What is the difference between universities, specicaly UNSW and USYD (1 Viewer)

mysterymarkplz

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I go to a selective school (Girra) and since the start of year 12 everyone has been talking about which uni they would want to get it. One of the most common unis that are talked about the most between my peers is UNSW and USYD, and the thought of UWS being a shithole gets thrown around alot.
My question is pretty much this, what is the difference between UNSW and USYD?
Why is UWS considered less prestigious than UNSW or USYD?
Why for the same course are ATAR requirements different amongst different unis?
Also I'm thinking of doing engineering, specifically electrical, petroleum, civil or aerospace/nautical, which UNI should I go for, and why specifically that one over another uni?
Sorry i actually know nothing about uni, i'd like to learn a bit more from here, if anyone could answer my query, thanks!
 
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The reason why uws is classified as a "shithole" (which isn't the case at all - depends on the person), because it is a new university - it's 25 years old next year. To be honest, you get a degree at the end and those who think that uws is a shithole and blabs on about prestige should get their heads out of their arses.
 

pHyRe

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personally, there's little diff between unsw and usyd academically. unsw probs has the edge, but it seriously has 0 impact in the end. no employer is gonna throw your resume out cause you went to one or the other.

besides that, usyd appears to have a better social life, more white people and closer to city/transport.

unsw has a different kind of campus, closer to randwich, more asians and i've heard easier grading (at least for commerce/law).

i dont go to a selective school, but the people who say uws is a shithole are probably the same ones who say girra is a shit hole (something i've heard before, no offence). don't pay much attention to it, usyd/unsw are better but uws is still a solid uni.
 

babylonne

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Between UNSW and USYD, USYD's Arts faculty is considered better, and UNSW's commerce (and possibly Engineering?) is considered better. Also, in terms of Law, the universities differ in terms of teaching methods because UNSW teaches in smaller classes. It really depends on the degree you're after, however, both universities are really quite prestigious and highly regarded in the international community. I know above comments say that USYD is regarded to have a better social life but I've actually heard the contrary opinion, so I guess they're both very sociable.

The reason UWS is considered less prestigious is because the course cut-offs are lower, the university is newer and it is considered easy to get in. For example, UWS Law cut-offs range from 90-93 whereas UNSW and USYD were 99.65 and 99.7 last year. For some selective schools, most students are going to achieve ATARs above the UWS cut-offs, therefore, they may think that the degree is beneath them. At my school, where the median ATAR is 95+, the only thing people would consider going to UWS for is medicine. Another reason why UWS is considered less prestigious (going to use the Law example again) is because it may not compete as well internationally. UNSW is considered the 14th best Law school in the world according to their website (haha) but I'm not sure that UWS can make such a claim. I'm not saying all this because I think UWS is a bad university. I'm just explaining the selective school mentality. It's true what an above user said about people thinking the same way about Girraween. People perceive it to be less prestigious because you need to score less on the selective school test to get in as opposed to Baulko, Ruse, Hornsby Girls, etc.

ATAR requirements are different for the same courses among different universities because of the level of competition for them. More competition, the ATAR requirement goes up.

I'm not interested in engineering (awful at maths and science) so I can't really give you a great answer but the UTS and UNSW degrees for engineering seem to be highly regarded among members of this site, so check them out. c:
 

mysterymarkplz

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So really its just an matter of which uni has been running for longer, and the course atar cut-off they have.
i dont go to a selective school, but the people who say uws is a shithole are probably the same ones who say girra is a shit hole (something i've heard before, no offence). don't pay much attention to it, usyd/unsw are better but uws is still a solid uni.
yeah dw its cool, i can understand why people say it, alot of kids in my grade agree with that statement anyway.
So if you get a distinction in unsw or a distinction in uws and then apply for jobs, they won't discriminate right?
 

obliviousninja

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Don't doubt the New South

p.s. UNSW defs better for Comm./Engineering
 

mysterymarkplz

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Between UNSW and USYD, USYD's Arts faculty is considered better, and UNSW's commerce (and possibly Engineering?) is considered better. Also, in terms of Law, the universities differ in terms of teaching methods because UNSW teaches in smaller classes. It really depends on the degree you're after, however, both universities are really quite prestigious and highly regarded in the international community. I know above comments say that USYD is regarded to have a better social life but I've actually heard the contrary opinion, so I guess they're both very sociable.

The reason UWS is considered less prestigious is because the course cut-offs are lower, the university is newer and it is considered easy to get in. For example, UWS Law cut-offs range from 90-93 whereas UNSW and USYD were 99.65 and 99.7 last year. For some selective schools, most students are going to achieve ATARs above the UWS cut-offs, therefore, they may think that the degree is beneath them. At my school, where the median ATAR is 95+, the only thing people would consider going to UWS for is medicine. Another reason why UWS is considered less prestigious (going to use the Law example again) is because it may not compete as well internationally. UNSW is considered the 14th best Law school in the world according to their website (haha) but I'm not sure that UWS can make such a claim. I'm not saying all this because I think UWS is a bad university. I'm just explaining the selective school mentality. It's true what an above user said about people thinking the same way about Girraween. People perceive it to be less prestigious because you need to score less on the selective school test to get in as opposed to Baulko, Ruse, Hornsby Girls, etc.

ATAR requirements are different for the same courses among different universities because of the level of competition for them. More competition, the ATAR requirement goes up.

I'm not interested in engineering (awful at maths and science) so I can't really give you a great answer but the UTS and UNSW degrees for engineering seem to be highly regarded among members of this site, so check them out. c:
That was very informative, thanks alot man.
 

isildurrrr1

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The reason why uws is classified as a "shithole" (which isn't the case at all - depends on the person), because it is a new university - it's 25 years old next year. To be honest, you get a degree at the end and those who think that uws is a shithole and blabs on about prestige should get their heads out of their arses.
It's also a lot harder for a UWS graduate to find a job compared to UNSW/Usyd grads. There's many threads on it, if you go to UWS you need to bust your ass a lot harder. I know that UNSW/Usyd's econ/commerce/law faculty is a lot harder compared to macquarie, since my macquarie friend looked at my first year econ stuff and said "dude we do that in second here at macquarie lol."
 

Garry2Lepis

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I go to a selective school (Girra) and since the start of year 12 everyone has been talking about which uni they would want to get it. One of the most common unis that are talked about the most between my peers is UNSW and USYD, and the thought of UWS being a shithole gets thrown around alot.
My question is pretty much this, what is the difference between UNSW and USYD?
Why is UWS considered less prestigious than UNSW or USYD?
Why for the same course are ATAR requirements different amongst different unis?
Also I'm thinking of doing engineering, specifically electrical, petroleum, civil or aerospace/nautical, which UNI should I go for, and why specifically that one over another uni?
Sorry i actually know nothing about uni, i'd like to learn a bit more from here, if anyone could answer my query, thanks!
I don't go to UWS, but the people at your school are bloody arrogant. What the f*ck is their problem? No one should EVER degrade a university, and they also they don't know shit btw. UWS has way better good looking females than in UNSW. The majority of girls there are hell good looking and hot. I might be wrong but your classmates at your school might be bloody ugly and are afraid to even approach these good looking girls.
I won't make comment about USYD since I don't know. Please say that to your classmates for me, thanks.
 
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It's also a lot harder for a UWS graduate to find a job compared to UNSW/Usyd grads. There's many threads on it, if you go to UWS you need to bust your ass a lot harder. I know that UNSW/Usyd's econ/commerce/law faculty is a lot harder compared to macquarie, since my macquarie friend looked at my first year econ stuff and said "dude we do that in second here at macquarie lol."
Is this really true? I keep hearing it too and it's starting to get to me.
 

mysterymarkplz

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I might be wrong but your classmates at your school might be bloody ugly and are afraid to even approach these good looking girls.
LOL calm down. I'm not going to university for girls lmfao, just to get degree and study. They're of 2nd priority.
 

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Different names? It really all the 'same thing' in the end. Example in UNSW and USYD engineering you all do the same maths, same/similar core but UNSW advertises it as B Eng (Aerospace) (cut off- 91ish) but USYD advertises it as B Mechatronic (Space) (cutoff 99something). I think it's really just to fill people's ego.
 

williamdaft

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personally, there's little diff between unsw and usyd academically. unsw probs has the edge, but it seriously has 0 impact in the end. no employer is gonna throw your resume out cause you went to one or the other.

besides that, usyd appears to have a better social life, more white people and closer to city/transport.

unsw has a different kind of campus, closer to randwich, more asians and i've heard easier grading (at least for commerce/law).

i dont go to a selective school, but the people who say uws is a shithole are probably the same ones who say girra is a shit hole (something i've heard before, no offence). don't pay much attention to it, usyd/unsw are better but uws is still a solid uni.
^ yeah, unsw and usyd are both pretty much equal.. and I like both unis exactly for those reasons. I like Usyd's for its locality and it does seems the social life is nice there. UNSW's campus just looks fking boss but a bit far away, I need 2 buses to go there...

Academically there's not much difference between UNSW and USYD. UWS is regarded shit by many ppl is just that its atar requirement's so low.
 

isildurrrr1

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If your only distinguishing factor is the university you went to, then you need better employability skills.
Makes a difference in getting your first job. You seriously going to tell me big corporate jobs think that all universities are born equally? If you were a hiring manager and had applicants from UNSW, U syd, UWS, UTS and Macquarie, which ones would be on the top of your list? Don't give me that BS "hurr someone could have more job experience." There are THOUSANDS of applicants for the same limited positions, the ones with the higher WAM and better uni's come on top. There's hundreds of threads about it being harder for non-unsw/usyd grads getting the same jobs.
 

Absolutezero

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Makes a difference in getting your first job. You seriously going to tell me big corporate jobs think that all universities are born equally? If you were a hiring manager and had applicants from UNSW, U syd, UWS, UTS and Macquarie, which ones would be on the top of your list? Don't give me that BS "hurr someone could have more job experience." There are THOUSANDS of applicants for the same limited positions, the ones with the higher WAM and better uni's come on top. There's hundreds of threads about it being harder for non-unsw/usyd grads getting the same jobs.
That's not actually my point.
 

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The ATAR cut offs are often determined by demand. The demand for courses at UWS isn't as high as the demand for courses at UNSW and USYD, hence the lower ATAR cut offs. It doesn't necessarily make it a "shitter" university (but I don't have any experience with going to university yet so I may be wrong).


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I go to a selective school (Girra) and since the start of year 12 everyone has been talking about which uni they would want to get it. One of the most common unis that are talked about the most between my peers is UNSW and USYD, and the thought of UWS being a shithole gets thrown around alot.
My question is pretty much this, what is the difference between UNSW and USYD?
Why is UWS considered less prestigious than UNSW or USYD?
Why for the same course are ATAR requirements different amongst different unis?
Also I'm thinking of doing engineering, specifically electrical, petroleum, civil or aerospace/nautical, which UNI should I go for, and why specifically that one over another uni?
Sorry i actually know nothing about uni, i'd like to learn a bit more from here, if anyone could answer my query, thanks!
1) It's a newer university not Go8, therefore not the same history. Much lower university ranking on those QS, Higher, Australian uni rankings etc. Much lower cut offs. It's location...typically cited things that I myself don't necessarily care about.
2) Supply/demand
3) Well you should visit both and see which you like better, look at the differences between the engineering programs, seeing as you are split in interest in engineering I might advise you to do the first year flexible engineering before specialising :) As you live in Syd, UNSW and USYD are good engineering universities. I mean they rank highly in many fields of engineering, in civil/structural both top 15 in the world. I have friends at both unis that enjoy engineering at their respective unis.

http://www.topuniversities.com/univ...ankings/2013/engineering-civil-and-structural
 

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