There are also other variations on the UTS/USYD combo - you can take between 4 - 6 electives in the UTS degree at USYD campus, or you can pick up a Diploma of Arts or Languages or Social Sciences at USYD to combine with your main UTS degree (something I am *thinking* of doing). And you wouldn't be losing that much time either - combining the Bachelor with the Diploma would only have you studying at uni for the intended four years anyway.
Also, as BustinJustin has mentioned, the other universities have internships incl. all the UTS BA in Communications courses, the BSci in Communications at UNSW and the CSU BA in Communications courses as well.
This also might seem like its biased, but alot of people look at the Media & Communications major at USYD as drivel simply because its rather vague and directionless - it doesn't allow you to overly specify in a communications area instead you are simply given a list of subjects to do with about one subject in each general area of communications. Which is enough to make you a bit of a 'Jack of all trades but master of none' type thing for the industry.
There also may be some bias in this, but one of the reasons the MECO major at USYD has taken a few knocks to its reputation is because it is a bit restricted. At essentially every single other university offering a communications degree/major, there will usually be a few variations offered so that you can specialise in a given industry area (if you so choose), or at least choose between a few subjects. USYD lacks this for their MECO major - utilising a generalised overview of the industry:
* Introduction to Media Studies
* Writing for Broadcast Media
* Writing for Print Media
* Media Relations and Advertising
* Internship
* Advanced Print Media Production
* Law & Media
* Government & Media
* Television News Production
And when you compare that to the range of units offered by UTS in that industry:
http://www.handbook.uts.edu.au/hss/lists/alpha.html (and you see a similar range with CSU) then perhaps you can understand the criticism.
That said, its not as if you really need a communications degree to get into the industry, so a more basic education in communications shouldn't really impede you if you want to make the effort after graduation.
If you definitely want to go to USYD, and want a prestigious cut-off then just apply for BA (Advanced). You'd get more choice than in the MECO degree, and it finishes sooner and afterwards if you are still keen on doing something in communications you can do the Dip as BustinJustin has suggested.
