Mcom - What specialisation & UNSW or USyd? (1 Viewer)

[whatsmynickname]

Hi all,

Im truly in need of help and would appreciate replies.

So the story goes, I did my undergrad degree in social sciences and tho' I loved whatever I learnt, job prospects-wise, I didnt want to end up becoming a teacher or working for the govt.

Now, am thinking of switching to commerce, I've always been interested in business and marketing, in particular. However, I have a few queries.

1) Is a Mcom degree considered too broad-based? Ive got a year of work experience, but that's abt it.

2) I'm not sure which specialisation, I shld get into. For starters, I know I sorta like marketing but I want to get a job that would allow me to earn good $ and get me a job. Have been reading through the threads and know that finance or investment banking seems to the way to go? Which specialisation do you think has got lots of job and wld earn me bucks? (This is impt since Im going to invest quite abit of cash for the Mcom degree, I do want to get some sorta returns from it.......)

3) And finally, both UNSW and USyd offers Mcom. Which uni offers me better job prospects or has some good industry links so that getting a job wldnt be such a challenge.

Please help!

Thanks in advance, people.

 

[Omnidragon]

If you take on MComm, it might take a while. The market could be really different by then that you'd find bankers driving taxis.

 

[Affinity]

accounting always lands one a job

 

[velox]

Erm Mcom is only 20 000. You did spend 3 years and ~15-20k on a degree that wont get you a job. Go UNSW.

 

[Newbie]

i agree that accounting has better opportunities but then those opportunities might not meet the expectations of your mcom investment, ie: 40k bookkeeper?


please dont come to unsw, less people to tell me to quieten down at night when we're crunching late night numbers and playing youtube on speakers but we are the better uni for commerce i still believe

 

[whatsmynickname]

Thanks for your replies.

Accounting eh?

How abt these finance subjects, funds management or banking perhaps? Or strategic value managemnt? Im not too familiar with these majors because I was never a commerce student.

Under finance, these are offered; what abt jobs such as funds management, or banking? Is alot of math involved it? Im not exactly a genius in math; integration/differentiation scares me.

Finance​

Finance​

International Finance​

Funds Management​

Financial Econometrics​

Banking

​

As for the uni, I guess its UNSW? Ive heard alot of good things abt its commerce fac. The only thing that I was slightly put off was that someone told me that if I chose to study marketing, my course mates wld be mostly from China or those who cannot converse in English well, thus, pulling down my grades when it comes to projects. I am in no way racist, except I really wanna do well for my Mcom. Is there any truth in this?

Anyway, looks like accounting's the way to go. So I guess I shldnt have to worry too much abt Marketing and potential course mates that might pull down those grades.

 

[Newbie]

its ok
im racist

those internationals will fuck your group presentations
and they will copy and paste assignments from wikipedia


its hardly their fault since english is their second language but UNSW should have a better education policy to cater for these people instead of bunching everyone up in the same classes

 

[velox]

You are going to do diff/integration anyway. That is pretty simple stuff. If you dont like maths, dont pick financial econometrics.

 

[turtleface]

i agree that accounting has better opportunities but then those opportunities might not meet the expectations of your mcom investment, ie: 40k bookkeeper?

if u graduate from accounting properly you shouldn't be working as a bookkeeper. bookkeepers are usually para-professionals/accounting technicians usually with no/TAFE level qualifications and are thus not relevant to MCom or BCom etc. Thats not to say that they aren't paid highly or any less important, they are just different and not really relevant to uni graduates (hopefully)

 

[Newbie]

im just saying that when people talk about the abundance of jobs in accounting, a lot of stuff that make up the numbers is from bookkeeping. although they do like to name it 'management accounting' to suck you in.

 

[AppleXY]

integration/differentiation scares me.

How could u be scared at calculus. Best topic in mathematics xD xD <3 it

 

[turtleface]

im just saying that when people talk about the abundance of jobs in accounting, a lot of stuff that make up the numbers is from bookkeeping. although they do like to name it 'management accounting' to suck you in.

oh sorry about that i see what you mean. I think whilst there may be some bookkeeping elements in management accounting, true bookkeeping is more the "accounts clerk, assistant accountant, accounts rec/pay, payroll clerk" jobs so its a bit ~

 

[Rorix]

Re: finance - unorganised info


To be blunt with you, if your first degree was social sciences then investment banking (which is part of finance) probably isn't for you. It will make you a lot of money but if your first degree was social sciences you probably aren't showing the dedication required to work the long hours and also get a position at one of the major banks.

Funds management may make you a lot of money depending on how good you are. However even if you are a superstar I doubt you'll be an actual fund manager within the medium term after your graduation since people won't be entrusting you with the capital - you can however get an analyst job with a fund and make decent money (and hopefully climb the ladder later too). Can be long hours involved as well, although not as crazy as ibanking.

If you differentiation/integration scares you, you should NOT do financial econometrics. It's a bit of a waste of time anyway (and I have done it).

International finance imo, is probably a jerkoff subject used to boost your WAM.

Not sure on banking but don't confuse a banking elective with investment banking, usually a banking elective will be more to do with retail banks as in CBA, NAB etc and loans.

re: maths in finance, the modelling sides don't require much maths beyond the basic plus minus times divide. If you go into trading..well, from the sounds of it you shouldn't do trading. Funds management/ibanking/private equity don't have very complicated maths, you should be fine...same with "lower" jobs like financial planning etc.

If I were you and looking to get a hot job in finance in anything but trading I'd do, aside from the basic finance units which you will need, electives on valuation (not sure what UNSW offers here). You'd also need a decent understanding of accounting (not sure what is compulsory but IMO if you do the basic foundational accounting units you'll know enough accounting to do valuation based on acct statements without doing the later accounting subjects).


This is just stuff about finance, if you chose not to do a finance major then ignore the above.

 

[whatsmynickname]

Thanks for the detailed reply!! Helped alot.
Now I know more abt finance. I've read the course outline and stuff but I think I've got a better idea now.

I get what you mean, and you are right abt me, the bit where I might not be used to the long hours or the dedication needed.

Am going to give this a long thought before coming to a decision, but thanks again for the reply.

 

[stazi]

If your interest is marketing, then perhaps it would be better for you to take a 1-year course at a private college in this area, and then using your work experience obtain an entry-level graduate position and work your way up. You will also be able to apply some of your social science knowledge in the field.

I found it stupid that you said 'I am interested in marketing...I want a job that pays well...investment banking pays well, therefore I should do it'. You did a degree that deals with people, your interest is obviously dealing with people (marketing), yet you want to deal with numbers, banking and finance because it pays more? I doubt you could handle it, and nor could I.

What does 'pays well' mean to you? $60,000 straight away? $100,000 in five years time?