La Trobe University — Attraction in Melbourne

Transferred here from the States. Previously went to an open Enrollment Uni thinking going to a private institution with a higher global ranking would be better but I was let down.

1.) They didn’t transfer my credits until the very first day of classes, meaning all of the classes I was intending on taking I had to drop. They only transferred 3 credits out of 20 that I had. I took Sociology, Philosophy, Astronomy, etc. all of which they offer but decided not to transfer. I had to complain to someone and it took them days to review. When they came back they gave me an extra 4, and I had to pick my classes all over again. Very unprofessional, I submitted my transfer scripts 2 months in advance when it was first available to do so, and they didn’t get back until the first day. They messed up so many times just in the first few days. They seem dishonest with how they transfer classes. I still should have received more. You can’t even go in to see someone or call, it’s all online via email.

2.) AskLatrobe. This is where you go for virtually any question or concern you may have. Calling them is a chore because you’re waiting for 30+ minutes, and emailing them is a chore because sometimes they don’t get back for days and by then it’s too late. My personal opinion is that if you are taking that long you are understaffed, hire more staff! They seem strapped for money.

3.) That leads us into on campus accommodation. I wish I could recall the name but at first I went into these apartment complexes just 5 mins off campus. The flat has a bathroom, room and kitchen for $265 a week which isn’t bad, until you realize that there are spiders everywhere. Cracks under the door that you have to cover up to make sure they don’t come in, ripped screens on windows so you opening a window for fresh air wasn’t an option. I first turned on shower and the water was brown. The bed sheet provided had stains of which I can only hope was food. They don’t provide towels, blankets, dishes or anything besides the bare minimum. Toilet had frequent plumbing issues. Had to call the exterminator because the spiders were so bad, luckily he came next day but it got worse so I had to move. They won’t give you your deposit back (fair enough it’s common after signing a contract) but they didn’t disclose the spider infestation issue which I find unfair. You have to pay around $60-100 just to move to a new building. I moved to Glenn college. Shared bathrooms are pretty bad, they never seem to be clean and that goes for showers too. The mini kitchen is horrible, ours literally has a hole in the counter and there is never hot water. The room is literally brick with a desk and bed. If you lose your key card that’s even more money. Horrible air conditioning, I’ve come to believe they don’t even have air conditioning even though they advertise it on their website. The pricing is absolutely ridiculous, it’s pretty much a slap in the face for what you get. Not much consideration for students financial well-being.

4.) Classes. I’m not sure if it’s common but they have lecturers and teachers which I don’t like. You never really meet the person that is supposed to be the head of the class, there’s no bond there so I don’t know how they can write referrals for you if you need one. I found some rubrics ridiculously vague and pretty unclear as to what they’re actually grading.

5.) Some of the staff I have met have been rude, one even laughed at me when I asked about my accommodation card. If you’re coming here out of country not understanding the system quite yet it can be hard and they don’t seem to care.

Overall, my experience has been negative. I find this University not up to par with the ranking it’s been given. They made a new costly accommodation building for when foreigners come back, to keep them financially afloat. A degree from here is nothing more than a piece of paper. They have been slowly going down in rankings for years, it’s only a matter of time before it’s bottom barrel.

Pros: Scenic. Cons:...

CRAP CRAP RUDE DECEPTIVE COURSES AND RUDE STAFF AVOID

Dreadful uni

Don't even bother to go as a mature age student..... you will feel unwelcome by the appalling rudeness

Had comments about my age by staff that work there.... What does it matter how old you are to these rude latrobe staff members???

One example was a woman who worked in one of the offices in one of the professor's offices making a comment about my age.... how much older I was compared with the other students....

She was heaps older than me so maybe I should have said something back to her... rude as

What should I have said to her? You are too old maybe you should't work either???

I was treated like a criminal and insulted being called a 'loner' by another rude senior staff member who was a placement coordinator when I needed help the most with a failed placement.

No support just putdowns and then the same coordinator told the whole department that nobody could talk to me only him.

This I found out later as it was.all done behind my back.

Thanks a lot for the nonexistent 'support.

Also, don't go to latrobe's counselors.

They don't even respect your confidentiality.

Privacy in counselling... there's none I'm afraid...

One of the counselors told me that in order for us to process with our counselling session I had to give her the right for her to discuss our private session outside the room to other people because of 'safety ' reasons????

Just pathetic.... counselling should be confidential... I felt like a criminal once again

Also, discriminated when applying for jobs there.

Staff have to 'like you' or otherwise you have no chance with work there.

Make sure you join the union, as students have no rights.

They even lied to on placements for a course. It was meant to be a paid placement as the course description clearly says when you enrol.

After 2 years of being lied about this... I found out the hard way.

I was offered nothing just excuse after excuse and after complaining about this lying deceptive course.

If I knew earlier than after 2 years hard study than no placement was available for me I wouldn't even bother enrolling in this course...

But did this matter to the rude latrobe staff... absolutely not.

Another senior staff member even complained to me that it wasn't up to her to 'give me a job' when I complained to her why wasn't the compulsory placement given to me at all.... RUDE RUDE RUDE AND ARROGANT

I was then offered a non paid placement to keep my mouth shut???? When the description clearly says it has to be...

La Trobe is the worst university in Melbourne! The lecturers are unhelpful. The coordinators and chancellors are corrupt and anti-art. The Ask La Trobe team are rude and condescending. And the school’s enrolment process is confusing and possibly rigged. When I enrolled into my subjects, I was only allowed to do five subjects per year. Every time I tried to enrol into more subjects, the box you click on to add the subject to your study plan disappeared and was replaced with a message saying “No credit points available”. When I saw that, I thought it meant that I had enrolled into the right number of subjects. At the previous university I went to (before deciding to come to La Trobe instead), they had a system where once you enrolled into the right number of subjects, the subject list would become disabled. And I thought that La Trobe had a similar system. They certainly didn’t mention what “No credit points available” meant in their handbook! So for three years I only studied fifteen subjects. I only found out that I wasn’t doing enough subjects because I sent Ask La Trobe an email asking why my friends were graduating and I wasn’t. When I told them in another email that the reason why I didn’t enrol into more than five subjects because of the system not letting me, they chose not to believe me. They just accused me of not reading the student handbook. So now I am forced to drop everything I had planned for 2021 and do another year of uni. I am to get deeper into student debt because the staff don’t want to admit that their administration is dodgy. I swear to God that their enrolment site wouldn’t let me enrol into the right number of subjects. I know what I saw! And if it does turn out that the system wasn’t messing up, then La Trobe really need to rewrite the content of their handbook! Their explanation of how to enrol isn’t clear enough! It would have been nice to have been told the meaning of “No credit points available” before I began enrolling into my subjects! (And it would have also been nice if I was told about my course load early on instead of them just letting me slip through the cracks like that!) Thanks for robbing me blind La Trobe! And thanks for not being understanding and empathetic when I contacted you for help. Thanks for jumping to conclusions about me and causing me to have a serve meltdown from the amount of stress you put me through. What a great start to...