HELP! Majors for Bachelor of Commerce at UNSW? (1 Viewer)

[luhanbby]

i'm most interested in the finance and accounting double majors, but i know it's a super super common combination. Bachelor of Commerce by itself is so mainstream.. but i've really taken into account my strengths and honestly i think it lies somewhere in the scopes of a com/eco degree :/ i don't have enough knowledge of the different combinations of majors to say like oh maybe i should do a financial economics/finance double major

another major problem is my sister's doing an accounting/finance major -_- and like within the family there's competition and all that shit and she makes me feel like i shouldn't be doing it. even though i feel like i can do relatively well in it since i'll always try my hardest in whatever i do. taking finance/accounting major is the 'safe' option i guess; but I'm curious to see if anyone had other combos of majors that still worked really well with each other?

i know with a BCOM degree, you're going to need like extracurriculars + work experience (if possible) + maintain a distinction or higher average? to even distinguish yourselves from the rest of the commerce people; and if i'm thinking like this, thats pretty much every commerce student's aim LOL so ultimately i wouldn't distinguish myself from anyone. so ultimately i think it comes down to being able to maintain a good grade? or maybe some postgraduate study idk

i've considered doing a double degree with comm/eco or comm/information systems but not really sure if it would even give me any kind of 'advantage'. it's obviously more costly as well.

/sigh i wish i was capable of engineering or a law degree; commerce is way too mainstream

 

[D94]

i know with a BCOM degree, you're going to need like extracurriculars + work experience (if possible) + maintain a distinction or higher average? to even distinguish yourselves from the rest of the commerce people; and if i'm thinking like this, thats pretty much every commerce student's aim LOL so ultimately i wouldn't distinguish myself from anyone. so ultimately i think it comes down to being able to maintain a good grade? or maybe some postgraduate study idk

/sigh i wish i was capable of engineering or a law degree; commerce is way too mainstream

What you described for distinguishing yourself in commerce is no different to engineering or law. Do you think just because we don't do commerce, we get a free pass into a job?

There are less grad positions in engineering, but with relatively more students competing for positions than in commerce (if we take UNSW as a sample size). At the very least, do something you're interested in or good at.

 

[luhanbby]

What you described for distinguishing yourself in commerce is no different to engineering or law. Do you think just because we don't do commerce, we get a free pass into a job?

There are less grad positions in engineering, but with relatively more students competing for positions than in commerce (if we take UNSW as a sample size). At the very least, do something you're interested in or good at.

umm not really what i meant. in any course extra curricular, work experience and good grades will always be the distinguishing factors but commerce is so mainstream though. if i were capable of doing engineering or law, i feel like it's more specialised than commerce. sorry if it offended you wasn't my intention.

 

[D94]

umm not really what i meant. in any course extra curricular, work experience and good grades will always be the distinguishing factors but commerce is so mainstream though. if i were capable of doing engineering or law, i feel like it's more specialised than commerce. sorry if it offended you wasn't my intention.

Didn't offend, just wanted to give some perspective. Commerce needs to be mainstream - we live in a commercial society, dominated by large corporations and banks. As a consequence, Commerce is extremely popular, leads to a wider range of jobs, higher paying jobs, and more opportunity. You're at university, you are with very capable students, and your concerns are intrinsic because you realise you might be no different to your peers. But I can assure you that it is no different to engineering, not matter how specialised it may seem. Engineering, esp. at UNSW is mainstream, after all, it started as a tech university.

Why not aim for a job, then work back to see which majors best fit that area. If you're not sure which specific majors, try contacting some companies or academics and see what they suggest.

 

[Chronost]

umm not really what i meant. in any course extra curricular, work experience and good grades will always be the distinguishing factors but commerce is so mainstream though. if i were capable of doing engineering or law, i feel like it's more specialised than commerce. sorry if it offended you wasn't my intention.

I don't think you understand what makes commerce "mainstream" maybe?
The fact is that Commerce has a wide range of majors and has decent employability prospects - and distinctions aren't handed out either, as long as your decent you'll find a job - maybe not at a multinational but a job nevertheless. When you try and assume that everyone will think like you that they need distinctions then maybe they might as well also think like you and say its too "mainstream" and do another degree. At the end of the day if you think your good at something, go for it, there's plenty of people that do commerce that were only forced to do it through their parents or for the employment prospects and dont do well in it, you basically go above these people and find yourself a job - not to mention a high amount of commerce students are international and for many jobs you won't be competing with them because of visa/pernament residenicy issues.

Also as D94 mentioned - this is the same with many degrees, it's just a foolish way of thinking that because something is popular it will result with you doing the degree for nothing (unless it's pharmacy lel)

 

[luhanbby]

Didn't offend, just wanted to give some perspective. Commerce needs to be mainstream - we live in a commercial society, dominated by large corporations and banks. As a consequence, Commerce is extremely popular, leads to a wider range of jobs, higher paying jobs, and more opportunity. You're at university, you are with very capable students, and your concerns are intrinsic because you realise you might be no different to your peers. But I can assure you that it is no different to engineering, not matter how specialised it may seem. Engineering, esp. at UNSW is mainstream, after all, it started as a tech university.

Why not aim for a job, then work back to see which majors best fit that area. If you're not sure which specific majors, try contacting some companies or academics and see what they suggest.

thank you for your help!! its just this view that has been engrained into my mind for the last two years. constantly hearing people say to me that there are many commerce graduates.. and that there's no competitive advantage choosing the course, especially if it's done as a single degree. whenever my friends ask and I'm like I want to do commerce at unsw, the comments I get about it is always something to do with 'too many people do commerce!'

But despite this I know it's the right course for me because it's the one where I know I'll excel at the most if I tried hard. I'll try asking some companies it never occurred to me to do that haha I guess I thought they wouldn't reply to me..


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[luhanbby]

I don't think you understand what makes commerce "mainstream" maybe?
The fact is that Commerce has a wide range of majors and has decent employability prospects - and distinctions aren't handed out either, as long as your decent you'll find a job - maybe not at a multinational but a job nevertheless. When you try and assume that everyone will think like you that they need distinctions then maybe they might as well also think like you and say its too "mainstream" and do another degree. At the end of the day if you think your good at something, go for it, there's plenty of people that do commerce that were only forced to do it through their parents or for the employment prospects and dont do well in it, you basically go above these people and find yourself a job - not to mention a high amount of commerce students are international and for many jobs you won't be competing with them because of visa/pernament residenicy issues.

Also as D94 mentioned - this is the same with many degrees, it's just a foolish way of thinking that because something is popular it will result with you doing the degree for nothing (unless it's pharmacy lel)

yep I agree haha my view is very much influenced by what I hear from people and honestly a lot of the forums I go on throw the word 'mainstream' around for commerce and I remember someone saying 'every owner and their dog does it' LOL that was like....

I know it won't result in 'nothing' but there's always that fear that when I'm competing with so many people, I'm going to find it extremely hard to get a job. saying it is easy but I can't guarantee that I'll ace my exams, even though I'm like saying better maintain a distinction average WAM, do this do that.

I've kinda come to terms with like even if I'm majoring in finance/accounting and it's the same as my sis, she'll just have to deal with it because I need to do what's best for me. it sucks though because I need to doubt my decision because even my parents are like.. both in commerce industry and only one year apart? /sigh


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[obliviousninja]

Yeah feels. Struggles of maintaining a D wam. My major fkd me up. At least heaps of job opportunities

 

[Jinks]

Why not aim for a job, then work back to see which majors best fit that area. If you're not sure which specific majors, try contacting some companies or academics and see what they suggest.

This is the best advice you're going to get. There are a heap of commerce graduates but there are also a heap of engineering and law graduates so this is becoming less and less of a 'competitive advantage'. The appeal of commerce is that in 3 years you can basically be done and working full-time with pretty significant career progression opportunities and unlimited earning potential. This isn't the case for a lot of fields where your degree qualifies you for one job with a set path.

As everyone has already said as well, distinction average makes you competitive for most grad / intern positions (not all - think IB, Consulting, Big 4 TAS, Insto etc.) and just work on ECs.

 

[Jinks]

(unless it's pharmacy lel)

+1

 

[4025808]

Didn't offend, just wanted to give some perspective. Commerce needs to be mainstream - we live in a commercial society, dominated by large corporations and banks. As a consequence, Commerce is extremely popular, leads to a wider range of jobs, higher paying jobs, and more opportunity. You're at university, you are with very capable students, and your concerns are intrinsic because you realise you might be no different to your peers. But I can assure you that it is no different to engineering, not matter how specialised it may seem. Engineering, esp. at UNSW is mainstream, after all, it started as a tech university.

Why not aim for a job, then work back to see which majors best fit that area. If you're not sure which specific majors, try contacting some companies or academics and see what they suggest.

Definitely can vouch for this one. Looking back I would have considered doing a cadetship along with part time uni study, and if I hated it I'll quit after 1 year and do something else.