Combined degrees (2 Viewers)

[marsesbars]

Hi, I'm thinking of doing a combined degree at UNSW next year in Science/Arts. I want to know if a combined degree is just like doing the two degrees side by side, that is, is it double the workload of a single degree? (By workload I mean the number of "units of credit" each year). Or do you do the same number of units as with a single degree but choose your subjects differently?

In essence: is it more work, or same amount of work just in different subjects?

 

[timmii]

I can't be sure, but i think its a more intense workload than a single degree, but takes less time than doing the two degrees end on end.

I can only speak for combined law, but for the first three years you do ur other course (i.e, for me I would do commerce), and then each semester you do one or two law units as your options (whereas without doing law, i would have been able to pick optional units from arts, science faculties etc...). After I finish my commerce degree, i then do another two full years of only law. A total of 5 years, rather than 6 years of a 3 year comm course, plus 3 years of law.

Why don't u email UNSW and ask them how they structure science/arts? Each uni may do the different courses differently. I also heard somewhere that if you want to do a degree combined with arts, it only takes an additional one year to complete the arts degree - again I cannot be sure.

 

[Lazarus]

At USyd with combined degrees such as the BSc/BA, you do both at the same time - the normal 'load' is 24 credit points per semester, and most first-year subjects are worth 6 credit points, so most people do 4 subjects per semester. If you're doing a BSc/BA you'd choose two sci subjects and two arts subjects. I think it's essentially like that for the whole five years.

It's not double the workload, you just have an extra two years at uni instead.

The relevant university websites would have more detail.

 

[Jin-17]

what mark adverages do u have to fulifl to contiue doing it? Some of my friends told me that u have to get a certain mark average or else they tell u in another word to get lost. Would it be like a credit average?

 

[Lazarus]

I think most of them only require a credit average, yes.

 

[Mr Wiggle]

what does a credit average equal to in percentage terms ???

 

[Lazarus]

High Distinction: 85+
Distinction: 75 - 84
Credit: 65 - 74
Pass: 50 - 64

 

[user]

those marks seem kinda... low compared to the marks expected in high school. Do they mark really hard?

 

[Lazarus]

They're very different to high school marks.

For some kind of comparison, I think getting a distinction average takes about as much work as getting a UAI of 95.

 

[user]

that's scary.

 

[Minai]

I have a few friends that just completed their first year uni exams, and they gave me advice, which was to study even harder than u did for the HSC, because Uni requires more effort to get the results

 

[-=«MÄLÅÇhïtÊ»=-]

"High Distinction: 85+
Distinction: 75 - 84
Credit: 65 - 74
Pass: 50 - 64"


so getting a credit depends on ur mark? not percentile?
ok coz i used to think it was like the maths, science etc compeitions where credit etc are based on wat percentile u come.

that's a relief. Coz otherwise if ur doing a course with a high uai cutoff, topping that group will be hard

 

[Lazarus]

Well, the marks are actually scaled so that a certain percentage of students receive HDs, etc.

So technically it does depend on your percentile. But if you're doing a difficult degree, you're not just competing against those people - in each subject, there'll be hundreds of other people from other degrees and other faculties.

The scaling at uni isn't quite as equitable as what is used in the HSC, from what I've seen... at USyd, if there's an 'advanced' stream available for a particular subject, nearly all the HDs and most of the Ds will be awarded to the advanced students.

 

[-=«MÄLÅÇhïtÊ»=-]

oh
so if im doing actuarial studies, and i get a credit, that credit isnt a ranking for juz the ppl doing my course, but every1 in the whole uni? And this is done by aligning the marks?
kewl

therefore if u get into a harder course..one with smarter canditures, ur mark will be scaled higher, kinder like 4u maths!

 

[Lazarus]

Essentially, yeah... except you don't get a grade for your entire degree, you get one for each subject you do within your degree (and most subjects aren't degree-specific, you'll get all sorts of people doing them).

but that's pretty much it.

 

[-=«MÄLÅÇhïtÊ»=-]

sweet
thnx

i was worried b4 coz u have to get a credit average to go onto lvl2 of actuarials (or sumfin liek that, cant remember now, maybe it was honors for lvl 3). Going up against a tough group wouldve been tough i thought, but now that it's the whole uni, it doesnt seem too bad.

Then i spose its even better if u goto a....less intelligent uni? Say mq uni, acturials is like 1 of its few good courses, so if u do that, u'd be competing against lots of ppl (in other mq courses) who obtained lower uais than their counterparts who goto unsw and syd. So for ppl doing actuarials in mq, they'd have a better chance in getting credit average, compared to a scenario if that same group was in unsw. Assuming that the intelligence levels of the other mq students are relative to and consistant their hsc performances.

 

[Ultimate]

Just wondering, do you still have time to do other things if you do a combined degree at university? I hear reports from everywhere that the workload is full-on.

 

[!meeee!]

what are you referring to by "other things"?

 

[Ultimate]

By other things I mean part time work, playing weekend sport etc

 

[Minai]

but isnt the cutoffs for Actuarial studies much much higher at Macquarie than at UNSW/Usyd ?

Originally posted by -=MLhtʻ=-
sweet
thnx

i was worried b4 coz u have to get a credit average to go onto lvl2 of actuarials (or sumfin liek that, cant remember now, maybe it was honors for lvl 3). Going up against a tough group wouldve been tough i thought, but now that it's the whole uni, it doesnt seem too bad.

Then i spose its even better if u goto a....less intelligent uni? Say mq uni, acturials is like 1 of its few good courses, so if u do that, u'd be competing against lots of ppl (in other mq courses) who obtained lower uais than their counterparts who goto unsw and syd. So for ppl doing actuarials in mq, they'd have a better chance in getting credit average, compared to a scenario if that same group was in unsw. Assuming that the intelligence levels of the other mq students are relative to and consistant their hsc performances.