Commerce/Engineering @ UNSW (1 Viewer)

[jackiebanh]

Hey, so I've recently been looking at degrees, especially the double degree of Commerce/Engineering @ UNSW.
1. I've heard that certain courses are skipped to allow the degree to be finished in 5.5 years. Wouldn't that mean you are missing chunks of the degree compared to those doing a single degree?
2. In doing this degree, am I still able to have a double major in Commerce.
Thanks

 

[D94]

1. Yes. In Commerce, you do the bare minimum to satisfy a major. The courses you skip are usually used for a double major or minor. In engineering, you skip 4 courses but 2 can be taken from any faculty so you are really just skipping 2 courses which are final year electives.

2. You will not have enough units of credit (each course is typically 6UOC and the Commerce component requires 96UOC in Eng/Com). Even if you spend extra time for a double major, I think you will need approval since you may not be automatically awarded a double major when you graduate.

 

[jackiebanh]

In your opinion, is it worth it? Or would it be much better to do the single commerce degree?

 

[Squar3root]

In your opinion, is it worth it? Or would it be much better to do the single commerce degree?

depends on your future aspirations. IMO, i don't think it's worth it

 

[D94]

In your opinion, is it worth it? Or would it be much better to do the single commerce degree?

Well Engineering is the main degree in an Eng/Com combined degree, and you would have more focus for Engineering than Commerce. So if you are intending on studying a Commerce degree, then you do miss out a lot and will probably put in more time for Engineering. Based on that, it does not seem like it's worth it for you. You may freely disagree.

Also note that your first year will typically be completely Engineering and no Commerce. On the standard plan, Commerce begins second semester of 2nd year. But by then in a single Commerce degree, you could be half way already.

 

[jackiebanh]

Yeah I'm still quite unsure whether I want to pursue engineering or commerce careers. Would you mind explaining to me how UOC, free electives and general education works? Thanks, sorry for asking so many questions.

and in the above where you said 2 electives are skipped, are they the professional electives?

 

[D94]

Well the Units of Credit (UOC) is similar to like the HSC with 2 unit subjects and 1 unit subjects. The majority of courses are 6 UOC and for a single Commerce degree, you need to complete 144 UOC, so similarly, with the HSC, you need to complete at least 10 units. It's possible that you might do some 3 UOC courses, but if not, then 144 UOC is simply 24 courses (so at uni, course = subject).

Free electives, again referring to Commerce, are courses that are from any Faculty (i.e. Australian School of Business (ASB), Engineering, Arts and Social Sciences etc.). Many Commerce students use these to complete a double major, since they can do courses from the ASB. But you could very well do random courses here and there from any faculty.

General education electives are courses which are generally not from your Faculty, that you do to have a "broader" education, albeit just 12 UOC (so typically 2 courses). So you could take an engineering, science, arts, built environment, law etc. course to fulfil this requirement. There is a specific list of recognised general education elective courses, but with permission from the ASB, some that aren't on that list could be allowed. Note that for most combined degrees, you do not do general education electives because you already have that broader education.

 

[jackiebanh]

In engineering, you skip 4 courses but 2 can be taken from any faculty so you are really just skipping 2 courses which are final year electives.

^ What are your thoughts on skipping the electives?

 

[D94]

^ What are your thoughts on skipping the electives?

I can only speak for Mech and myself, and so there would be no issues. You would not be disadvantaged considering you have 3 other electives, and many core subjects.

 

[brent012]

Well Engineering is the main degree in an Eng/Com combined degree, and you would have more focus for Engineering than Commerce. So if you are intending on studying a Commerce degree, then you do miss out a lot and will probably put in more time for Engineering.

This. Engineering/Commerce NOT Commerce/Engineering. If Commerce is your main interest Eng/Comm would not be the ideal course for you.

As for missing subjects - it's not like that. Usually one subject is equivalent to one in the other course, or the content in one is covered in core subjects in the other degree etc.

I study Eng/Business at another uni so the examples I give will definitely not apply to UNSW, but it's the idea i'm trying to explain. In Business I am exempt from a first year stats subject because stats is covered quickly in half of our second sem math subject - they can do this because they can assume we are decent at algebra and calculus by then. A first year business/commerce stats subject cant make any assumption like that and have to dedicate a whole subject to stats as they cant gloss over the maths behind it. The reverse also works with some business-y engineering subjects.