BEng (Civil) at UNSW or USyd (1 Viewer)

[G DIDDY]

Hey Boarders,

Yeah i have a couple of questions regarding BE(Civil) at UNSW or USyd. First off all i'll give you a little intro about myself. Basically i did maths n sciences for HSC and ended getting a UAI of over 90, and then i decided to do BCom at Macq, and now i seriously feel like bombing the university. I'm considering a transfer into either BE(Mechanical)/MBioMed or BE(Civil).

So i just have a couple of questions in regards:

1) Which Uni is better for it ??? Engineering is UNSW's wittle baby but USyd's cut-offs are higher and is probably more recognised.

2) Whats the workload like ??? I found BCom a lot of work, coz i neva did business before. But i'm better suited to Maths n Science

3) Whats the employment opportunities like ??? I'm really not sure about this one. But they way i figure it is that we always need infrastructure n construction so we need Civil Engineers.

Regards,

G.Fernando.

PS. After my ph/foney bomb threat i might regarded a "terror suspect" so please reply ASAP.

 

[drewbrow1]

1) UAI alone will not tell you how good a course is. Because the course capacity is much higher than the number of people who want to do it, cutoffs were set as a kind of absolute minimum, keeping-the-morons-out type thing. Of the guys doing eng at sydney I know, about half didnt make the published cutoffs.
I couldn't tell you which course is better, but i've got no complaints with UNSW.


2) Workload - there's about 20 hours of classes a week, plus independent study. You can get through pretty easily by studying only when you have a test. The science stuff was ok and the maths has been pretty easy so far (end of first year). Lots of groupdwork, avoid international students like the plague. Looks like next year's subjects will be harder though. Travel time can double the amount of time you spend away from home, depending where you live. Same for usyd though i guess.


3) Employment opportunities are apparently very good. I haven't been looking around, but the consensus seems to be that we'll all have jobs when we come out the other end. If you do well in any degree, there will be a job for you.

 

[elfm]

Hey Boarders,

Yeah i have a couple of questions regarding BE(Civil) at UNSW or USyd. First off all i'll give you a little intro about myself. Basically i did maths n sciences for HSC and ended getting a UAI of over 90, and then i decided to do BCom at Macq, and now i seriously feel like bombing the university. I'm considering a transfer into either BE(Mechanical)/MBioMed or BE(Civil).

So i just have a couple of questions in regards:

1) Which Uni is better for it ??? Engineering is UNSW's wittle baby but USyd's cut-offs are higher and is probably more recognised.

2) Whats the workload like ??? I found BCom a lot of work, coz i neva did business before. But i'm better suited to Maths n Science

3) Whats the employment opportunities like ??? I'm really not sure about this one. But they way i figure it is that we always need infrastructure n construction so we need Civil Engineers.

Regards,

G.Fernando.

PS. After my ph/foney bomb threat i might regarded a "terror suspect" so please reply ASAP.

USyd is only higher because they offer less places. UNSW offers probably the most amount of places for engineering out of any uni in Australia, so it's only natural that the UAIs will be negatively affected by that. UNSW engineering will increase their cutoffs (without interview) to 85 next year.

If you really do like maths, electrical or mechanical sounds better suited to you, but civil is also a great course, albeit a bit easier than the two aforementioned.

I've heard USyd is the better uni for civil engineering, but really, there isn't a accurate way to compare. The best method to see which uni course is better suited to you is to look at the course profile located in the UNSW handbook.

The workload isn't too bad. It's not too time consuming, and it's generally not that hard if you read the lecture notes and do the tutorials.

The employment opportunties are very good with civil engineering. About 95% of graduates find a job, with a few percent on top of that not looking for jobs, so in the end, only about 2-3% of graduates would struggle to find a job.

Personally, I like USyd better than UNSW as uni's, but I can't say much about their civil engineering courses side by side.

I do civil engineering/environmental engineering at UNSW btw (1st yr)

 

[KD]

USyd and UNSW are both well recognised in industry as the leading Universities. UNSW is probably better recognised in Industry for Engineering. You might like to call some companies you think you would like to work for, tell them you are interested in a career with them and ask them which University they would recommend.

You will get a job in Civil Engineering when you graduate from either USyd or UNSW. Australia (like the world) has a major shortage of Civil Engineers. Currently they are being targeted in the immigration system to help with the shortfall.

UNSW has more academics and therefore is broader (i.e. you have experts and courses in all the five areas of Civil Engineering: Structural, construction management, water, geotechnical, transport). If you have an interest in Water engineering then definitely go to UNSW as it is much bigger there. USyd has more of a traditional type course whilst UNSW is a bit more practical.

I would also look at the course programs to see what they teach. Note that UNSW is implementing a new improved course structure (including more electives) for next year. I don't think the program is on the Web yet but keep a lookout later in the year.

The engineering courses are not easy. You will find them all challenging (but anything good in life is). It is not true that Civil is easier than the others. I would choose based on what you would like to do. Students always do better in courses they enjoy (probably because they don't mind putting in the work required).

Note: Workloads increase with each year (sorry elfm).

 

[elfm]

It is not true that Civil is easier than the others. I would choose based on what you would like to do. Students always do better in courses they enjoy (probably because they don't mind putting in the work required).

Note: Workloads increase with each year (sorry elfm).

Compare civil engineering's dropout rates with electrical engineerings dropout rates and you'd probably find a significant margin between the two. I have many smart friends in electrical engineering and they're finding it very hard and some are even failing. Civil may not be an easy course but it definitely is easier than some other streams of engineering.

And yeah, ofcourse workload increases... who would've thought eh?

 

[KD]

Some Civil courses have failure rates of 60% so its not easy. How difficult a course is depends on what you find difficult. Some students are great at solving equations but are hopeless at solving undefined problems or communicating effectively, others are the opposite. The idea is to find the course that matches your skills.

Dropout rates have a lot to do with the difference between what students thought they were getting into and what they find when they get there. I suspect many students applying to do electrical have no idea what it is all about.

 

[laney]

MoS with Zora has a high failure rate.
Geotech has a high failure rate
Water Engineering subjects have high failure rates.

However, i think the exam failure rates are high, but when you add your exam mark to class marks, most people end up passing.

 

[king_of_boredom]

ok instead of starting a new thread, i thought i'd just continue on.

im in a bit of a similar situation, at the moment i'm stuck between choosing BE(Materials Sci and Eng) [UNSW], BE(Aeronautical) [USyd] and now BE(Civil) [UNSW or USyd].

i just finished the HSC this year, and performed fairly well in maths and the sciences, band 5 in both chem and physics and band 6 in mathematics as well as E4 in extension 1 maths. plus a UAI over 90.

now im in a bit of a dilemma as to where my interests exactly lie. i know my skills would be best applied in the field of engineering, but to which field, im not sure sure.

now the only thing for me choosing which one to go into is the career opportunities upon graduation. i know id go well in all of the abovementioned courses, but theres not much point if the career opportunites/demand for the industry is low.

reading earlier in the thread, i read that we are in dire shortage of civil engineers in Australia. ouch.

there's my two cents.

 

[KD]

Aero I expect would have limited job opportunities but you'll get one if you do well in the course. You need to find out how many companies actually hire grads.

Of those you have stated probably the biggest difference is that Civil Engineers deal with a lot more different people. They need to relate and work with other engineers, architects, scientists, government bodies, construction workers, consultants and the general community.

 

[xxPanDa]

i'm just passing ext 1 maths like 54%
do u think i will have trouble with civil engineering maths (i wana major managemnet or structural?)
my tutor said that engineering course cover ext 2 maths in the first yr?? is this true for civil?

what about UTS?

 

[elfm]

1st year engineering covers most of 4u maths. i'm sure other uni's do this too. dw, it's not that difficult.

the maths isn't that hard in civil. you'll just have problems at the start with statics and dynamics which you can do fairly easily if you put the time in to learn the stuff. it just seems daunting at the start but believe me, it's actually quite easy and it forms the basis of what you need to know for the rest of your degree.