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Master of Engineering (1 Viewer)

khoavo12

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Hi guys, so I just got my ATAR and it's much higher than I expected, which is 94.30. I wanted to do Electrical Eng at UTS and last year cut off was 85 only. I recently found out that UNSW offers a B Electrical Eng | M Electrical Eng (last year cut off was 96.40 but I think I can get in since I got bonus pts thru HSC Plus and EAS). Both courses are 5 years long. Initially I chose UTS because of its 1 year internship (which I will get a Dip Eng Practice when graduate). Which course do u think I should choose? And is studying the master degree in a undergraduate course hard? I don't know. Please gimme some advice. Cheers guys :)
 

flashyGoldFish

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The UNSW by a mile. One of the best engineering universities in the country and you come out after 5 years with much better qualifications
 

khoavo12

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What about 1 year of work experience at UTS? That's the reason why I'm still thinking :|
 

ChillTime

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In the real world, good experience and good referees are king; the prestige of a university is, I dare say, negligible.

Employers of engineers value 1 year of industry experience far more than a 1 year masters. The former means you have a good feel and understanding of work practices, the latter means you're overqualified (with no experience other than the standard 60 days).

The value of a masters comes in when you've already got a few years of experience, and you want to boost your credentials.
 

D94

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What about 1 year of work experience at UTS? That's the reason why I'm still thinking :|
You aren't given the 1 year work experience. You need to find it yourself, and if you don't, you won't be allowed to graduate. You may end up working at 2 mediocre companies for 24 weeks each. I would say employers look for the achievements in the workplace, rather than the length. Achieving more in 60 days reflects better than doing menial work for 24 weeks. Of course if you happened to find a quality company then it worked out for you, but if you don't then it will be boring.

Also, given that the BE ME is 5 years, you have the chance to have 3 sets of 60 days work experience in the summer breaks.
 

ChillTime

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You aren't given the 1 year work experience. You need to find it yourself, and if you don't, you won't be allowed to graduate.
I swear, 2 of my colleagues have told me otherwise. Maybe in the past UTS would give you the work experience.
 

D94

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I swear, 2 of my colleagues have told me otherwise. Maybe in the past UTS would give you the work experience.
http://my.feit.uts.edu.au/pages/cou...neering_practice_program/Internship Facts.pdf

"Although the Faculty provides support in finding an internship, each student is ultimately responsible for obtaining his/her own internship."

Also, brent012 (who attends UTS) commented on another thread: http://community.boredofstudies.org/showthread.php?t=310596&p=6407691&viewfull=1#post6407691

I put it down to somewhat misleading marketing. Yes, graduates will have 1 year of work experience; what they don't tell you outright is that you have to find it yourself and if you don't, you won't be able to graduate. Many high school students seem to believe you get handed 1 year of experience on a silver platter and that they don't need to lift a finger.

If you refer to the past, then if it were true, it would have been when UTS was starting out.
 

ChillTime

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http://my.feit.uts.edu.au/pages/cou...neering_practice_program/Internship Facts.pdf

"Although the Faculty provides support in finding an internship, each student is ultimately responsible for obtaining his/her own internship."

Also, brent012 (who attends UTS) commented on another thread: http://community.boredofstudies.org/showthread.php?t=310596&p=6407691&viewfull=1#post6407691

I put it down to somewhat misleading marketing. Yes, graduates will have 1 year of work experience; what they don't tell you outright is that you have to find it yourself and if you don't, you won't be able to graduate. Many high school students seem to believe you get handed 1 year of experience on a silver platter and that they don't need to lift a finger.

If you refer to the past, then if it were true, it would have been when UTS was starting out.
Thanks for the update, I was mistaken. Got to hate the dodgy marketing.
 
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brent012

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Just my opinion but I don't really like the idea of these undergrad/post grad combined courses. Most people would also advise against post grad without any experience if you aren't planning on a career in academia.

I have a friend studying Engineering at UNSW who said that a lot of post grad Eng students there effectively bypassed the compulsory industry experience component required for graduating any B Eng by working at the uni. I'm not sure if that was because of those kind of courses or if it was in general but it sounds a bit questionable imo.

Thanks for the update, I was mistaken. Got to hate the dodgy marketing.
Yep, D94 is right. You have to find the internship yourself, but the uni does help by providing the listing and having a prerequisite (3cp) subject where writing a resume and cover letter is one of the assesments.

Don't let this (solely) deter you from UTS but I do know people who have good grades that are having some trouble finding positions, and in certain majors at the moment there appears to be an element of luck or something outside of grades involved - especially if you are selective in what you apply to.

In saying that I personally did get an internship doing what I wanted (purely software development as opposed to any testing or support) in the semester I started looking and am learning a LOT and enjoying it.

Additionally, most of the companies that take UTS interns would take on students from any university - the difficult part is finding those companies, but even students at UTS have to resort to researching and cold calling. So if you are completely sold on another uni but the engineering practice program is causing you to rethink that you could always just add on the diploma of professional practice at UNSW or take a semester (or year) off uni and end up with the same amount of experience.
 

khoavo12

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Right now, I think I'm gonna go with UTS. My teacher's friend, who is a successful engineer, said that most companies are willing to support employees to study that Master course.
 

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