Are double degrees worth it? (1 Viewer)

大きい男

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I'm sure this thread has been made before, but I'll ask again anyway...

This specifically concerns engineering. How significantly does having two degrees affect employability and career progression? Is it better to pursue a masters degree instead?
 

beetree1

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I think that depends on what you want to do in the future.
I think double degrees are worth it in considering jobs involving business or law, as it is only 2-3 years longer. It will also make your resume look better I guess, as they can see your accomplishments and you capabilities to balance time and studies. This would probably mean you have a higher chance at getting employed at top firms/ positions.
I just think about it like whether doing accelerated in a HSC course is worth it, if that makes sense
 

idkkdi

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I'm sure this thread has been made before, but I'll ask again anyway...

This specifically concerns engineering. How significantly does having two degrees affect employability and career progression? Is it better to pursue a masters degree instead?
Probably not needed for engineering, unless you do something niche and want to be employable if that fails. Or you can do double degree for greater career options and a mega brain.

Do single if you know you want to go engineering, and maybe double it if employabliity for that field is messed up, or for mega brain.
Master for engineering seems to be pretty useless in most cases I think.
 

quickoats

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A single degree (e.g. BA, BSc, BCom) generally works like this: you do 2 whole years of the subject, and have 1 whole year's worth of 'elective' which can be pretty much anything you want to study.
CommerceCommerceElectives

ScienceScienceElectives

CommerceCommerceScienceScience
A double degree combines both, then deletes the 'elective' years, as one degree acts as the elective part of the other and vice versa^^. This ends up being 4 years. So no, you aren't doing 6 years of work in 4 years, you're just doing 4 years of study.

Engineering is a bit of a different story as there is less elective space and flexibility, but the 'combining' works in a similar fashion.

capabilities to balance time and studies. This would probably mean you have a higher chance at getting employed at top firms/ positions.
A double degree does not mean double the workload - you do the same amount of work as a single degree, just for a longer period of time. Employers are not going to think that you put in twice as much effort at uni therefore deserving the position more.

If you have 2 areas of interest (that can't be completed in 1 degree as a double major or major+minor), or you just want to broaden your horizons, then a double degree is a great idea as it affords you that breadth.

Doing a masters (as opposed to a double) will allow you to further specialise in a field (generally) rather than going broader. You shouldn't be tossing up between masters and a double degree - if you are interested in a double, don't hold that off with the intention of doing a masters instead - you can always do the masters later (even part time while you're working - your employer might even pay for it!). A disadvantage of a masters is that they usually are quite expensive.

All in all, it really depends on what you are interested in.
 

blyatman

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Masters is useless. Double degree does not help career opportunities in engineering, unless you plan to go into a specialised engineering role which requires your other degree. That being said, double degree is more efficient, since you get 2 degrees with only an extra year (or 2). I did a double degree in engineering and science. Engineering was my main one, but I chose science as well out of interest.
 

idkkdi

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Masters is useless. Double degree does not help career opportunities in engineering, unless you plan to go into a specialised engineering role which requires your other degree. That being said, double degree is more efficient, since you get 2 degrees with only an extra year (or 2). I did a double degree in engineering and science. Engineering was my main one, but I chose science as well out of interest.
Why did you do two masters lol.
 

blyatman

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Why did you do two masters lol.
One was originally a PhD, but cbf finishing it so I finished it as an MPhil. It's useless (I was primarily doing to get some scholarship money while job hunting). The other was a M.S. from the US, which are completely different programs to Masters programs in Aus.
 

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