How did you craft your degree? (1 Viewer)

[santaslayer]

I can't really craft my degree as I can't choose which subjects to take or not. What I can do is pick my major and it'll probably be based on industry needs rather than my own interests and satisfaction.

EDIT: Why da hell is my post on top of the thread creator's????

 

[ziggyboy]

Here's something I posted in our uni club's forum. I was asking students from the same school as I'm in but I think this would also apply to a lot of other uni students regardless of school and course.

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As you may have noticed, UOW's SITACS courses are very flexible in a way that only a handful are core subjects and the rest are just left for students to fill. This is especially true if you're doing a Bachelor of Computer Science degree. IMHO it gives us a lot of freedom compared to some unis where up to 90% are compulsory. In my program of study, BCompSc 2003, only 36cps are compulsory, or 25% of the whole degree.

This can be seen as good or bad. The good part is that students can choose to specialise in a particular field or do the subjects they like most and avoid those that they dislike. On the other hand it may mean UOW is not producing graduates with consistent skills/capabilities, meaning grads who are either extremely weak or extremely strong in academics. Student A may fill his degree with the really challenging subjects while student B may choose the easiest subjects available each session. Yet, when employers start screening graduates more often than not they will only look at your average. Unfair, isn't it? Someone who might have done bludge subjects and got a D average might be considered over someone who have done maybe up to 300-level maths but with only a C average.

I'm slowly going off-topic here. What I wanted to ask was how you crafted your degree? Why did you choose those subjects?

Your thoughts please.

 

[hipsta_jess]

BSc at Newcastle has no compulsory subjects, so as long as we fulfil the basic requirements (2 "science pairs" at 1000 level, and at least 60 science units per year), we are free to do pretty much as we please.
I want to transfer to Occupational Therapy, so I chose psych and bio as they sorta kinda in a roundabout way relate, geog to get up my other 20 science units for the year, and philosophy as a filler (its the phil. of psych., so I guess it kinda relates)

 

[Ceara]

Psyc(hons) at Flinders has about a third of the topics as complete electives where we can choose anything on offer at the uni. We also can choose electives among the psych subjects on offer (probably about another third) and there are also compulsory psych topics that everyone has to do (like research methods, psychological assessment, work experience, interviewing and counselling).
For the complete electives, I've chosen stuff like visual arts and also creative writing as well as some extra psych topics. Just because I could.

 

[SoCal]

Well in Bachelor of Finance,Commerce/Business/Economics at the University of Newcastle, all of your first year subjects (usually eight) are compulsory. I am currently doing a Bachelor of Information Science but because I want to transfer to either Finance (first preference) or Commerce (second preference) I have done all Finance/Commerce subjects this year. In the Bachelor of Finance (as for all the other related degrees) you have core units for first year as I said, and in second and third year when you start your majors, you have a couple of core subjects and the rest you choose from a list of subjects. You also generally get a couple of electives in the degree to fill up your 240 units.

I will most probably be choosing my majors based on personal interest and job opportunity.

 

[Minai]

I'm doing a BCom, and half my degree is based on $$ and job security (accounting major), and half on personal interest (business law major)

 

[Lundy]

Purely on interest. I wanted to get into digital media, which is the core of my degree, and I'm also doing three electives from the arts faculty. One of which (history), I (unexpectedly) love and am now planning to major in. Which is like, a strange combination really...but I would rather study something I enjoy than something I don't purely for money's sake.

 

[Generator]

I'm going to be poor, but at least I should be having fun.

 

[Lexicographer]

I'm in a very odd situation, where I might have three majors or I might just have a bunch of electives.

If I take the path of three majors I will be a Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Arts in International Studies (Medical Science, Nanotechnology and Japan) student of UTS. If I take a bunch of electives I'll probably do an intermediate Law subject, Forensics (currently taking) and Medical Science.

I can do this because UTS is very nice to its Science students, and in the BSc you can tailor your course to your needs (as long as you fulfil the prerequisites and corequisites of course). They do expect you to take at least one major (Nanotechnology for me) and the electives are up to you.

Institute for International Studies, however, is not flexible at all. You do it their way...or you fail.

 

[crazybrad]

b pharamcy, all subjects are compulsary except 1 we get to choose in 4th year

 

[SoCal]

b pharamcy, all subjects are compulsary except 1 we get to choose in 4th year

Haha, why did they bother?