don’t have experience living on my own in Melbourne, but I’m sure that it would be great!

I’d love to answer any other questions. You can read more about life at La Trobe and university here, or ask me a different question here.

Lots of love,

J

xxxx

University Survival Guide

Are you starting university next year, or a current student looking for guidance? Head over to First Year La Trobe for some tips, tricks and anecdotes from students currently studying at La Trobe University – including me! To read my posts on First Year La Trobe, click here.

Although the blog is targeted towards first years, the advice given by my fellow students is applicable to all stages of your university education, and to life-after-highschool in general! Hello, welcome to the real world! First Year La Trobe is a perfect read for anyone who is worried about making the transition next year, wondering what university is like or interested in studying at La Trobe.

Blogging 101: Unique selling proposition

If there’s one thing I get bored of, it’s scrolling down my feed and seeing the same beauty product reviews again and again. I’ve come to notice that beauty blogs are probably the most common of all categories, and therefore to be successful, one must be different from the others. The only in-depth beauty review I have done so far can be found here, and although I may be biased, I do not feel as though it was run-of-the-mill.

Blogging 101: How to get noticed

On my most recent Blogging 101 post I received a comment from someone wondering how to get his blog noticed. Now, as most people will tell you, blogging shouldn’t be about gaining attention and popularity UNLESS it is designed to promote your own business or product. Your focus should be on blogging because you enjoy and love it, not because of the potential for more followers or monetary gain. However, because we all love people to appreciate, enjoy and discuss what we write, here are some basic tips on getting your blog noticed.

Blogging 101: Getting started

In this day and age, new blogs pop up every hour of every day. Two months ago, The World by J was freshly created and I entered the world of internet bloggers. I know for a fact that there are so many people out there who want to start their own blog but are too hesitant or don’t know where to begin. I was once in that position – I wanted my own space to publish my writing about things I love and enjoy, but I was too afraid of what people might think. Now that I’ve moved passed that feeling and out of my comfort zone, I’d like to encourage more people to let go of their worries and just START. Once you do, you won’t be able to stop! The first step in creating your own blog is deciding what you would like to write about and which platform you will use. As you can see, my blog doesn’t have a specific genre. On the side of my page you will see a Categories menu which lists the areas I write about. Hopefully soon I will be able to narrow them down into fewer, more specific categories soon. However, many blogs do have a consistent theme – the most common being beauty, fashion, food and lifestyle. If you are going to start a blog, do it because you LOVE writing or are passionate about the topic (which could be absolutely anything) – not just to follow the trend. If you do it because you love it, it will be far more rewarding.

Blogging 101: Get noticed

On my most recent Blogging 101 post I received a comment from someone wondering how to get his blog noticed. Now, as most people will tell you, blogging shouldn’t be about gaining attention and popularity UNLESS it is designed to promote your own business or product. Your focus should be on blogging because you enjoy and love it, not because of the potential for more followers or monetary gain. However, because we all love people to appreciate, enjoy and discuss what we write, here are some basic tips on getting your blog noticed.

1. Social media
This one’s a no-brainer. Social media is the easiest and fastest way to get your blog noticed. This can be as simple as sharing your posts to your Facebook and Twitter followers or creating an Instagram profile for your blog. Personally, I share my posts to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr and will do a little ‘post announcement’ on my recently made blog-dedicated Instagram page. This way I am not only reaching my friends and family, but strangers who will come across my posts via the hashtags on Tumblr and Twitter. It can be very daunting sharing your work on a personal account, but I see no harm in showing people what you love to do!

2. Key words
Another simple tip for directing traffic to your blog is by using particular words or phrases. I use this trick where possible in my posts, usually in the title. By using Google Trends, I check which words or phrases are ‘trending’ or popular. For example, I changed the title of this post from Blogging 101: So you want to get noticed? to Blogging 101: Get noticed because it was a more common search term. When I take a moment to do this, I notice the results in my WordPress stats – I can see the search terms people have used to find my site and I keep the results in mind for future reference.

3. Relevance/controversy
If you write about a controversial, popular or relevant topic – chances are you will get noticed. You can also check out trending topics on Google Trends. However, I don’t recommend doing this just for the sake of a few more views. Only write about something controversial or popular if you are truly passionate or have an opinion about it. If it ignites something within that makes you want to write about it, whether it be anger, sadness or compassion, go for it! If you choose the topics of your blog posts simply by following the herd, it isn’t really a reflection of yourself.

4. Comments & feedback
I love when I get a notification stating that someone has commented on a post of mine. I try to do the same when I find post I love. Not only does commenting bring happiness and feedback to a fellow blogger, it also effortlessly promotes your site. Many people have been referred to my blog via the comments I have made on posts.

5. Post often
I left this point to last because I felt it was already obvious. The more you post, the more you will be noticed. The amount of time and effort you put into your blog will be reflected in the attention you receive.

These are the simplest ways to get your blog noticed amongst the hundreds of thousands of blogs out there. There are many more, complicated ways of promoting your page which I may explore in the future and share with you. If you start a blog for the right reasons, work hard and love what you do – I have no doubt that it will be noticed by those around you and blog-readers across the world wide web!

xxxxxxxx