B Social Science/ B Laws ?? (1 Viewer)

[hYperTrOphY]

I am currently a year 12 student whom is attempting to make a decision
in relation to the specific course, university and consequently career
path that I would like to pursue. I would like to know a bit more about the course "B Social Science/B Laws" though.
With reference to the Bachelor of Social Science, I am confused
as to what this part of the combined degree teaches and/or is it a
choice on the part of the student? In other words, is the Bachelor of
Social Science a general course focusing on sociology, or does the
student choose a specific aspect of sociology (for eg. criminology)? If
this is the case, is criminology an option, meaning I would study B
Social Science (Criminology)/B Laws?

I hope that is clear enough. Thanks!!

 

[LaraB]

I am currently a year 12 student whom is attempting to make a decision
in relation to the specific course, university and consequently career
path that I would like to pursue. I would like to know a bit more about the course "B Social Science/B Laws" though.
With reference to the Bachelor of Social Science, I am confused
as to what this part of the combined degree teaches and/or is it a
choice on the part of the student? In other words, is the Bachelor of
Social Science a general course focusing on sociology, or does the
student choose a specific aspect of sociology (for eg. criminology)? If
this is the case, is criminology an option, meaning I would study B
Social Science (Criminology)/B Laws?

I hope that is clear enough. Thanks!!

yes - you pick a 'major'

you dont do "social science"..

think of it this way - social science is like the high school faculty of social science and within that you pick electives of geo, eco, legal business etc etc

i think all? subjects you combine with law are lik ethat - eg I'm doing B Business(HRM and IR) anmd there's also marketing, management, accounting etc...same wit arts n communication..

so yeah - you would in effect be studying criminology, not 'social science' as such and yes, i know UWS at least has criminology - u'd hafta check thru uac or the uni site to see about other unis

have a flick through the UAC book if u got it already, otherwise find a copy from last yr or hop on the uni website - it explains the content and structure of all these courses and make sure you get along to the open days at as many unis as relevant to what you wanna do

 

[hYperTrOphY]

Thanks for the info!!

I thought Social Science may have been just about sociology in general, similar to society and culture - only much more in depth and advance.

On one university site (cant remember which now - may have been UWS) I had a look at the B Social Science course. This outlined how you would do some set things that everyone does, then in later years you pick an elective. If you were to combine B Social Science with B Laws, would the B Social Science part be exactly the same as it would be if you were to do the course by itself?

Thanks again, and I'll definitely be sure to get to some open days!

EDIT: Whilst browsing through some other threads I noticed a member with B Social Science (Criminology)/B Laws in their sig!! Better send them a pm!

 

[Jonathan A]

I am currently a year 12 student whom is attempting to make a decision
in relation to the specific course, university and consequently career
path that I would like to pursue. I would like to know a bit more about the course "B Social Science/B Laws" though.
With reference to the Bachelor of Social Science, I am confused
as to what this part of the combined degree teaches and/or is it a
choice on the part of the student? In other words, is the Bachelor of
Social Science a general course focusing on sociology, or does the
student choose a specific aspect of sociology (for eg. criminology)? If
this is the case, is criminology an option, meaning I would study B
Social Science (Criminology)/B Laws?

I hope that is clear enough. Thanks!!

Social Science is a very broad field and even extends to some of the natural sciences. When you first start out social science, you need to select a major, this can be many things including:
-Psychology - APS Accredited (you can go on to become a psychologist once you do Honours)
-Criminology
-Sociology
-Humanitarian and Peace Studies
-Employment Relations

The way social science/law is structured is you have your law degree taking up most of your programme. You do 4 units a semester, so in the first year, these are half and half law and social science, second and third years are predominantely social science, and the last years are ( 4 and 5 ) are law.

In order to complete social science you need to complete:
-Two core units
-Four Units from the foundation pool (two must be in your selected major and they are usually pre-requisites to move on in the major).
-Eight (or Ten in Psych) Unit electives in that field.

Apart from psychology, it means you are left with 2 electives where you can any unit you want at the university, from Health Sciences through to Business providing you meet the pre-reqs.

 

[Jonathan A]

yes - you pick a 'major'

you dont do "social science"..
so yeah - you would in effect be studying criminology, not 'social science' as such and yes, i know UWS at least has criminology - u'd hafta check thru uac or the uni site to see about other unis

Pretty much LaraB is spot on. The focus is on criminology, which is a social science discipline and requires you to think like a social scientist. One reason I chose UWS is that we have a criminology programme that can be done with law, other unis that have something similar are SCU, but it's called "Justice Studies". UWS' electives in Crim are extensive from law to forensic science.

 

[hYperTrOphY]

Thanks a lot for the info Jonathan!!

So, if I was to do B Social Science (Criminology)/B Laws - do you recommend that UWS is the best university to attend?

Also, if you dont mind me asking - what profession are you looking to enter after completing the course?

 

[LaraB]

Thanks a lot for the info Jonathan!!

So, if I was to do B Social Science (Criminology)/B Laws - do you recommend that UWS is the best university to attend?

Also, if you dont mind me asking - what profession are you looking to enter after completing the course?

haha never ask if a uni is the 'best one' lol

you're almost never likely to get a balanced response..

i'd suggest you do what i and a lot of my friends did - just ask each uni at open days or people on here or whatever what they like about their course and what they dont liike...mots people seem unable to tell you negatives so probly best to do a bit of research thru uac or whatever yourself

you need to keep in mind what yo9u want to do with your degree because it may be good or bad for you to attend uws depending upon what you want to do...

im doing bus/law..and i can tell you that the law degree is excellent, whether you're doing law for interest of to help get a job with your other degree or to become a lawyer. You do a wide range of units, and tehre are a range of electives that cover pretty much every area of law. (For the most part) lecturers are awesome, people are cool... workload aint excessive, although being law it is a lot of reading but you'll get thath everywhere.

Eg semester 1 you do Intro to Law and Torts Law.

Torts law consists of one asisgnment and the final exam. its intereting work and long as you do the work each week it shouldnt be too much to handle.

Intro, this year was a multiple choice 10question test, a 2 part assignment and the final exam. Although, our torts lecturer was saying they may be condenscing it next year to be just the assignment and the exam and the assignment would be one all due wk 13 rathe rthan 2 parts due wk 8 and wk 13.

the uni has a Pro Bono law program, which allows you to get some contacts and experience and you can apply from 2nd-5th year. Its a program that's linked up to o/s ones so its good work to get up your practical skills. Alsothere's the standard summer clerkships and stuff that you'll find at every uni.

Unlike anumber of unis and alike some, you can graduate from your first degree end of 3rd year, rather than at (i think uts? for eg) where both degrees are stretched out over th 5 yrs...so say you decided you hate law and dont wanna be a lawyer or whatave, you can graduate with your 1st degree end of 3rd yr

facilties aint exactly the best, and hecs just went up, but the teaching and students make up for it the facilities that are necessary, like library and computer resources are enough to enable to you to do good work and there are heaps of societes and activities around.

one thing tho btw - make sure you have a look thru uac and see what campus your major is on for the soc sci. coz noit all of them for all degrees are in teh same places...
plus, uac sometimes get it wrong, so when time to send your applications to uac ceoms - give the uni a buzz and keep checkin the uac site to make sure the course still exists and to see if it is still at the same campus

 

[Jonathan A]

Thanks a lot for the info Jonathan!!

So, if I was to do B Social Science (Criminology)/B Laws - do you recommend that UWS is the best university to attend?

Also, if you dont mind me asking - what profession are you looking to enter after completing the course?

Its one of the few universities with criminology in the law combined programme. I am hoping to become a Barrister and an academic.

 

[hYperTrOphY]

Thanks for all the information Lara and Jonathan!! Much appreciated!

 

[LaraB]

Thanks for all the information Lara and Jonathan!! Much appreciated!

no probs

 

[Jonathan A]

Thanks for all the information Lara and Jonathan!! Much appreciated!

Welcome mate and good luck

 

[hYperTrOphY]

Hey Jonathan, why did you choose to do criminology? I was thinking about doing it because not only is it something I have an interest in, but if I was to practice law I would like to do criminal law. Not only this, but I am also interested in criminal investigation. I have been having a lot of troubles deciding on the specific career I would like to pursue - mainly because I have quite a few interests! Luckily, most do revolve around criminology and the law. One of the only things which makes me reluctant to be fully convinced that this course is the best choice I can make is because if I ended up deciding that I would like to do criminal investigation (which would have to be done through the NSW Police first) - this degree would appear to be irrelevent. Promotion to detective or Police Prosecutor is merit based, and a Bachelor of Laws for example is considered equivalent to a Bachelor of fly catching!

Ahh.. I'll work it out! (I hope..)

Thanks again for your help guys!

 

[LaraB]

i wouldnt stress too much

uni isnt the be all and end all of where you end up..

jus t gives you some knowledge to help you get there i guess

I plan on doing immigration, family or ER law....but im doin all business subjects so that only really matches up with er, but i was told by the guy who im gonna start workin 4 in 3rd year onwards that they dont necessarily care which electives you did and what your other half of your course was coz they teach you the real way to do things anyways

and besides, law is always changing and new jobs are appearing all the time...in 5 years time, you might be doing a job that doesnt even exist today

 

[hYperTrOphY]

Yeah, that's true. I think I'm most concerned about having a long-term debt and not gaining the absolute most from that degree.

What I might do, is contact a few people/organisations in the fields I'm interested in and get some information and feedback.

 

[LaraB]

Yeah, that's true. I think I'm most concerned about having a long-term debt and not gaining the absolute most from that degree.

What I might do, is contact a few people/organisations in the fields I'm interested in and get some information and feedback.

excellent idea

might be an idea to have a look at areas you maybe aren't so interested in but are linked to them too coz often, you may find you're more into that after bein at uni so it's useful to know about it ahead of time