Advanced maths Syd U vs UNSW (1 Viewer)

[hubewa]

Hello, new here so I don't know where this belongs but anyway.

Which university is better at Advanced Maths - UNSW or USyd?

UNSW has an ATAR entry mark of 95.5
USyd has an ATAR entry mark of 98.15

 

[Shadowdude]

I think UNSW. I had the same dilemma and eventually picked UNSW.


For more info, you should probably ask more specific questions.

 

[mitchy_boy]

Either are good.

UNSW has a very strong maths school, though.

Not sure about Sydney.

 

[mitchy_boy]

The problem with asking questions like this is, no one actually knows what they're talking about, because, most have only studied at one university, therefore, they'll be biased, and probably know little to nothing on the other uni. Get out to the open days, and talk to the lecturers, and academics there.

 

[Shadowdude]

Do your course research on what Advanced Maths means at each university.

At UNSW, part of why I picked it is because I get automatic honours in my program. Sydney doesn't have that.

 

[Timothy.Siu]

I can't speak for Usyd, but UNSW maths is really flexible (for me at least).
Especially if you're just doing Adv. Maths by itself, u get so many electives etc.
I managed to take a 3rd and 2nd year Maths course in 1st year, and 2 Honours courses in 2nd year.
The maths staff are also generally really helpful (and they definitely know their stuff). I'd say the courses are generally very well run too,
and first year course notes are fantastic!

 

[Shadowdude]

Oh yeah first year course notes... can't go wrong with them. All like... 800 pages of them.

 

[kaz1]

cut-off at USYD is higher hence it is better

 

[Bored_of_HSC]

Not neccesarily true. People may just like the Usyd social atmosphere (unsw isn't as great).
Sorta like why cut-offs for ANU aren't that great for certain degrees despite being ranked top in Aus for them. (and also cbf going to canberra)

 

[unsw-maths-guru]

The ATAR cut-ff doesn't really mean that much - it is just the ATAR of the bottom student that they admit giving an offer to. It doesn't tell you very much about what the majority of the other students are like. Both UNSW and USyd have plenty of very good maths students (eg BoSer TS). At the AMSI summer school for 4th year students most of the top students are from UNSW, USyd, ANU or Melbourne.

I've heard some people say that UNSW is more organised in 1st year maths than USyd??

The main thing is that we are a nice class of people at UNSW...

 

[study-freak]

Like how UNSW people only know about their courses, I only know about Usyd courses too.

Adv maths at Usyd doesn't really have a special meaning apart from that you need to do an advanced major in a maths area and the rest is just like advanced science.
But having said so, I found adv maths units (subjects) quite awesome at Usyd. Notes are awesome though lecturers range a bit in terms of their classroom teaching abilities (as expected). Generally quite interesting, well-taught, and informative.

So I guess it just depends on your preference as to which social environment you prefer,which course structure you like more, where to go (location), etc.

 

[hubewa]

Right, thanks for all the comments.

One of the reasons why Uni of Syd may be picked more is because it runs National Maths Summer School and I think it runs olympiad (didn't do olympiad tho) but yeah. (yes, for all those Uni of Syd ppl, Leon Polidian's pretty good. Terry Gagen )

But at least I know now that there isn't much difference between the two and it goes down to the details of how it's run rather than how it's taught.

Please keep commenting

Hubewa

 

[Shadowdude]

Olympiad and National Maths Summer School are only relevant if you'll actually do it though.

It's like saying, for example, "I'm picking UNSW maths because they have a fantastic statistics department... but I hate stats".

 

[hubewa]

Lol, haha, didn't do Olympiad but I did attend NMSS haha. I'm just saying that because Uni of Syd's programs make it more well known and hence, more ppl join in to uni

 

[Shadowdude]

Decide on teaching quality and the like, not 'well known-ness'.

 

[4025808]

Decide on teaching quality and the like, not 'well known-ness'.

Which leads you to your ranting on the GUG a year ago

 

[deterministic]

I can only say for UNSW but here is my 2 cents:
Teaching quality - most lecturers are very knowledgeable and engaging in lectures.
Course Variety - Quite limited in some areas to be honest, especially with regards to higher level courses. Of course you can always talk lecturers into letting you do some postgraduate courses but the undergraduate range is fairly limited.
Course quality - This obviously depends on the lecturer in charge. Most of them are well structured and teaches you the basics. However, I felt most courses don't go into enough depth on certain topics (especially the more interesting parts).
Extracurricular opportunities - as far as I am concerned, UNSW maths society is just starting, while USyd seems to have a well established maths society. There aren't that many seminars or interesting lectures in UNSW (although Terrence Tao did come to UNSW once to give a talk).

I suppose it would be good to hear how USyd rates with respect to the above criterias.