Arts/Law at SydneyUni (1 Viewer)

[Alliese]

Hey guys!

So I have been processing the idea of combined Law at Sydney Uni and after a while finally came to the conclusion that it's where I want to be. There is only one thing that I don't really get and that is whether or not you're allowed to complete a double major in the arts component of the degree.
The website states that, in order to fulfill the arts component, one must take 96cp from tables A,B which basically comes down to 16 subjects or a double major where both majors are completed with 48cp. Then again I know that some majors, for instance psychology, require 60cp. Would one be allowed to overload to fulfill this requirement or is it strictly limited to 96cp?

Help would be appreciated.

 

[izzy88]

I was always under the impression that you could only do one major in arts when combining with law. That's because generally a major requires at minimum 6 'senior' subjects (2nd or 3rd year subjects - first year subjects generally don't count towards a major), and you only get the opportunity to do 10 subjects over second and third year. Also you can't count a subject towards two majors.

Some people manage to do second year subjects in second semester first year if they fulfilled the prerequisites in first sam - ie. you can generally do a senior history subject in second semester if you did two junior history subjects in first semester. However I'm not sure if this would work with say a language major. Psychology is also a different matter as (although I don't know much), I expect the requirements to get a major are more strict, with more progression required.

In regards to overloading (or summer or winter school)- I'm not sure if you can do more subjects in your arts undergrad degree then required - I would ask the faculty about this (or perhaps someone on here would know).

What two majors are you looking at doing?

Also, perhaps think about if you really are wanting to do two majors just doing an arts degree and then do the graduate LLB. Combined only saves you 1 year. Overloading can be quite stressful, and summer and winter school cost a bit of money (full fee, not CSP places). Also there may not be the range of subjects on offer over summer/winter school to make up what you need.

 

[Alliese]

I was always under the impression that you could only do one major in arts when combining with law. That's because generally a major requires at minimum 6 'senior' subjects (2nd or 3rd year subjects - first year subjects generally don't count towards a major), and you only get the opportunity to do 10 subjects over second and third year. Also you can't count a subject towards two majors.

Some people manage to do second year subjects in second semester first year if they fulfilled the prerequisites in first sam - ie. you can generally do a senior history subject in second semester if you did two junior history subjects in first semester. However I'm not sure if this would work with say a language major. Psychology is also a different matter as (although I don't know much), I expect the requirements to get a major are more strict, with more progression required.

In regards to overloading (or summer or winter school)- I'm not sure if you can do more subjects in your arts undergrad degree then required - I would ask the faculty about this (or perhaps someone on here would know).

What two majors are you looking at doing?

Also, perhaps think about if you really are wanting to do two majors just doing an arts degree and then do the graduate LLB. Combined only saves you 1 year. Overloading can be quite stressful, and summer and winter school cost a bit of money (full fee, not CSP places). Also there may not be the range of subjects on offer over summer/winter school to make up what you need.

Thanks for the input. I was thinking of majoring in English and Psychology. I know that psychology has pretty strict progression rules. There are two compulsory junior units and four compulsory intermediate units, but with English there is only one as far as I can tell. It would basically come down to 108cp for the two. I would want to do the combined degree because I was planning on graduate work straight after and I've already taken a gap year so prolonging for another year just seems a bit off. Also, I'd have to compete for an LLB so that would be just more added stress.
Would it be possible to just take more credit points each semester? E.g. 60cp instead of 48cp? In the end that would come down to 276cp instead of 240 i.e. 60cp instead of 48 for the first 3 years and then the regular 48cp for the final two years.
And yes, I understand this would be a LOT of work.

 

[alstah]

Hey Alliese!

You can do 2 majors with Arts/Law, just make sure you know exactly what you want to major in (I chose Government & International Relations and Philosophy). In 1st year, with Foundations you have to do 3 Arts subjects. Do 2 junior units for 1 subject (which will make you eligble to complete senior units the follow semester) and do 1 junior unit of the other major you intend to complete.

In 2nd semester you have 3 arts units, so complete 2 senior units for one of the major's and the other junior unit so that way you have 2 years to complete 4 senior units for one major and 6 senior units for the other major.

They're also pretty good with waivers if you don't meet the junior unit requirements.

If you do it this way you'll have 6 senior units of one major and 4 senior units to get the other major and you have 2 years. In years 2 and 3, as izzy said, you can only do 10 arts units so it'll be an exact fit if you manage to do it this way.