Commerce/Law at USyd or UNSW? (1 Viewer)

[drakdaystar]

Hey guys,

I received an ATAR of 99.95 and am unsure whether to go to UNSW of USyd for Commerce/Law. I have been offered a scholarship at both universities. However, UNSW does provide a mentor with their scholarship and I'm just wondering if anyone has had experiences and could provide me with a suggestion as to which university is preferable based on the scholarship circumstances.

Thanks

 

[ifrit112]

It will be hard to get an impartial and unbiased answer here.

Well done on your ATAR, both are very good unis, and I'm sure you will be quite happy at either. I recommend you look at things such as student life, ease of transport, course flexibility (in commerce and in the law side), or whatever it is that you consider important (you will be at uni for a while doing that degree).

 

[Shadowdude]

Commerce is generally regarded as better at UNSW, but for Law... arguably Sydney would be more prestigious.

Toss up. As ifrit said, do some research on the important stuff. Imagine a week at uni - and research everything you're not sure about, like how you'll get there, or where to get food, or where to study, or general accessibility, etc.

 

[deswa1]

I'm not quite sure what relevance this answer has, or why the post was made today, given that UAC prefences have closed? Anyway, here are a few things to consider:

General:

- Whichever uni you go to, you will be there for the next five years. There's no point going somewhere that you'll hate, simply because its slightly more prestigious, as this'll affect your performance, well-being, everything. I'd honestly suggest go where your heart tells you- go where you'll be happier, more 'at-home' etc.
- Personally for me, travel time isn't an issue. It does take me longer to get to UNSW than USyd but you can read or talk to people on the bus and that doesn't bother me. If its an issue for you, take it into account.

Scholarship/99.95

- Most people in your position will go to USyd. I think in my cohort at UNSW, there are only 2 99.95's, maybe a third that I don't know about.
- The mentor is apparently very useful in later years when it comes to things like career direction, connections and so forth. Even in first year though, I know some of my friend's mentors have gotten them jobs in some legal firms and so on so it is a useful thing. Personally, in first year I didn't find it that useful, but a lot of it depends on who you get and also what you do yourself (I spent time doing a lot of extra things myself and making connections so mentor didn't matter as much).

UNSW v USyd

- They are both great uni's and realistically you won't go wrong either way- when it comes to things like jobs, your personal characteristics, extra-cirriculars and so on will determine more than the UNSW/USyd distinction.
- USyd is more prestigious for law.
- UNSW has a better commerce faculty.
- UNSW has smaller class sizes for law (around 30 people compared to 300 people lectures at USyd).

For what its worth, I went to UNSW from your position and I love it. Its a great uni, good campus life and I've made some great friends. I'm not trying to convince you to join us- I know some of my friends went to USyd from your position and they love it as well. For me personally, I always felt that the USyd law faculty was too elistist and I felt much more comfortable at UNSW, and that with the small class sizes made my decision.

Good luck

 

[flashyGoldFish]

Law is even at both unis. commerce is much better at unsw. hence go unsw

 

[timeslowsdown]

I'm not quite sure what relevance this answer has, or why the post was made today, given that UAC prefences have closed? Anyway, here are a few things to consider:

General:

- Whichever uni you go to, you will be there for the next five years. There's no point going somewhere that you'll hate, simply because its slightly more prestigious, as this'll affect your performance, well-being, everything. I'd honestly suggest go where your heart tells you- go where you'll be happier, more 'at-home' etc.
- Personally for me, travel time isn't an issue. It does take me longer to get to UNSW than USyd but you can read or talk to people on the bus and that doesn't bother me. If its an issue for you, take it into account.

Scholarship/99.95

- Most people in your position will go to USyd. I think in my cohort at UNSW, there are only 2 99.95's, maybe a third that I don't know about.
- The mentor is apparently very useful in later years when it comes to things like career direction, connections and so forth. Even in first year though, I know some of my friend's mentors have gotten them jobs in some legal firms and so on so it is a useful thing. Personally, in first year I didn't find it that useful, but a lot of it depends on who you get and also what you do yourself (I spent time doing a lot of extra things myself and making connections so mentor didn't matter as much).

UNSW v USyd

- They are both great uni's and realistically you won't go wrong either way- when it comes to things like jobs, your personal characteristics, extra-cirriculars and so on will determine more than the UNSW/USyd distinction.
- USyd is more prestigious for law.
- UNSW has a better commerce faculty.
- UNSW has smaller class sizes for law (around 30 people compared to 300 people lectures at USyd).

For what its worth, I went to UNSW from your position and I love it. Its a great uni, good campus life and I've made some great friends. I'm not trying to convince you to join us- I know some of my friends went to USyd from your position and they love it as well. For me personally, I always felt that the USyd law faculty was too elistist and I felt much more comfortable at UNSW, and that with the small class sizes made my decision.

Good luck

Great answer deswa1! You summed it up perfectly. I didn't get 99.95 so I'm not sure about the differences in the scholarship, but when I was deciding between Usyd & UNSW, I literally just went with my gut. My parents wanted me to go to Usyd because of the prestige, but I ended up going to UNSW because I really loved the atmosphere. I also chose UNSW for law because it supposedly has a more progressive approach to its law teaching (although I'm not sure of the validity of this), and because it offered a more specialised major for the area of science I wanted to go into.