• Congratulations to the Class of 2024 on your results!
    Let us know how you went here
    Got a question about your uni preferences? Ask us here

Are health degrees better at UNSW or USYD? (2 Viewers)

sal_h

New Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2023
Messages
3
Gender
Female
HSC
2023
Hi, so I'm personally thinking about going into either Bachelor of Applied Science - Occupational Therapy at USYD or Bachelor of Exercise Science/Master of Physiotherapy and Exercise Physiology at UNSW. I'm happy with either one but now I can't choose between the two. I'm aware of the differences between the courses themselves and future career paths but which would be better?

Physio at UNSW is a 5 year course whereas OT at USYD is 4 years. I've also heard that with Physio you can specialise into specific areas after the base undergraduate/master course but I don't know if the same is true for OT. I've also heard that USYD is better for health degrees but the social life/uni life at UNSW seems more fun and more appealing to me. I really don't know! If anyone is studying either of these courses please help me out!!!
 
Joined
Nov 1, 2020
Messages
39
Gender
Male
HSC
2028
do physio, more opportunities once u grauduate, greater salary, not to mention most people in OT tend to switch to physio. So if u have the atar just start off at physio to begin with. Physios can specialise in a lot of different areas and no other allied health profession comes close in terms of different specialties. U can go into paediatrics, oncology, geriatrics, private, hospital, sports or general MSK. UNSW physio also includes exercise physiology and exercise science which is why the course is one year longer compared to usyd physio. I personally think this one year trade off is super worth it, especially if u want to make more money and have a greater appeal to employers.
If u have more qns u can send me a DM
 

sal_h

New Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2023
Messages
3
Gender
Female
HSC
2023
do physio, more opportunities once u grauduate, greater salary, not to mention most people in OT tend to switch to physio. So if u have the atar just start off at physio to begin with. Physios can specialise in a lot of different areas and no other allied health profession comes close in terms of different specialties. U can go into paediatrics, oncology, geriatrics, private, hospital, sports or general MSK. UNSW physio also includes exercise physiology and exercise science which is why the course is one year longer compared to usyd physio. I personally think this one year trade off is super worth it, especially if u want to make more money and have a greater appeal to employers.
If u have more qns u can send me a DM
i ended up picking OT after making a pros and cons list 😭 i just thought that career wise it isnt as touchy as physio is but worst comes to worst ill probs switch to physio if i really want to and put in the extra hours. Thanks so much though!
 
Joined
Nov 1, 2020
Messages
39
Gender
Male
HSC
2028
i ended up picking OT after making a pros and cons list 😭 i just thought that career wise it isnt as touchy as physio is but worst comes to worst ill probs switch to physio if i really want to and put in the extra hours. Thanks so much though!
fair enough, physio is a lot of touching, that's not to say OT has none, you may as an OT have to take nurse and care taker roles, potentially aid elderly or injured patients to take shits and clean up. though it is still fun. u can still receive offers for physio in the following rounds. I do think however, you should potentially consider exercise physiology as its a bit of a middle ground for physio and OT, where u get to learn advanced testing and treat injuries while also diagnosing rather than being an aid.
Lmk if u have any other qns
 

sal_h

New Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2023
Messages
3
Gender
Female
HSC
2023
fair enough, physio is a lot of touching, that's not to say OT has none, you may as an OT have to take nurse and care taker roles, potentially aid elderly or injured patients to take shits and clean up. though it is still fun. u can still receive offers for physio in the following rounds. I do think however, you should potentially consider exercise physiology as its a bit of a middle ground for physio and OT, where u get to learn advanced testing and treat injuries while also diagnosing rather than being an aid.
Lmk if u have any other qns
ahh alright then. i might consider that then if i end up not liking OT. Thanks a lot again!
 

ariandjabari

New Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2023
Messages
15
Gender
Male
HSC
2023
fair enough, physio is a lot of touching, that's not to say OT has none, you may as an OT have to take nurse and care taker roles, potentially aid elderly or injured patients to take shits and clean up. though it is still fun. u can still receive offers for physio in the following rounds. I do think however, you should potentially consider exercise physiology as its a bit of a middle ground for physio and OT, where u get to learn advanced testing and treat injuries while also diagnosing rather than being an aid.
Lmk if u have any other qns
Would it be an added benefit that the UNSW program offers a masters in physio and Ex Physiology in 5 years compared to the regular 4 + 2 years for a masters while taking the bachelors pathway?
 
Joined
Nov 1, 2020
Messages
39
Gender
Male
HSC
2028
Would it be an added benefit that the UNSW program offers a masters in physio and Ex Physiology in 5 years compared to the regular 4 + 2 years for a masters while taking the bachelors pathway?
the regular 4 + 2 thing is not as good as the unsw 5 year course. Reasongs being that ifd u do 4 years exphys and 2 years masters/doctors of physio u will be having a greater HECS debt as masters are expensive as a separate course, whereas unsw binds it into one so the price is severely decreased making u save a lot of money. The other thing is that u would have spent 6 years if u do the 4 + 2 and u would not have gotten the exercise science acreddition which would take u an additional year making the whole journey be 7 year at quickest. One more annoying thing is the fact that u wont be able to do all 3 at one uni and will find the whole 2 accreditions to feel disjointed and not cohesive unlike at unsw where u are doing everything at one place with a clear line of plan.
So I would defo choose the unsw physio course, if u d get into it I would recommend doing an undergrad physio course at wsu usyd or acu rather than undergrad exercise phys as if u can get in to physio duringyour undergrad u might aswell go as u may not have the marks to trnadsfer if u do exphys first.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 2)

Top