i was originally planning on going to usyd for comp sci, although i heard they are changing up their comp sci degree so it's not a good idea to go there. is this true?
First of all, USYD and UNSW are both great choices, and there are a number of non-academic reasons to choose one over the other (some of which BLIT2014 has pointed out). As for UTS and Macquarie, I'm sure they're not bad either. I would recommend USYD/UNSW purely on the quality of research that happens there.
Since I go to USYD, I can only give specific details for my uni. A key advice for people interested in comp sci/IT/programming is to simply go for a comp sci major under B. Science (instead of an engineering degree, e.g. IT). The reasons for this are:
- Flexible: you can get a second major or minor(s) from the science faculty, the popular choices being mathematics and statistics. Physics is also surprisingly popular. In comparison, engineering degrees are very rigid, and leave little wriggle room for personalisation.
- Theoretical: comp sci major requires COMP units, which are more theoretical than INFO, ISYS and SOFT units. This means more formal, more maths, and more legit. Definitely way more interesting for some students.
- Can still take IT units: yes, so go for INFO, ISYS and SOFT units to your heart's content (including INFO3616 Principles of Security, which is right up your alley)
- No BS: you don't have to take those compulsory professional development units that engineering students are forced to do. They're boring, has a lot of bs groupwork, and you learn essentially nothing relevant from them. Commerce students also go through this shit.
For these reasons, I know many students who transfer out of Bachelor of IT and into Bachelor of Science.
You're right, there are changes to USYD's degrees, and not all of them we like. The main changes for the single B. Science are as follows:
- They used to have compulsory 24 junior credit points from different areas, so you get a taste of different disciplines in first year to get a variety. Now they've gotten rid of that, and instead you are required to take 12 credit points of "open learning environment" units, which are very small units (2cp vs the standard 6cp) with no exams. Here is the list you can choose from. Tbh they don't look too bad, since there are some maths, stats, programming, economics, physics ones in there. This is a good and bad in my opinion. The good is that compared to the old degree, you actually have 12 extra credit points (i.e. 2 courses) freed up that you can use on something that actually interests you, and OLE units look super easy and can be interested. The bad is that you have to do like 6 different OLE courses, and I personally have no experience with them to decide whether they are worthless or not.
- In the new B. Science degree, you have to either two majors or one major and at least one minor. I see this as a very good thing, as minors used to not be a thing in USYD.
- Every science major now has a major project in the senior year. For comp sci, this isn't too bad, since the additional experience in programming and research is useful to both employment and future research. For other disciplines, I strongly oppose this requirement: (a) it replaces a senior unit, meaning you learn less content/theory in your degree, and (b) major projects are often very messy. I just finished one for stats and I absolutely hated it (group member problems...).
- Dalyell Scholars: So B. Sci (Dalyell Scholars) replaces the old B. Sci (Advanced) and Talented Students Program. In the old Advanced degree, the only difference with regular B. Sci is that you are required to take 24 credit points of senior units in the advanced stream (e.g. COMP3927 Algorithm Design (Advanced) rather than COMP3027 Algorithm Design). Note that you can choose to take advanced units in regular B. Science, so tbh the whole "(Advanced)" title isn't important and is just a flex. Now the new Dalyell Scholars program is kind of an advanced variant of the regular degree, but instead you are required to take additonal "Dalyell" project units. This sounds complicated and pointless, and a ploy for the uni to attract students with high ATARs. So I would recommend against taking up Dalyell Scholars (even if you have 98+ ATAR) to avoid the unnecessary complications. I would very much love to see this program disappear so future students don't get confused and regret the experience.
Hopefully I've summarised the changes to USYD's B. Science degree with my own commentary on the good and bad. In summary, while I think there are bad changes, I think that the end result is a small net positive as the degree is more flexible, particularly for comp sci. If they could get rid of compulsory project units and Dalyell Scholars bs then I would be very happy.
While I'm at it, I might as well as give you more good and bad, which you might not get from anywhere else, so you can make an informed decision. My experiences of comp sci are from my IT minor. I've only taken very theoretical and maths-heavy comp sci units, but I hear things here and there about the rest of the faculty.
Comp sci at USYD can sometimes be brutal. Some courses can sometimes get unnecessarily difficult. As a result, you can get conflicting accounts of the comp sci experience at USYD; the students who are very good at comp sci will enjoy the challenge, end up learning a lot and love it here. The rest of the students who get destroyed will tell you it sucks. To give an example, I took COMP3027 Algorithm Design last semester, which had 200+ students. It was the lecturer's first time teaching. He was very good in my opinion, but he set the assessments to be way more mathematical and theoretically challenging than previous years' assessments. As a result, your average IT student with little maths background got absolutely owned. In contrast, I had an alright time. This semester, the natural progression for algorithms people is to take COMP3530 Discrete Optimisation. Only the bravest from COMP3027 enrolled, so only 40 people enrolled at the start. In the first two weeks it was clear that the course was going to be way more mathematical and hardcore than COMP3027, and enrolments dropped down to 27! Even for a maths person, this course has been quite challenging. Sometimes, courses are just naturally challenging, like COMP2017 Systems Programming, which has an infamous reputation for being the most stressful course for a lot of students. Other times, courses can be messy due to administrative reasons, e.g. markers for assignments get busy during the semester, and so assignments might get handed back super late.
Regardless, keep in mind that this isn't always the case. At every uni and every discipline, there are courses that are stressful for one reason or another. Comp sci has definitely been stressful at times for me, but I'm very glad I did it.
Research opportunities at USYD are fantastic. In undergrad, you can take Special Studies Program to enter into projects with lecturers/academics. You get to know them personally, and get decent experience from working with them. Honours in USYD is even better; lecturers and academics want to have honours students, so all you gotta do is to simply talk to them, and they're very happy to tell you about their work and offer you an honours project. They're nice people and it's one of the reasons why if I'm doing postgrad, I'm doing it here.
Most of your experience here (and anywhere) depends on you. Two students can (and often will) have very different experiences here depending on their choices. There is absolutely no general rule of thumb "Comp sci? Go to UNSW. Maths? Go to USYD." I know a guy who transferred from IT in UNSW to IT in Macquarie. It's their personal decision and they're happier where they are now. But as long as you make the most of where you are, you are guaranteed to be better off and have a great time.
Good luck.
