Commerce/Law or Optometry? (1 Viewer)

[trishan]

Which has the better prospects, Commerce/Law or Optometry? Both are CSP places at the University of Melbourne over five years.

Com/Law offers 100+ places. It is a very competitive course (cleary-in 99.45) with a great scope of career opportunity.

Optom offers 30 odd places. It is extremely competitive (My ENTER: 99.55 and I only got a second round offer) with a very narrow path in what you can take.

Both have good future earning potentials. My strengths match well with both.

 

[groovejet]

Shouldn't you be asking yourself instead of asking better prospects and rather ask what I want to do the most as a career? Do you want to do something in Commerce or Optometry?

 

[Nobody Listened]

Look, you gotta choose what you feel most comfortable in. What interests you the most? Don't just choose something 'cause it's the most prestigious, or highest ENTER. If Optometry was your first preference, you really must've wanted that hey? Think about it.

 

[trishan]

Yeh ,it's not so much about the prestige. I missed out on my first pref and so both com/law and optom are good alternatives. And yes I am wokring on which I would be more happy with. What I asked was in terms on job prospects....which is a better choice. In this way I can accurately make a comparison of both and be able to justify my choice down the line. I was looking for an answer like, optom has better opportunities because... Com/law allows you to...which is unlike optom as...

Edit: I put the clearly-ins in my post to show that my major concern is passing up an opportunity to optom seeing as it is soooo uber-competitive. There must be a reason for this and am I missing a trick by passing on an optom offer.

 

[mitsui]

I had a chance at opmt but then pass it on because I know I cant stand working in one job for the rest of my life

com/law simply offers a broader range of careers.

my thoughts thou

 

[ractnine]

Do you really want to be cooped up in a room from 9 - 5 testing ppl's eyes for the rest of your life? At least with comm/law it'll be easier to jump from job to job if you get bored. Then again, free/discounted sunnies don't sound too bad

I'm sure you'll become successful in either, so choose the one you think is most fun/exciting in the long run

 

[iamverystupid]

Well it doesn't have to be like that. With optom, there are business prospects if you have that mindset. If you are more into managing small businesses I do think Optom will give you that opportunity.
Com/Law on the other hand doesn't give you the same level of business opportunity, but its more career based (if you can appreciate the slight connotative differences of business and career). It doesn't really give you a basis for starting your own business in the same way that optom will do nothing for you in a corporate environment.

If you like rural areas, optom will most likely make you alot of money. Conversely true for Com/Law.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

Com/Law on the other hand doesn't give you the same level of business opportunity,

Um, there is no better degree combination you can possibly do for general business opportunity than Com/Law or Business/Law.

 

[iamverystupid]

What I was referring to was the depth of knowledge of a particular industry that will allow you to start a business, not so much the business mechanisms themselves.
That's what I was talking about when I mentioned the subtle connotative differences.

 

[treelovinhippie]

Why do people ask these questions? lol

You are pretty much deciding what you will be doing possibly for life (or at least the next 5 years). You want to do something YOU ARE INTERESTED IN.

imo I'm interested in business, and could spill out a whole lot of arguments as to why business is superior to any other course... but you have to do what you want to do.

 

[Monstar]

ffs you're gonnna be rich.

 

[ianc]

don't be swayed by the graduate average salary - even though optometry graduates have exceptionally high starting salaries they don't ever increase that much.

also optometrists don't have a particularly exciting job - they basically just prescribe glasses and diagnose eye problems then refer patients to a specialist for treatment. To be an opthalmologist (an eye surgeon) you need a medical degree. I'd love to be a laser eye surgeon because there'd be HUGE money in that, but I think you need more than a B Optometry.....

So the starting salary is the only reason why the UAI is so high for optometry - i don't think the course itself is particularly challenging.

Having said all that , if it was me in your position I'd pick the optometry because I like science/maths/numbers and also I wear glasses so I could save a significant amount of money .

But as people have already said, Commerce/Law provides a whole host of career options - everything from being a lawyer to running your own business.


Good luck with choosing and don't worry about the money. If you work hard in whatever you end up doing I am sure you will earn lots!