ANU vs UNSW vs USYD vs Melbourne vs Macquarie finance/commerce?

[constantinex]

ANU vs UNSW vs USYD vs Melbourne vs Macquarie for finance/commerce?

Hey guys!

I’m finishing IB/high school and going to Australia to start uni in the second semester of 2010 under the international student status. Hence, I’ll be paying international fees (i.e. AUD28000/annum). I plan to major in Finance and I need to make my decision and accept an offer soon, but I’m not sure which uni to choose.

The uni offers that I have are:
ANU – Bachelor of Finance
UNSW – Bachelor of Commerce
USYD – Bachelor of Commerce
Macquarie – Bachelor of Applied Finance
Melbourne – Bachelor of Commerce

I’ve done quite a bit of research and poking around, and these are what I’ve been getting:
- Melbourne is very theory-based…
- Macquarie is only good for grad/masters…
- ANU is good for Economics but not Commerce…
- USYD is very money-grabbing towards international students, and the education not worth what I’ll be paying… However, Sydney is better recognized in Hong Kong.
- UNSW has the best Commerce program…
Are they true? Can you guys clear the air for me please?

My ultimate questions is: In terms of international recognition, local recognition, job prospects, international exchange program, industry connections, and helping place international students in internships/jobs, which uni would be the best to attend?

I’m originally from Taiwan. Since I don’t have Australian citizenship, I intend on going back to Asia to work, i.e. Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Taiwan, etc. I’m keeping Australia as an open option (if companies are willing to get me a working visa).

So, what do you guys say? Can you guys help me choose a school please?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[shuttle_bus5]

Re: ANU vs UNSW vs USYD vs Melbourne vs Macquarie for finance/commerce?

UNSW for commerce.
ANU or USYD for economics.

 

[FutureSight01]

Also know that UNSW is packed full of international students already Also, don't see how USYD would be any more money-grabbing than any other uni. I heard UMelb charges even more! Tbh, for Sydney it's between UNSW and USYD. Pick based on factors such as transport etc between them. There's nothing to do in Canberra, so ANU isn't as good to go to though they are a good uni apparently. Don't know much about UMelb, but heard it's decent. So UNSW, USYD and UMelb really... UMacq, dunno either.

 

[Monstar]

melbourne is ace at everything.. you can't go wrong. If i were i'd head down there if you had the choice/can be bothered living in a new place.

Macquarie is the uni i attend. currently, i can attest to its dodgey teaching especially as you proceed higher into the third year subjects.. its quite irritating at times. finance lacks staff who realise that the real world is a far place from academics. i'm not sure if this applies to all unis.. but it does to mine. I'm also pretty adamant you have to work for those distinctions and i mean WORK, its a combination of the stupid staff making stupid assessments and them being incompetent.

my 2cents.

 

[x.Exhaust.x]

Re: ANU vs UNSW vs USYD vs Melbourne vs Macquarie for finance/commerce?

UNSW for commerce.
ANU or USYD for economics.

This. You'll fit in very well with the international students at UNSW commerce too.

Just curious, but what makes you think that UNSW has the best commerce program?

 

[constantinex]

@x.Exaust.x
@shuttle_bus5
So in your opinion, why UNSW for commerce? Why not ANU for commerce/finance? I know Canberra is kinda boring, but ANU is the best/most prestigious uni in Australia right?

melbourne is ace at everything.. you can't go wrong. If i were i'd head down there if you had the choice/can be bothered living in a new place.

Macquarie is the uni i attend. currently, i can attest to its dodgey teaching especially as you proceed higher into the third year subjects.. its quite irritating at times. finance lacks staff who realise that the real world is a far place from academics. i'm not sure if this applies to all unis.. but it does to mine. I'm also pretty adamant you have to work for those distinctions and i mean WORK, its a combination of the stupid staff making stupid assessments and them being incompetent.

University of Melbourne is awesome and I love Melbourne, but is it true that they teach more theoretical than hands-on/real-world stuff? The thing is, I lived in Melbourne a few years back, I kinda wanna live in a different city this time. Their tuition is also the highest out of all of them so it's kinda a down-side for me, but i guess the cost of living is slightly lower... I'd also imagine that unis in Sydney would have better industry connections and job placements than Melbourne? I mean, it IS where all the actions happen...!

What about Macquarie's student exchange program and careers/job placement? Macquarie is kinda my back-up university though, since its requirement is the lowest out of all the offers. Since you're a Sydney-sider, do you know much about UNSW/USYD?

This. You'll fit in very well with the international students at UNSW commerce too.

Just curious, but what makes you think that UNSW has the best commerce program?

Haha I'm not a FOB, English is pretty much my first language... idk, Taiwanese/Korean/Japanese soaps aren't really my thing. but hopefully I'll fit in well. My friends are pretty much from all over the world... okay... but... is it easy to fit in? I'm a bit shy at first, but I'm really bubbly and friendly when I get to know people. I found people to be quite segregated when I was in Melbourne... the wogs hung out with wogs, whites with whites, viets with viets, chinks with chinks, etc. etc. etc. I don't really see different races mingling with each other. That was in year 9, is it still like that in uni?

I don't really have an opinion on UNSW's commerce, but that's what i've been hearing from other people. I guess it's also cuz their ATAR requirement is the highest. Whaddya think?

 

[Monstar]

@x.Exaust.x
@shuttle_bus5
So in your opinion, why UNSW for commerce? Why not ANU for commerce/finance? I know Canberra is kinda boring, but ANU is the best/most prestigious uni in Australia right?



University of Melbourne is awesome and I love Melbourne, but is it true that they teach more theoretical than hands-on/real-world stuff? The thing is, I lived in Melbourne a few years back, I kinda wanna live in a different city this time. Their tuition is also the highest out of all of them so it's kinda a down-side for me, but i guess the cost of living is slightly lower... I'd also imagine that unis in Sydney would have better industry connections and job placements than Melbourne? I mean, it IS where all the actions happen...!

What about Macquarie's student exchange program and careers/job placement? Macquarie is kinda my back-up university though, since its requirement is the lowest out of all the offers. Since you're a Sydney-sider, do you know much about UNSW/USYD?



Haha I'm not a FOB, English is pretty much my first language... idk, Taiwanese/Korean/Japanese soaps aren't really my thing. but hopefully I'll fit in well. My friends are pretty much from all over the world... okay... but... is it easy to fit in? I'm a bit shy at first, but I'm really bubbly and friendly when I get to know people. I found people to be quite segregated when I was in Melbourne... the wogs hung out with wogs, whites with whites, viets with viets, chinks with chinks, etc. etc. etc. I don't really see different races mingling with each other. That was in year 9, is it still like that in uni?

I don't really have an opinion on UNSW's commerce, but that's what i've been hearing from other people. I guess it's also cuz their ATAR requirement is the highest. Whaddya think?

haven't heard of a 'careers/placement' thing at macq.. perhaps its new? they applied a stupid curriculum change and in my view its much to the deficit of students, this is exemplified when formerly 2 hr tutes had to be cut down to 1hr.

yeah i know a fair bit about UNSW/USYD as well. I'd go for the former, that is, UNSW has a good name but is dominated by asians (im asian, and so is much of macq lol). Provided you keep around a 80-85 average you have the opportunity to study at one of the best business schools in USA (Upenn, Wharton business).. I'd go purely for the chance at that opportunity.

hope it helps. shoot any further questions.

 

[FutureSight01]

UNSW's req isn't higher in reality because of bonus points. People with 93 can get in- lower than USYD. Also, the law students of USYD are likely to do Com, whereas people doing Com in UNSW are less likely, so it seems anyway. Hence smart people That said, UNSW is also a good university.

 

[hungwell1337]

UNSW's req isn't higher in reality because of bonus points. People with 93 can get in- lower than USYD. Also, the law students of USYD are likely to do Com, whereas people doing Com in UNSW are less likely, so it seems anyway. Hence smart people That said, UNSW is also a good university.

usyd has a flexible entry program... similar to bonus points

generally if u can make unsw with bonus, u can make usyd with flexible

 

[constantinex]

sorry for the super late reply, last week has been pretty intense... 11 exams all in 5 days, and some major celebrating on friday and yesterday. i'm free!!!

usyd has a flexible entry program... similar to bonus points

generally if u can make unsw with bonus, u can make usyd with flexible

meh i'm doing international baccalaureate (IB), so my entry requirement is slightly different than the locals.

haven't heard of a 'careers/placement' thing at macq.. perhaps its new? they applied a stupid curriculum change and in my view its much to the deficit of students, this is exemplified when formerly 2 hr tutes had to be cut down to 1hr.

yeah i know a fair bit about UNSW/USYD as well. I'd go for the former, that is, UNSW has a good name but is dominated by asians (im asian, and so is much of macq lol). Provided you keep around a 80-85 average you have the opportunity to study at one of the best business schools in USA (Upenn, Wharton business).. I'd go purely for the chance at that opportunity.

hope it helps. shoot any further questions.

wait, so you're saying that macquarie doesn't have a careers office?! 0.0 wtf, thats bad! an uni here (singapore management university) even has a dining etiquette course and how-to-dress course just to prepare their students... cutting 2 hr tutes to 1 hr is crazy, didn't anyone freaking complain?! i heard students in cambridge spends a lot of time with their tute guy... so what's macquarie replacing the 1 hr tute time with?

what do you think about monash? where would you place monash in all the unis that i mentioned above? and if i go to monash, should i do business, commerce or economics? for business i might do banking and finance, and accounting and finance for commerce... i'm pretty much interested in all of them.

btw, whats up with the honours stuff? how will it benefit me? would companies prefer students who did honours over those who didn't?

 

[akqjt]

There's really no difference between USYD/UNSW/Melb from an employer's perspective (IMO) - if you plan on working in Australia I would go USYD/UNSW because most IBs are in Sydney and it might give you a slight edge around interview time because you're already based in Sydney. Out of UNSW/USYD I'd go UNSW because I've heard anecdotally that some IBs prefer UNSW students.

I go to UNSW and wouldn't change my choice if I could go back in time.

 

[theaussieinhk]

Hi Guys,

Macquarie does have a careers office and they just recently hired 2 new staff at the career office to cater for the Faculty of Business and Economics students. Like all uni's in Australia they hold career fairs - I got heaps of flyers from different companies, got accepted into internship with a Big 4 Accounting firm and will be working with them as a graduate next year.

It is only for Law subjects that they have reduced from 2 hour tutorials to 1 hour tutorials. Everything else is the same from what I hear from my friends and in my own subjects.

Honours is good if you study Finance, Economics or Statistics. In my opinion, not useful in Accounting (employers prefer CA) or Actuarial Studies (employers prefer a qualified Actuary who is part of the Institute of Actuarial Australia - its really hard)

@ Monstar - I noticed that some of your posts don't tell the whole story. Anyways, as you know most Actuarial students study Actuarial & Finance and you may find Distinctions extra hard to get, if they aren't already.

ANU - is recognised as the best uni by people overseas but not in Australia if it makes sense... as most of the rankings (ie The Times Higher Education) gives a lot of weighting on research output (ANU does awesome research though). Most importantly... its in Canberra - not a lot of people want to go there.

MQ Exchange - I have already gone on exchange and I will go on exchange next semester. Best thing ever!

Link: Partner Directory - Macquarie International - Macquarie University

USYD & UNSW have more prestigious universities in the UK and USA compared to MACQ - I would imagine it would be very hard to get into. Choose the university for the experience.

They are behind USYD and UNSW when it comes to career placements. It's new and they are building it up. So far they have sent 2 people to Citibank and TomTom for an internship.

If your really smart - study Actuarial Studies.

I study at Macquarie and I think it's the best decision that I have made.

 

[constantinex]

I've got an offer from Macquarie for Applied Finance, and Monash for Accounting and Finance. How would you guys compare these two universities for the respective majors that I've mentioned?

I'd prefer to live in Sydney, but I'm fine with living in Melbourne too.

@theaussieinhk: Thanks so much for your post. Congrats on your early grad offer, that's awesome!!

LOL I've had enough maths from IB HL Maths, I really don't want more maths from Acturial Studies. I can accept the maths in Accounting though, easy maths right?

 

[Garygaz]

my dad's on the alumni for unsw and he's told me they apparently have just or about to introduce a new change to 1st year commerce where you can do a more management based subject instead of either accounting or quant methods.

only thing i'm not a fan of at unsw is the travel distance and that the uni bar is fucking dead.

wtb more hot white girls in commerce too

 

[RDX]

University of Melbourne is awesome and I love Melbourne, but is it true that they teach more theoretical than hands-on/real-world stuff? The thing is, I lived in Melbourne a few years back, I kinda wanna live in a different city this time. Their tuition is also the highest out of all of them so it's kinda a down-side for me, but i guess the cost of living is slightly lower... I'd also imagine that unis in Sydney would have better industry connections and job placements than Melbourne? I mean, it IS where all the actions happen...!

What about Macquarie's student exchange program and careers/job placement? Macquarie is kinda my back-up university though, since its requirement is the lowest out of all the offers. Since you're a Sydney-sider, do you know much about UNSW/USYD?

Hey there, I'm doing Commerce at UniMelb. I'd say UNSW is likely to be better for Commerce than Melbourne, we have a few lecturers who have studied and taught at UNSW earlier on in their careers and from what I've heard from them they rate the BCom there very highly. Also have a look at the new gen breadth requirements from UoM, a lot of people are put off by it, personally I don't really mind as it allows me to explore other subjects which I have a general interest in in anyway but that might not be the same for you. Finance and Economics are rated pretty well at The University of Melbourne and is well respected amongst employers, in assesment centres I have attending there have been instances where the vast majority of the candidates were from UoM.

 

[BOSnewbie]

First up, you need to bear in mind this is a NSW-based site, so the Victorian unis and ANU are going to be under-represented here. I'll give you my 2c worth based on my experience at UniMelb (majored in Finance).

Now to the crux of your questions:

• I think it is true that UniMelb tends to be more theoretical than say the NSW unis (UNSW/USyd) - this is based on chats I've had with people from those unis during internships.
• You mentioned ANU is often regarded as the most prestigious uni in Australia - this may be based on their consistently higher rankings in the THES and Shanghai Jiaotong University surveys. I would suggest that the criteria these surveys employ differ from yours, in that they are quite focused on how often the staff have published etc - things that you may not necessarily care about. A corollary of this is that if you think UniMelb is (overly) theoretical, you will probably find ANU to be even more so - I get the impression (again from friends who are there) that they live in academia land there, which makes their survey rankings unsurprising.
• In terms of job prospects and employability in the Finance sector, I think UniMelb, UNSW and USyd are all on equal footing - UniMelb is highly regarded in the industry, and many final round interviews I've been to while job hunting in VIC were dominated by UniMelb students, with the odd Monash person here and there (no offence to Monash people)
• The international exchange opportunities at UniMelb are also great - someone mentioned Wharton earlier as being a UNSW or USyd exchange partner; I'd point out that it is also a UniMelb exchange partner.
• Another person mentioned IB is based predominantly in Sydney - this is true, but you have to remember that while Sydney has a lot more vacancies, everyone from around Australia applies for positions in Sydney. On the other hand, Melb places tend to be predominantly for Melb people.
• The work you can do here in Melb should not be underestimated. Australia's finance world may be physically based in Sydney, but in the top tier places you will find that physical/geographical location means nothing, and the employees in the Melb/Sydney offices are staffed as a common pool.

In the end I think it's a matter of personal preference - if you prefer a seachange having already spent several years in high school in Melbourne, then go to one of the Sydney unis by all means.

Good luck with your decision

 

[JYZ]

I`m an international student, studying at Monash, what I can tell you is: since you have mentioned about the tution fees, the living cost in Melbourne is much lower than Sydney; also the Uni of Melb has the best international reputation out of all AUS unis, and it is even easier to graduate (but it has higher level to entry).
As you have got in Uni of Melb, then you should definitely go there

 

[JYZ]

I've got an offer from Macquarie for Applied Finance, and Monash for Accounting and Finance. How would you guys compare these two universities for the respective majors that I've mentioned?

I'd prefer to live in Sydney, but I'm fine with living in Melbourne too.

@theaussieinhk: Thanks so much for your post. Congrats on your early grad offer, that's awesome!!

LOL I've had enough maths from IB HL Maths, I really don't want more maths from Acturial Studies. I can accept the maths in Accounting though, easy maths right?

Doing Accounting and Finance at Monash is like livig in hell (lots of my friends say that), most of the international students choose to do this course.
And this is a double major (as I know that you are not able to do a double major in Uni of Melb, but Monash will let you fit in any units if you got enough spaces; what`s more is that Finance and Accounting are perfectly combined), and it is probably the best degree you can get from Monash business studies.
So if you are interested in Accounting, then welcome to Clayton!

 

[Rextu]

also the Uni of Melb has the best international reputation out of all AUS unis, and it is even easier to graduate (but it has higher level to entry).

We've been discussing that throughout this whole thread, so to come out of nowhere and say UniMelb is the best without saying why or how you know doesn't make sense.

 

[Casmira]

if you wanna go nsw then pick unsw or usyd just flip a coin and go, lean your decision towards unsw if you love asians (demographics may be important to you)

if you just simply want the wank factor, uni of melb has a very high international ranking in unis,