How advisable is it to follow the recommended program structure? (1 Viewer)

[akkatracker]

Hi,

Got a guaranteed spot into Eng/Comm so am slightly looking ahead as to how I will structure my first year. The recommended program structure says to only do Engineering subjects for the first year and then only commerce for the second year.

Some people who are already at university said that First year engineering has a crappy workload and to try to mix some commerce subjects in to lighten the load.

I have 2 questions?

1. Are you allowed to do this (basically how strict are UNSW on you following their program or as long as you meet prereq's can you take in any order)

2. If you are allowed to do this, is it a good idea? I'd rather do subjects from both (even if it is just one commerce one) so I can immerse myself in the business school as well as they eng faculty as well as lighten my load. I understand in later years it is better to stick with only one degree a semester so exchanges can become possible.

 

[D94]

1. Not strict, no one really cares.

2. Maybe, but the reason why it's advisable to do engineering courses asap is due to prerequisite courses only being offered in a specific semester and that they get full early on. Whereas in Commerce, there's generally more spots available and more flexibility in selecting courses.

 

[I97]

I'd strongly suggest that you still do all Engineering subjects during first sem because thats all the foundation courses (math, physics, computing and design), and if you do wish to have commerce in first year then do 1 commerce subject during 2nd sem and leave out 1 of your engineering electives for either summer or the following year. The tricky bit is to plan out your later years if you want to mix up subjects between engg and comm because as said above, not all courses are offered both sems and that may actually delay your progress if not carefully planned out.

 

[akkatracker]

Ah ok that does make sense.

May have to just take the one commerce subject in the second half of the year (I'm fine with that).

On a side note, are there any courses I should be looking at taking in certain semesters? A mate of mine who started last year said he's only taking engg1000 first semester this year because in semester 2 you're more likely to have a bad group with bad (you know the kind of people) foreign students?

Any other cases like this

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[I97]

What engineering stream are you doing, if you're doing civil I might be able to offer some more insight into which subjects are offered when etc? As for ENGG1000, definitely choose it in 1st sem otherwise the number of projects to choose from in 2nd sem is very limited (there was at least 15 in 1st sem this year but from what I heard only a few in 2nd sem) + better groups first sem (some projects like civil ones you can choose your own group, others like the electrical you get randomly assigned so i guess its the luck of the draw)

 

[akkatracker]

Probably electrical - I hear though for engg1000 the elec project isn't advisable... Can you confirm?

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[I97]

From what I've heard the electrical project was tough this year. Very difficult + very harsh marking (also there was a lot of peer marking which was complained about). Also you couldnt choose your own group so there was that too. The civil projects (theres 4 to choose from) tend to be the easiest (both in terms of workload + assessment) and many non-civil students choose to to get an easy/bludgy course during first sem, which is why they fill up in the first 20 seconds.

Also, if you want to do a civil project with a bit more of an electrical theme, one of the projects is generally to build some form of a wave energy generator so theres that to consider.