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Economics or commerce? (1 Viewer)

#goodo#

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hey, i'm just finishing up my hsc this year and weighing up uni options. Basically i've narrowed it down to commerce or economics, and at either unsw or sydney. Just wondering which uni has best facilities, teaching and reputation? Also when i looked throught UAC book, the economics degree at sydney is recognised by CPA and CA, whereas unsw is only recognised by CPA, is this correct or a typo? Sorry about all the questions but one more, are there good career prospects in economics? Any help would be much appreciated thanks
 

SSaint

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Yeah, I agree with Ashton, those are basically the exact reasons why I chose Sydney over UNSW, and incidentally part of why I chose Economics over Commerce, but then again - I chose Economics because I wanted to do it. tbh no matter which you choose, you'll get a quality education
 

perfectionist

I M SpEcIaL....SpEcIaL...
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When I was choosing universities, I was tossing between UNSW and USYD. So glad I chose USYD, its proximity to the city is great. Esp. the travel part to UNSW sounds daunting, like for most people, I gather they have to catch a bus from Central to uni.

Environment at USYD is great. So glad I chose it, else I would have been regretting!

As mentioned above, quality of teaching is great.

Besides yeah, as said above, Economics binds you to do at least one of the two majors: Econ or Econometrics.

If you are really into economics, then it is fair enough to go for that degree. But if you want to just try everything and then decide what you want to major into, then Commerce is a better option.

Good luck!
 

cimbom

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Yeah definitely, if you're unsure about exactly what areas of study you'll be interested in for your degree do B.Com. at usyd. There's something from everything, and the first year accounting and economic units you take set up the foundations for a major in either later on. But if you've decided upon an economics major or econometrics major (+compulsory economics minor) take B.Ec- because then you'll have the freedom to choose whatever you want as a second major. Which is definitely more flexible than the B.Economic and Social Sciences, B.Int.Stud. degree if you're interested in broader social science areas. I'm not sure, but apparently at UNSW accounting units are core for B.Economics as well as B.Commerce?

The faculty at usyd is also so diverse in the fact that it contains the disciplines of government+international relations (which is awesome) and political economy (which is maybe not so awesome), recognising their importance to economics+business, whereas at other unis political science comes under the Arts faculty. As far as I'm aware, you wouldn't be able to study units from such areas as government without actually combining your degree with B.Arts and studying for longer.
 

Sarah168

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Career prospects in economics are good...IF you excel in it otherwise it's an extremely competitive job market. Most people either go for it in economics honours to nail jobs or they combine a major in economics with a major that is more "useful" (I use this term loosely for want of a better word), like Accounting.

The teaching, facilities, reputation thing is so subjective, I won't bother going into it cos I won't have anything original to add anyway.

From my experience, I had the impression at the end of Year 12 that UNSW commerce was superior but too many other factors weighed in on my decision. Catching a bus to Kensington is a pain in the butt and was a huge factor for me because I live quite far from the city. I'm not the greatest morning person and I could use the extra 30mins sleep a few mornings a week for 4 years :p

Other things like proximity to the city, the campus atmosphere, the arts subjects offered (relevant to my degree, not so much in a regular commerce degree) factored in as well.
 

jpr333

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Yes but you are leaving the faculty now.... traitor! You'll miss the 12 hr weeks and come crawling back no doubt :p
 

sarevok

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i transferred from usyd comm to unsw comm and my impressions about the two:

* usyd has nicer campus but you will be stuck in merewether (other side of city road) most of the time so you will have to make effort to explore it
* usyd has a more varied background of people in its bcomm degree. must be only fifteen non-asian accounting majors in entire unsw
* unsw has more fobs
* unsw's timetabling system is heaven compared to usyd's
* manning bar > the roundhouse...a million times over
* teaching quality i would say is similar...but i haven't run into big an idiot as atta adu osae at unsw yet
* in my experience unsw comm students are generally nicer people than the ones i met at usyd, but this is probably just my luck

i have to say that i would rate the two degrees about equal...
 

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