UNSW OR USYD (1 Viewer)

[Dabeast]

Hey guys,

So I managed to achieve an ATAR of 92 for the HSC which allowed me to have the opportunity (with bonus points) to apply for a double degree in engineering (mechatronics) and commerce (probs will be finance) at either UNSW or USYD. I am not sure which is the better uni out of the two but from what I've heard from a lot of people (idk if its reliable lol), UNSW is the better option. At the same time, I have heard that USYD has better connections to international engineering companies whilst UNSW has better connections to national engineering companies. Other factors such as travel and friends aren't regarded here since travel is literally only a 10 mins difference and I have basically the same amount of friends going to both (I'm hoping to make new ones anyways ). I am hoping to have a really good and active social life at uni so that is also a big factor that I'm considering. Also, IDK why but the engo/comm double degree is 5.7 years at UNSW and only 5 years at USYD.

PLS help me

 

[strawberrye]

Hi there,
It seems you have done a bit of research into both universities' programs. Although I have not studied engineering, I have studied in UNSW and all I can say is that connections to engineering companies should play a minor role in your decision making. For example, at UNSW, you are expected to find your own internship to fulfil the industrial training component of your program, so whether the university has connections to engineering companies or not is not going to affect which companies you end up applying to get experience. If what you know is true, the only thing it may affect is the type of companies that you get to work for in practical project subjects where you may get exposed to working with an external client, but again, given the short duration of such projects, it is unlikely to impact on your ability to fulfil your career prospects nationally or internationally. Although the degree length difference do seem to be significant, but in the context of your entire working career, 7 months is unlikely to be a deal breaker (unless you really want to get out of university asap).

Hope this helps a bit and all the best wishes for the new year.

 

[sida1049]

This actually has little to do with the UNSW vs USYD thing, but since you're planning to study engineering, maybe instead of combining it with B. Science and major in financial mathematics or something (USYD has this as a major, but if you're going UNSW, you could major in applied maths and consider the masters of financial mathematics program if you're interested in that).

Reasons are as follows.

• Studying applied maths generally compliments engineering quite well.
• A background in financial maths is considered to be sufficient for a career in finance. This is because employers look for people with quantatitive and analytical skills. Many graduate programs for trading companies and whatnot are specifically geared towards maths and stats (and sometimes comp sci) people without formal training in finance, and explicitly tell you "don't worry about it - we'll train you in finance ourselves." It's much easier to teach finance to a maths person than maths to a finance person. Moreover, where with a finance major, you're competing with the thousands of other finance graduates each year when job hunting, with a financial/applied maths major, you're competing with a much smaller pool of graduates.

That said, if you still want to do finance under commerce, by all means go for it.

Also, I echo everything mentioned by @strawberrye