Difference between Bachelor of Political, Economic & Social Sciences and a BA @ USYD? (1 Viewer)

[Valdek]

I've been doing a bit of uni research and found the Bachelor of Political, Economic and Social Sciences (BPESS) which includes units/majors i'm fairly interested in pursuing.. But I was wondering: what's the difference between a BPESS and doing an Arts degree at Sydney uni? Just from looking at both degrees on the surface, it seems you can do all of the units that a BPESS offers in an Arts degree, and the same number of units.
I see you can do an honours years in a BPESS, but is that the only difference?
Am I missing something? I would love an explanation here - Or is BPESS essentially just an Arts degree with a fancy name and narrower choice of units to go with it?


The links to the degrees are here:
http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/future_...duate/political_economic_social_science.shtml
http://sydney.edu.au/arts/future_students/courses/undergraduate/arts.shtml

INB4 Arts isn't a real degree etc.

 

[hungwell1337]

Re: Difference between Bachelor of Political, Economic & Social Sciences and a BA @ U

will either of them teach you real skills that you can sell?

 

[Silver Persian]

Re: Difference between Bachelor of Political, Economic & Social Sciences and a BA @ U

Or is BPESS essentially just an Arts degree with a fancy name and narrower choice of units to go with it?

This.

I think the BPESS a historical relic from when the political economy and government disciplines were part of the economics and business faculty, with the degree being specifically designed for people who were interested in these areas but wanted something more artsy and less businessy.

For the recond, you can do honours through an arts degree.

 

[Studentleader]

Re: Difference between Bachelor of Political, Economic & Social Sciences and a BA @ U

do bart
chose w/e units you want
profit

 

[kaz1]

Re: Difference between Bachelor of Political, Economic & Social Sciences and a BA @ U

Are the degrees something you could've learnt by just reading a book or browsing through wikipedia?

 

[Studentleader]

Re: Difference between Bachelor of Political, Economic & Social Sciences and a BA @ U

If you plan on earning a living teaching people things you are in a shit field (i.e. philosophy, history...)

 

[Valdek]

Re: Difference between Bachelor of Political, Economic & Social Sciences and a BA @ U

wow okay what makes you an authority on 'shit fields'.

I'd rather get a job I enjoy than be stuck in a 9-5 grind in a job I hate i'm just in for the money.
Grow up you guys.

 

[Lolsmith]

Re: Difference between Bachelor of Political, Economic & Social Sciences and a BA @ U

What he means is, is that academia is an extremely limited field to get into. Especially involving arts degrees where the only job you can get is basically as an academic.

You might not even like that either

 

[Aerath]

Re: Difference between Bachelor of Political, Economic & Social Sciences and a BA @ U

BPESS is just a BA but with a restriction to do Political Economy, and choose a major in Government, Sociology or Anthropology. Hence, you are quite limited in your choices. I was initially going to choose BPESS, but I eventually just chose a BA because I didn't want to have anything with Political Economy, and now I'm just doing Government units.

 

[Valdek]

Re: Difference between Bachelor of Political, Economic & Social Sciences and a BA @ U

What he means is, is that academia is an extremely limited field to get into. Especially involving arts degrees where the only job you can get is basically as an academic.

You might not even like that either

Yeah probably but there are also think thanks/research organsations..NGOs.. etc and this is just from a quick google search.

BPESS is just a BA but with a restriction to do Political Economy, and choose a major in Government, Sociology or Anthropology. Hence, you are quite limited in your choices. I was initially going to choose BPESS, but I eventually just chose a BA because I didn't want to have anything with Political Economy, and now I'm just doing Government units.

WOW. THANK YOU for actually answering my question. I really appreciate a level of humanity on this forum besides people who think engineering/science/maths/economics (you get my drift) are the only 'real' degrees.
Thank you again.

 

[Deathless]

Re: Difference between Bachelor of Political, Economic & Social Sciences and a BA @ U

I've been doing a bit of uni research and found the Bachelor of Political, Economic and Social Sciences (BPESS) which includes units/majors i'm fairly interested in pursuing.. But I was wondering: what's the difference between a BPESS and doing an Arts degree at Sydney uni? Just from looking at both degrees on the surface, it seems you can do all of the units that a BPESS offers in an Arts degree, and the same number of units.
I see you can do an honours years in a BPESS, but is that the only difference?
Am I missing something? I would love an explanation here - Or is BPESS essentially just an Arts degree with a fancy name and narrower choice of units to go with it?


The links to the degrees are here:
http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/future_...duate/political_economic_social_science.shtml
http://sydney.edu.au/arts/future_students/courses/undergraduate/arts.shtml

INB4 Arts isn't a real degree etc.

Also look at B International and Global Studies.

Also for the record, Economics is part of Arts now. So you can also major in Economics which is a skill you can 'sell'. Quite a few people doing Political Science and International Studies are doing relatively well now.

I must admit though, Arts subjects are definitely the more easier subjects. Unless you're doing Economics or Languages, subjects in the Art Dept is relatively easy and are less useful than other majors.

For subjects such as International Studies and Political, Social and Economic Science you also don't necessarily need to go onto Academia. According to the alumni and talk from friends and tutors etc, many grads have gone onto diplomacy, business, banking etc. In my personal opinion, I wouldn't do Arts by itself unless you're doing International or Political, Social and Economic Science.