As the end of the session draws near, I came to a few realisations about my move to ECU.
Although this is session 1, for me, it's closer to the denouement of a first year computer science undergrad. I started this degree in session 2, 2018 at another university, finished four units, and then transferred to ECU in March of this year. Having completed two of the first four units in ECU's course syllabus at my previous school, I'm totalling the credit points accrued from a year of studies with the completion of just two units this session. And next session, too, I'll only be taking two units as I also completed part of the syllabus for session 2 last year.
This has been great on two fronts: first, my enrolment finished late, so I didn't have access to the course material till the end of the second week of studies. And second, my application for advanced standing took several weeks; during that time, I maintained the course load of both schools because in the event my request was denied, I wouldn't proceed with the transfer—I'd instead remain at my first school. The cost of repeating units wasn't worth the opportunity. And having received High Distinction for all but one unit (where I received a Distinction), I knew I'd learned the subject, and understood it well. I say this to reinforce the notion that repeating units was unjustifiably expensive.
My motives for transferring were the offerings at ECU that weren't available at my first school; namely, the cyber security major. This is where my interest is greatest so I considered the move worthwhile. Fortunately, all signs thus far suggest there was more to be gained from my transfer than the units comprising my major of choice; which alone were enough for me to make the move in the first place—anything else is a bonus. In addition to them, I've also enjoyed a 200% increase in the professorial delivery of course content with 3 hours of lectures and tutorials per unit each week—previously, 1-hour weekly lectures were delivered for each unit. And the language for our software projects is C++, which I consider to be a huge advantage—Java was the language at my last school.
There are numerous other benefits, some trivial, some not so trivial such as, for example, our Microsoft Azure DevOps account and industry folk delivering guest lectures, which provide invaluable insight into work in the field.
Suffice to say, I'm pleased with my decision to study at ECU—the future is bright!
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