USYD or Macquarie? Have an urgent decision to make! (1 Viewer)

[CCMc]

Prestige was not the only reason I applied for UNSW, the Social Setting is a hell of a lot better than Ourimbah, which only has 2000 students.

 

[ccc333]

Thanks for the replies guys, but prestige isn't my concern whatsoever. The main reason i chose syd over mq is cause i was worried mq would have next to no extracurricular/social stuff, and end up being really boring. thats my only concern. Now i need to think about that in relation to the travel times to both unis. Mq is in my suburb, but syd is all the way in the city.

 

[Azure]

Thanks for the replies guys, but prestige isn't my concern whatsoever. The main reason i chose syd over mq is cause i was worried mq would have next to no extracurricular/social stuff, and end up being really boring. thats my only concern. Now i need to think about that in relation to the travel times to both unis. Mq is in my suburb, but syd is all the way in the city.

Some links that may help you out.

Student groups
Conception day
Conception day on Youtube
Court yard challenge
Court yard concerts
Internship units
Student exchange (students very much encouraged to do this)

 

[alstah]

I picked USyd for Arts because UNSW didn't have an Ancient History department. I didn't like MQ's law faculty as much as I liked USyd's, so I went with Sydney

It was a matter of choice and preference for me, based on some research about the 3 institutions I was considering. (UTS only offers Arts (International Studies) / Law, so that was a no go zone). I also loved USyd's campus and the general feel about the place, I thought, 'could this me my second home for 5 years?' and when the answer came up as 'yes' I decided it was the place to go.

Prestige is useless for undergraduate degrees, there's so much more to an employee than the university he/she attended! Get good grades, build an array of skills (through work experience) and have valuable extracurricular activities! That will distinguish you! Not the prestige of the university!

 

[OzKo]

I picked USyd for Arts because UNSW didn't have an Ancient History department. I didn't like MQ's law faculty as much as I liked USyd's, so I went with Sydney

It was a matter of choice and preference for me, based on some research about the 3 institutions I was considering. (UTS only offers Arts (International Studies) / Law, so that was a no go zone). I also loved USyd's campus and the general feel about the place, I thought, 'could this me my second home for 5 years?' and when the answer came up as 'yes' I decided it was the place to go.

Prestige is useless for undergraduate degrees, there's so much more to an employee than the university he/she attended! Get good grades, build an array of skills (through work experience) and have valuable extracurricular activities! That will distinguish you! Not the prestige of the university!

Repped.

This should be a guide for all prospective undergrads who want to know what really matters when choosing a university and a degree program.

 

[delian]

Travel time to USYD may not be too bad, since it is close to Redfern Station.
But 10 min or so travel to Macquarie is definitely very attractive.

 

[izzy88]

I picked USyd for Arts because UNSW didn't have an Ancient History department. I didn't like MQ's law faculty as much as I liked USyd's, so I went with Sydney

This was exactly my decision 5 years ago USYD also had the positive of being significantly closer to home than Macquarie.

 

[FTW]

Prestige was not the only reason I applied for UNSW, the Social Setting is a hell of a lot better than Ourimbah, which only has 2000 students.

You don't need alot of people to have a good social setting... Social setting isn't directly proportional to how many people there are. In some cases it would be better if there are less people, but it comes down to personal preference.

 

[VIPPER]

I had to make the same decision.. I chose usyd because I visited macquarie and found it pretty exhausting. Total journey (two-way) took well over 3 hours and I had to get off trains 3 times. Macquarie's campus did seem very beautiful though. The library looked looked very impressive.

 

[JayCakie]

You shouldn't be choosing a university based on prestige. You are better choosing a university, any university that:

a) Suits your interests in terms of learning capabilities. This includes subjects etc.
b) And allows you to further you knowledge in a specific field, so be it.

There is nothing wrong with MQ at all. In fact, MQ has a great social atmosphere, the people are nice and it's pretty close to everything considering it's not in the city. MQ also has very good academics and professors it's not just USYD that has them.

Also, unless you apply for a very shallow company, the employer will be more concerned about your grades in the university than the actual university. For example in Arts: it would be better to choose a student who has a HD average from MQ instead of a credit average from USYD. I'm not dissing USYD, but it's your performance the employer will look for. In most cases the employer would not invest the time and energy in finding out which university the individual went to unless they were biased or something - which I would recommend not applying in the first place. I mean imagine what sort of working environment that would produce? Toxic! (In a social sense)

 

[brent012]

Don't listen to this person or any other person that even mentions the word "prestige" in a post about universities as a considering factor. They are morons.

An hour isn't a long time to travel, for starters. They're both decent universities but it's pretty clear that Sydney is your preferred choice.

Don't just presume that. I said reputation as well, i personally can't make a judgement on science at USYD vs Macquarie but i'm fairly sure Usyd would have a good science faculty. If you read my post again and just forget that one sentence, i think you will see the exact same advice anyone else has posted and that i was infact the only one who addressed their actual question rather than turning this into Usyd Vs Macquarie and arguement about the prestige buzz word.

I picked UTS over UNSW and USYD (don't really like USYD though), i don't consider prestige as a considering factor at all. Except for with UNSW where their prestige in engineering/computing has been earnt from having the best faculty in the country.

 

[JayCakie]

Except for with UNSW where their prestige in engineering/computing has been earnt from having the best faculty in the country.

....Right. (I mean I know it's true, but UNSW does have pretty good qualities too. Also, great way of wording that sentence. Makes it harder to actually rebut it without contradicting you, nioce/well played.)

 

[brent012]

....Right. (I mean I know it's true, but UNSW does have pretty good qualities too. Also, great way of wording that sentence. Makes it harder to actually rebut it without contradicting you, nioce/well played.)

Yes i know, i just mean that reputation or prestige is just a novelty unless its backed up by the facilities and staff at the uni. If someone decides to do MBBS at Usyd or Software Engineering at UNSW and reputation/prestige is one of the deciding factors then thats fair enough but i personally cant stand people who strive for ATAR's that will get them into the lowest entry course at USYD so they can then transfer or do whatever random arts degree simply because they percieve USYD to somehow be superior.

 

[ccc333]

Hey guys i appreciate your help but my post had absolutely NOTHING to do with prestige! That doesn't matter to me at all!

I'm just wondering if its worth staying at usyd because of the extracurricular/social side of it, despite the hour long travel time compared to MQ, which probably has less extracurricular, but only takes 10 minutes to get to. I don't want university to be: I go there, lecture/tutorial, i go home and thats it.

 

[OzKo]

Hey guys i appreciate your help but my post had absolutely NOTHING to do with prestige! That doesn't matter to me at all!

I'm just wondering if its worth staying at usyd because of the extracurricular/social side of it, despite the hour long travel time compared to MQ, which probably has less extracurricular, but only takes 10 minutes to get to. I don't want university to be: I go there, lecture/tutorial, i go home and thats it.

Then go to USYD. Travelling 1 hour is nothing.

 

[AsyLum]

Hey guys i appreciate your help but my post had absolutely NOTHING to do with prestige! That doesn't matter to me at all!

I'm just wondering if its worth staying at usyd because of the extracurricular/social side of it, despite the hour long travel time compared to MQ, which probably has less extracurricular, but only takes 10 minutes to get to. I don't want university to be: I go there, lecture/tutorial, i go home and thats it.

Social side will always be dependent on how involved you get, no matter where you go, there'll be things to do, its just a matter of whether you want to participate in them.

Consider however that to get involved in 'social' aspects, that travelling home from getting shitfaced will be a lot harder if you're an hour away

 

[gsweeper]

Mate, MQ has so many things to do if you just go looking for them. I'm not going to pretend to know about all the extra-curricular activities Sydney has, but if you are worried MQ has nothing, you shouldn't worry at all! It is very rare to go a day at uni without some event happening. If you join a club or society at O-week, quite often that gives you an entire social calendar for the year ahead. For example, in my first year I joined the MQ Liberals, and from that I was invited to regular events often with prominent politicians attending. There is a society/club for nearly every interest and they often run regular events. I also recommend partaking in exchange or the Global Leadership Program.

I know everyone has differing opinions, but I love the uni life at MQ. But at the end of the day it is your decision, so best luck with whatever you chose and im sure you'll enjoy your time at usyd/mq very much.

 

[ccc333]

Hey guys any more help would be great, because i received my final round offer for MQ, and im not sure when i have to accept it by, so i want to make my decision quickly.

Thanks!

 

[gettinbetter]

usyd, girls + city ;-)

 

[khorne]

In my opinion if you are going for a non-specialist degree like Arts or Science you are always better off going for the University with higher prestige. I'm doing and always planned on doing a BA and had to consider between MQ, USYD and UNSW, I quickly ruled MQ out for both social, prestige and employability resasons as I realised that if your going to do a BA, the best way to counter the fact there isn't much demand for the degree in the workplace is to do it at a G8 Uni. I'd say this rule also applies to plain BScience degrees. I'll be commuting from the Central Coast but luckily I got my timetable at UNSW down to 3 days.

The best way to counter it is BY NOT DOING A BA AND BEING A MASSIVE DRAIN ON SOCIETY.

money wasted