UTS vs Macquarie Uni for Bachelor of Science (2 Viewers)

[Psylo]

I completed my HSC last year, and I have been offered a Bachelor of Science from both UTS and MQ. I have enrolled in both but haven't decided which one I'll actually go to. My goal is to go into postgraduate research science (which means going for a PHD), specifically Physics on the theoretical side in the areas of Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology. To a lesser extent I am also interested in Biochemistry, Microbiology, Genomics and Immunology. If i don't enjoy any Science at Uni my fallback is Economics.

From what I can gather about the Uni's, I've found that the UTS physics program seems very applied and doesn't offer any Astrophysics units. Their research projects seem to be focused on applied aspects of Physics.
MQ seems quite theoretical, more inline with Usyd/UNSW science judging by unit descriptions , while also having Astrophysics units. But they don't offer an honours program for science or economics, which would make fast tracking for a PHD in the case of science or just going for employment in the case of economics harder.

I was initially going for a Bachelor of Science at Usyd, but didn't get an offer. I could do a full year at UTS or MQ and try transferring to Usyd, but i don't know if either MQ or UTS may come off as 'better' for such a transfer. I could also complete a full Bachelor at MQ and apply for Honours at UNSW or Usyd but I don't know how hard that would be.

I've also heard things about teaching quality, depth and such, both negative and positive about UTS and MQU. If anyone could weigh in that would be great. Personally I'm leaning towards MQ because the units seem to fit what I want to go too. But UTS could be a better uni to transfer to Usyd from and has honours in Eco and Science.

Thanks in Advance.

 

[jimmysmith560]

When research is concerned, the rank of a university becomes more important. Generally speaking, USyd and UNSW both produce superior research output, both in quality and quantity, compared to other universities, making them the ideal choices if the end goal is to undertake a PhD. As such, the main area of focus in your particular case is that you need to optimise your path towards arriving at a PhD. This would involve identifying whether you can complete an Honours year in your area of interest and if so, doing your utmost to achieve the best possible result. In terms of Honours, the university itself will not be as important as long as your overall result is favourable, simply because Honours is a key to accessing a PhD. This means that there will little to no difference between UTS and MQ, whether the intention is to partially complete undergraduate studies at UTS or MQ and transferring to USyd or UNSW to complete the degree there and subsequently Honours, or to complete undergraduate studies at UTS or MQ and transferring to USyd or UNSW to complete an Honours year followed by a PhD, or a PhD directly (if you complete an Honours year at either UTS or MQ).

If your Honours result ends up not being as high as necessary, or if you are not able to complete an Honours year in your area of interest, you could consider a Master of Research or a Master's by coursework with substantial research components (if applicable), which can be used for PhD admission.

I hope this helps!

 

[liamkk112]

I completed my HSC last year, and I have been offered a Bachelor of Science from both UTS and MQ. I have enrolled in both but haven't decided which one I'll actually go to. My goal is to go into postgraduate research science (which means going for a PHD), specifically Physics on the theoretical side in the areas of Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology. To a lesser extent I am also interested in Biochemistry, Microbiology, Genomics and Immunology. If i don't enjoy any Science at Uni my fallback is Economics.

From what I can gather about the Uni's, I've found that the UTS physics program seems very applied and doesn't offer any Astrophysics units. Their research projects seem to be focused on applied aspects of Physics.
MQ seems quite theoretical, more inline with Usyd/UNSW science judging by unit descriptions , while also having Astrophysics units. But they don't offer an honours program for science or economics, which would make fast tracking for a PHD in the case of science or just going for employment in the case of economics harder.

I was initially going for a Bachelor of Science at Usyd, but didn't get an offer. I could do a full year at UTS or MQ and try transferring to Usyd, but i don't know if either MQ or UTS may come off as 'better' for such a transfer. I could also complete a full Bachelor at MQ and apply for Honours at UNSW or Usyd but I don't know how hard that would be.

I've also heard things about teaching quality, depth and such, both negative and positive about UTS and MQU. If anyone could weigh in that would be great. Personally I'm leaning towards MQ because the units seem to fit what I want to go too. But UTS could be a better uni to transfer to Usyd from and has honours in Eco and Science.

Thanks in Advance.

i'd recommend mq over uts for your interests. i go to uts and am currently doing a research project with the maths and physics department, which is a pretty good department however not in your areas of interest. uts is more strong in photonics, materials science, imaging (what i'm doing), and condensed matter, there's not really any staff members (and as a result, any classes) in particle physics, astrophysics or cosmology. i think uts is a decent uni but if you're wanting to take classes in these subjects as an undergrad it might not be the right fit. however, if you're going for a phd, note that most people don't do the phd at their undergrad institution. so it isn't too big of a deal if you change your mind later down the line, you can even do honours at a different uni from your undergrad if you want (since mq doesn't have it).

macquarie's physics program seems decent enough, for science undergrad studies are relatively similar between the unis. regardless of if you go to uts, mq, usyd etc, you'll take electromag, quantum physics, classical mecahnics, and then a couple of units in some different areas like computational physics or condensed matter depending on what's on offer. the one nice thing about usyd and unsw is that they have a wider variety of electives than uts and mq, but unless if you're interested in a particular class that they offer, this doesn't matter too much

uts teaching quality has been great in my experience, though i've only really taken math units with some programming and electrical engineering electives. not really too much difference between the unis here and i'd expect mq to be the same, usually good or great lecturers with a couple of good and not so good, all of them have pretty good quality imo. i'm not sure about mq but at uts the depth has been fine in my experience, i will say that the pace is a bit slower than unsw/usyd but imo this isn't an issue as it doesn't feel like the classes are rushed at all (personally, i'd rather have extra time and have time for things to soak into my brain), and we still go into more than enough topics for a single course.

personally i'd just go to mq if you have interests in those classes that uts doesn't offer. if you're looking to change into usyd, they won't care if u went to mq or uts anyway