Combined degrees?! (1 Viewer)

[Showpony Stuart]

im thinking maybe about doing a combined degree, so one of the courses im doing is tactical (ie for the work oppurtunities) and the other is for love of the topic and to keep me stimulated about learning bout something im truely enthusiastic about. Dont get me wrong the first degree (probably engineering) i really enjoy and stuff but i wanna do a physics degree as well for the shear love of it

now what im wondering from thoes who know, is what are combined degrees like are they a LOT harder and more stress full that single degrees or not

are they worth it or are they not??

thanks in adv
Showpony

 

[Ali -]

The only difference between a single and double degree is the 'duration' of the course and the cross credits you receive between the two (hence why it takes a little less time completing a double degree than if you were to undertake two single degrees seperately.)

No harder. Just longer.

 

[moll.]

It's an opportunity cost. It is indeed more atactive to potential employers for you to have two degress, rather than one. But is the extra two/three year you spend getting this extra degree worth the time missed in practice and experience in the workforce?
Personally, I'm aiming for combined Commerce/Economics at UNSW, because the single Comemrce degree is 3 years, but combined with Economics it's only an extra year, which i deem to be a good swap. Also, the fact that the two topics are so closely related will mean that both degrees will probably be relevant to some extent when i go for a job in the business wolrd.
For you, i would say yes, because it's a similar story. Physics and engineering have a reasonable amount of overlap (when compared to engineering/commerce for example) especially if you focus on topics relevant to the other degree with your majors and/or minors.

 

[annabackwards]

OOOO yeah i'm thinking of an engineering/advanced science degree - majoring in probably physics woot woot.

But does a double degree and a single degree cost the same or is it twice as much/ the sum of the two single degrees?

 

[chapm0n]

short answer, no and no. It doesn't cost the same as a double degree, nor does it cost the sum of two single degrees.

At uni (UNSW anyway) you pay for each individual course you complete, so the more courses you do the more it cost. To make things more complicated, each course has a different 'fee band' (eg medicine law and commerce? is the highest, and mathematics and education is the 2nd lowest) So if i completed a double degree in Law/Comm, it would cost more than Law/Sci(in mathematics), simply because it is cheaper to do maths than commerce.

someone correct me if im wrong

 

[dvse]

It's an opportunity cost.

<...>

For you, i would say yes, because it's a similar story. Physics and engineering have a reasonable amount of overlap (when compared to engineering/commerce for example) especially if you focus on topics relevant to the other degree with your majors and/or minors.

Three year undergrad degrees are a joke, as the first two years are usually spent on completely elementary stuff. The main advantage of double degrees in the Australian system is that not only do you get more breadth, but also don't have to waste as much time on worthless electives (of which every school has many) - instead you can do the few good subjects from both areas.

 

[annabackwards]

Thanks chapm0n and dvse.

I'll be definitely thinking about a double degree now

 

[Nasonex]

Can u transfer from B Commerce or B Arts ----> Bachelor Commerce/Arts

i.e. a single degree to a double degree

and what kind of marks do you need...

 

[chapm0n]

from b com to b com/arts should be no problem, because its an internal transfer i think, but, b arts to b com / b arts is different, because you need to apply through UAC, (university admission centre) you can definately change if you get a distinction average don't really know much more than that, generally it means you need to do well (of course its very very hard to change to a 'harder degree' if you fail, or scrape passes)

 

[lionking1191]

Can u transfer from B Commerce or B Arts ----> Bachelor Commerce/Arts

i.e. a single degree to a double degree

and what kind of marks do you need...

seeing the UAI is the same for those 2 degrees I wouldn't imagine that the academic requirements are too stringent.