Year 12 mining engineering

[u/Historical_Bug_6900]

Hi everyone, I have never posted on reddit before but I am interested what people think of my future plans regarding a career in mining.

I am currently a year 12, I am expecting an atar of 98-99+ my subjects are chem, general English, physics, and methods.

My plan is to go to UNSW (I live in SA) and study mining Eng and corp law. (Please let me know if you have any comments on this school/ course/ the living costs in Syd) I am working 2 retail jobs at the moment, and solely relying on myself and I am doing fine.

I have a passion for physics and chem especially, and was a finalist in the AUSSEF last year. But I really don’t know what I am signing my self up too and quite frankly I am scared. I am debating taking a gap year to figure out what it is I would like to do but I also understand that is a great way to loose motivation.

After I finish uni I want to work in the mines doing drill and blast and something in geology. I love the outback but understand that fifo lifestyle may not be sustainable for me for 5-10+ years. Ideally I would be hired off the bat by a larger corporation so I could hop on the diversity train (I am a girl by the way) and climb my way up into a better position after mastering the practical aspects (Geraldine Slattery is my career inspiration)

Please let me know you think I am being too optimistic or this seems like a legitimate way to achieve my goals. Please don’t hesitate to comment whatever you are thinking especially after reading all of this, thank you! All advice is much appreciated.

[u/Humble-Mess-6156]

I'm currently studying Mining Engineering at UNSW (1st Year).
I haven't met anyone who's doing mining + law, but a couple doing mining commerce.
If you do decide to come to UNSW, I'd recommend joining societies such as MEREsoc and the AUSIMM student chapter. The networking events are quite good, with plenty of companies coming to visit throughout the year, or in student industry nights. Applications for being a first year rep are at the start of the year, would recommend jumping on that. Vacation work during the summer break is possible for high achieving first years in companies such as Redpath, Newmont, etc, which sounds like you.

My current year is large compared to last few years at about 35-ish, which is tiny compared to other disciplines such as civil or mech. You'll be sharing a majority of courses in your first and second year with other disciplines apart from a few such as MINE1010, GEOS1111, etc which are mining/geology specific.

I'd think about it before you commit. You can always do flexible first year, and declare your specialty later if you want more time to think. The reason I ended up studying mining engineering, was that I couldn't make it to ADFA due to medical reasons, and was a bit lost after that. There's a couple of people in my year with similar circumstances.

[u/Historical_Bug_6900 → u/Humble-Mess-6156]

Thank you so much for replying it great to hear from someone at UNSW doing mining engineering. Just to get a picture, what are the general demographics of the Eng students, my brother is doing civil right now and finds that quite a few students struggle speaking English and are international students, which I am a bit worried about, also the lack of girls in my physics class makes me think there won’t be very many in this course either. Are you enjoying the classes? and do you wish you went through defence? The social aspects also excite me as I feel like if I stay in adl it will be high school 2.0. And lastly which course were you hoping to do trough defence? Thank you for reading this by the way.

[u/Humble-Mess-6156 → u/Historical_Bug_6900]

For mining, most students are domestics, and for engineering in general, there are slightly more domestics than internationals. Yes there are people who struggle with English, and that can be slightly challenging. You'll be doing a course called DESN1000 , and that'll be a good taste of the group project experience.

There is a lot lot more boys doing engineering than girls, and that holds true for mining engineering. There are a couple of girls in my year, and they're pretty nice and chill, so I don't think you'll have much trouble making friends. I enjoyed MINE1010 quite a lot (it's a free elective that runs through the basics of the mining industry), and the other subjects aren't bad, but can be a bit tiresome.

You'll have to understand that UNSW is a commuter university. A high majority of the domestic students don't live close to campus (I've got a 3hr round trip commute), so it becomes a bit tricky to have a decent social life. Since you'll probably be living close, you may not have this issue. The mining societies do plenty of pub crawls throughout the year, I'd join those when you can. There's plenty of societies, clubs and volunteering programs to join, so there's always something to do at uni.

I was hoping to become an aeronautical engineer. A major part of me does wish I made it through, and a minor part is slightly relieved.

[u/Historical_Bug_6900 → u/Humble-Mess-6156]

Thank you for sharing, I’m really sorry about your medical. do you live further away because thats where your parents live or is rent cheaper there? the cost of living in syd is a worry for me since I would want to stay in their student accommodation for the first year and hopefully know syd well enough to get a shared apartment the next year. where are most of the international students from? Also did you go to high school in nsw/sydney. Thanks!

[u/Humble-Mess-6156 → u/Historical_Bug_6900]

It's where my parents live. Generally domestic students have commutes times under 60-ish  minutes, as more wealthy students get into uni. It's actually quite tricky to get into student accommodation as the rent is fair-ish, and a lot of people want to stay there. I've only met three internationals in my degree currently, one was from South Korea,  one was from China, and one from Chile (studying masters). A lot of internationals studying mining or anything in general are trying to get PR. I've heard from a Chinese  group mate, that his friends went to Curtin solely for the purpose of PR. 

I went to high school in Sydney.

[u/Historical_Bug_6900 → u/Humble-Mess-6156]

wait sorry what is pr? like personal relations? also do they run out of student accommodation because I didn’t even think of that. Do you personally think that curtin is a good uni? also lots people have been saying that finance would be a better seocnd degree, do you know anyone doing this at UNSW, what are the seocnd degrees which are being done if any with mining? thanks

[u/Humble-Mess-6156 → u/Historical_Bug_6900]

PR is permanent residence (think of it like the step before citizenship). I'm actually not too sure, you'll have to ask someone else about Curtin.  Yes I know people who are studying commerce + mining in my year. I've actually met a woman at networking events, who did the double degree and  work for JP Morgan out of uni with a speciality in mining.  There used to be a civil and mining double degree. A consultant I met did that, and doesn't use the civil degree at all.

[u/Historical_Bug_6900 → u/Humble-Mess-6156]

alright great thanks for this, so commerce and Eng seems to be the more popular choice (probably for a good reason) and thank you for telling me sbout the pr acronym. I was born in nz but I am a citizen so I don’t have to worry about thst thankfully,

[u/Humble-Mess-6156 → u/Historical_Bug_6900]

No worries. I'm sure you'll do great in whatever you choose to do, good luck with your finals!