ARTS (Media and Communication) (1 Viewer)

[shimmy&shine]

Who does it here? Who recommends it? What do people think of it?
SHould I do it?
Hey Brogan, you may me getting sick of me asking this but, oh well, lol.
ANy advice welcome!

thanks in advance!!!

 

[bustinjustin]

Personally don't know it, came close to applying for it, asked the same questions last year and know people who do/did the degree both in person and on this forum. Many say it's superficial shit - don't be seduced by the ridiculously high cut-off. Probably the only benefit is that you get to go to Sydney Uni and major in arts, humanities &/or social science subjects. Search around the site and many would say that you'd probably be better off at UTS or Bathurst, so ask yourself which is more important - doing a Communications degree, or doing a Sydney Uni degree.

If you lean towards the latter but become convinced that MECO (as it's affectionately known) is not worthwhile, alternatively you can do a Diploma (1yr) or even Masters (1.5yr) in communications at UTS or Bathurst after doing something like Arts, Arts Advanced, or even Economic (Social Sciences) at Sydney. That way you'll get the best of both worlds.

That said, MECO at Sydney isn't completely useless, know someone who just graduated and is now working as a manager for a youth theatre company or something (I don't know if that's typical or not, you can always pop by an open day, or check out this site for what graduates go on to do http://www.careers.usyd.edu.au/students/careeropt/gds.shtml

In sum, see if you reach the cut off, apply for special consideration if you've just missed cut off, otherwise reassess what you wanna do. But just come to Sydney

 

[shimmy&shine]

Thank you so much for your advice. It was REALLY REALLY helpful!
I'm definetly reconsidering. You so pin-pointed whats up. The high UAI cut-off makes it VERY attractive.

The problem is, there are so many mixed reviews. And Sydney Uni in general seems like a wonderful place.

Does anyone advice not to do it?

 

[gelina]

I know so many people that wanna do this course - myself included. And yes, the main reason is because it's SYDNEY UNI.

A lot of my friends who wanna do this course wanna get into the more journalistic side of it, where I told them that this course isn't for them then, but they still want to do it. I think a lot of people do not know what the course entails in detail.


I know I'm better off doing B Digital Media at COFA but my mind screams "USYD USYD!"

Especially because of the internship in 4th year (YUM)

 

[bustinjustin]

Ahh, Sydney Uni seduction - that's the spirit.
Pity the focus on a lame degree.

By all means, check these out before you lock it in as your first preference.

http://community.boredofstudies.org/590/general-university-sydney/97181/media-communications-flexible-entry.html

http://community.boredofstudies.org/586/general-university-discussion/97187/first-usyd-political-economy-uts-journalism.html

Also, here's some light on compulsory first year media units

MECO1003 - Principles of Media Writing
Ease - 7/10
Lecturer - varies, approx 7.5/10 (Catherine Lumby is an arrogant pain in the ass)
Interest - 9/10
Overall - 8/10

ENGL1000 - University English
Ease - 10/10
Lecturer - 10/10 (Had her as a tutor - SO NICE! Didn't actually go to lectures)
Interest - 6/10
Overall - 8/10


MECO1001 - Australian Media Studies
Ease - 3/10
Lecturer - 9/10 (Worst tutor ever)
Interest - 3/10
Overall - 5/10

A general note - don't do Media and Comm. Its bullshit. All complete bullshit.

That should help

P.S With regards to internships, the other unis have them too - and the UTS one, for example, does it within this 3 yrs, not as an extra 4th year one. Going back to my earlier post, I actually posited the whole USYD/UTS combo to some UTS lecturers once, and they highly recommended it.

 

[kami]

There are also other variations on the UTS/USYD combo - you can take between 4 - 6 electives in the UTS degree at USYD campus, or you can pick up a Diploma of Arts or Languages or Social Sciences at USYD to combine with your main UTS degree (something I am *thinking* of doing). And you wouldn't be losing that much time either - combining the Bachelor with the Diploma would only have you studying at uni for the intended four years anyway.

Also, as BustinJustin has mentioned, the other universities have internships incl. all the UTS BA in Communications courses, the BSci in Communications at UNSW and the CSU BA in Communications courses as well.

This also might seem like its biased, but alot of people look at the Media & Communications major at USYD as drivel simply because its rather vague and directionless - it doesn't allow you to overly specify in a communications area instead you are simply given a list of subjects to do with about one subject in each general area of communications. Which is enough to make you a bit of a 'Jack of all trades but master of none' type thing for the industry.

There also may be some bias in this, but one of the reasons the MECO major at USYD has taken a few knocks to its reputation is because it is a bit restricted. At essentially every single other university offering a communications degree/major, there will usually be a few variations offered so that you can specialise in a given industry area (if you so choose), or at least choose between a few subjects. USYD lacks this for their MECO major - utilising a generalised overview of the industry:
* Introduction to Media Studies
* Writing for Broadcast Media
* Writing for Print Media
* Media Relations and Advertising
* Internship
* Advanced Print Media Production
* Law & Media
* Government & Media
* Television News Production
And when you compare that to the range of units offered by UTS in that industry: http://www.handbook.uts.edu.au/hss/lists/alpha.html (and you see a similar range with CSU) then perhaps you can understand the criticism.

That said, its not as if you really need a communications degree to get into the industry, so a more basic education in communications shouldn't really impede you if you want to make the effort after graduation.

If you definitely want to go to USYD, and want a prestigious cut-off then just apply for BA (Advanced). You'd get more choice than in the MECO degree, and it finishes sooner and afterwards if you are still keen on doing something in communications you can do the Dip as BustinJustin has suggested.

 

[shimmy&shine]

so, BustinJuston, how are you finding the journalism course? Would you reccomend it?

 

[bustinjustin]

Oh I don't do Media. Comm, I do Economic and Social Sciences, everything I wrote was gleamed from friends and acquaintances

 

[ashwin]

Well maybe its time for you to listen to someone who actually DOES the course. Like me.

Most ppl who bag out the MECO course are ppl who dont get in. It's an awesome course where you meet lots of cool people and have lots of fun.

Unlike the UTS courses, meco gives u a good broad knowledge in media, where you cover everything from writing to tv/radio/online media, to public/media relations, to a whole lot more. At UTS, you're restricted in one thing, and if u find half way through that you hate tv journalism or you hate writing journalism, you're kinda screwed. It is also one of the few courses that offers internships, where u get to go out and work in the industry, get a taste for what media work is really like.

And of course, sydney is the best campus around. So yes, it's a great course. But everyone likes different things and prefers different things. So in the end, just go with your own gut feeling and choose the course YOU want to do, and not what ppl tell you is good or bad.

Good luck.

 

[gemmal]

Just wondering, why did Usyd get rid of the Bach Science in Media and Comm?

 

[ashwin]

Not sure...maybe a money thing or staff thing. Coz for the bsci media comm, in 4th year they had subjects which were specific to media in sci, and maybe coz not enough people did it or something, or no staff, who knows. Im just guessing.

 

[gemmal]

Not sure...maybe a money thing or staff thing. Coz for the bsci media comm, in 4th year they had subjects which were specific to media in sci, and maybe coz not enough people did it or something, or no staff, who knows. Im just guessing.

Yeah, probably something along those lines. Other unis, such as unsw still offers a Sci Med Comm course. Also, why are the media comm subjects restricted to media comm students? What's sooo special about them?

 

[ashwin]

Haha well thats the same as asking why a student enrolled in arts or economics cant randomly do law and med subjects. Just how the way things work. We cant have some random who gets 80 something and does arts, doing subjects that someone else who has worked very hard to get 98 does.

 

[gemmal]

Haha well thats the same as asking why a student enrolled in arts or economics cant randomly do law and med subjects. Just how the way things work. We cant have some random who gets 80 something and does arts, doing subjects that someone else who has worked very hard to get 98 does.

Well sure law and medicine, but media comm can't be that hard, I don't see it any difference between a media comm subject and any other arts subject. University of wollongong has a bach of media and comm but it also has an art degree, where students can take media comm subjects and have that as a major.

 

[ashwin]

Well subject exclusivity isnt based on the difficulty. And plus, i can tell you that media is no walk in the park. U get the feeling that it is, but it's one of those things where u think uve done a great job...until u get your marks back haha.

Well dude/dudette, i dont know what to tell ya. I dont run the course, so i cant answer this exclusivity question accuratley.