Difference between Science courses? (1 Viewer)

[Alext_]

Hey,
What's the difference between Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science (Adv Math.) and Bachelor of Science (Adv Science)?
I've heard that in Bachelor of Science (Adv Math) you can only major in Mathematics and similarly for Science ("sciency" subjects, so no maths) and Bachelor of Science is major in basically Science or Maths.
Is this true?

 

[Shadowdude]

What uni is this for, I'm going to assume UNSW?

 

[Alext_]

yeah sorry. this is for unsw

 

[Shadowdude]

Bachelor of Science is your normal Science degree where you can major in whatever - it's comparable to other Science degrees. This has the widest scope.

If you do Advanced Science, if you look at your UAC guide or here: http://www.science.unsw.edu.au/future-students/bachelor-science-advanced , you can only do certain majors. Some majors overlap with normal Science, and you take these at a higher level.

If you do Advanced Maths, you can only do mathematics majors - pick one of Pure, Applied, Statistics or if you're invited into it - Quant Risk.


So basically, if you like maths and are up for a challenge- take Advanced Maths. If you're up for a challenge in one of the majors in the link - take Advanced Science. Otherwise, just take normal Science because it's pretty much the same thing.

Though some majors are specific to Adv. Maths or Adv. Science - so just do a little bit of course research beforehand.

 

[Obvious]

Bachelor of Science is your normal Science degree where you can major in whatever - it's comparable to other Science degrees. This has the widest scope.

If you do Advanced Science, if you look at your UAC guide or here: http://www.science.unsw.edu.au/future-students/bachelor-science-advanced , you can only do certain majors. Some majors overlap with normal Science, and you take these at a higher level.

If you do Advanced Maths, you can only do mathematics majors - pick one of Pure, Applied, Statistics or if you're invited into it - Quant Risk.


So basically, if you like maths and are up for a challenge- take Advanced Maths. If you're up for a challenge in one of the majors in the link - take Advanced Science. Otherwise, just take normal Science because it's pretty much the same thing.

Though some majors are specific to Adv. Maths or Adv. Science - so just do a little bit of course research beforehand.

Don't you have to do a compulsory honors year at UNSW for advanced math?

An Honours Year of 48 units of credit must be completed. For information regarding the admission requirements and application process for honours, please see the information below under 'Honours'.

http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/programs/2013/3986.html

Looks like it does.

 

[Shadowdude]

Yes, but if you don't want to do it - you transfer to normal Science and graduate with that.

 

[Obvious]

Yes, but if you don't want to do it - you transfer to normal Science and graduate with that.

Doesn't that kill the point of doing the degree in the first place?

 

[Shadowdude]

Doesn't that kill the point of doing the degree in the first place?

Well, yes and no. I know a few people who are dropping out of Adv Maths because they don't want to do Honours anymore - it's not something for them. This can happen for various reasons, maybe a few numerical people don't want to do the whole thesis aspect - and writing about maths. Maybe others feel they want to work instead of take an extra year studying...

You also have people dropping out because of the usual "It's not for me", "Maths is too hard" and of course, "I don't want to do Honours".


Only way you find out is really by doing maths, and the higher levels you go - the closer you end up to the sorts of research mathematics, and you can determine whether there's a field you want to specialise in and do research.

 

[plasticities]

Doesn't that kill the point of doing the degree in the first place?

Pretty much yes, but there are a few classes such as SCIF1121 (lol) and the SCIF Research Internships that are only available to Adv Science students. So even though you wouldn't have the Advanced title, I guess you would still have that research experience, that wouldn't have been available to you otherwise.

To OP, in Adv Maths at UNSW, yes you can only major in maths. Previously the Adv Science degree was everything in science pretty much, bar maths. But for those enrolling next year, they've changed the majors a lot, so you can major in mathematics or statistics within Adv Science (so I think it would be a lot easier to double major with physics for example?). But, except for Food Science, I think all of the majors that are included in BSc are included in the BSc Adv plus much more. In terms of workload, I don't think there's that much of a difference, unless you do subjects in higher years that have an advanced option, in which case you must take it. I'm doing neuroscience, and none of the courses I'm taking have an advanced level, so it's the same workload pretty much as doing it in BSc. There is also honours, so you need to make sure that's something you're willing to do, otherwise the degree is pointless and you'll end up graduating with a BSc anyway.

So tl;dr, if you like maths definitely do Adv maths, unless you to do a science double major at the Adv level, do BSc Adv if you want to get into research, want to do honours or want to major in something only available in BSc Adv.

 

[4025808]

lol SCIF. My goodness. :/

 

[illmatic1]

B 'Advanced' Science is basically a marketing ploy because BSci has a relatively low ATAR entry, and high achievers like to enrol in degrees that require higher ATARs to externally validate themselves. B Adv Sci is actually less flexible because if you want to do hons somewhere other than UNSW, you have to drop down to B Sci (hassle) before you apply to other hons courses... this can get awkward if you are considering multiple labs (both UNSW/non-UNSW) for hons.