seremify007 said:
I think he meant the irrelevance was the fact that you know down the road, you're going to end up with the Accoutning/Finance job rather than ever making use of psych. Sorry for the very short post but I'll post a more detailed post later- just something for you to think about though, how about doing psych for your gen ed? It's not much, and won't really amount for anything, but it might help make your time at uni feel more interesting?
Ahhh I agree that it's an irrelevant degree, but it's more for personal interest than boosting my career
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. I was seriously considering it at one stage, but that was when I thought I'd only be losing time. I have thought about studying it through general ed, but there's 21 units I'm interested in and I can only do 12
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tallkid34 said:
You sound as if you can predict the future and know exactly what will happen after you finish university. However, you make some good points.
I'm in a similar situation. I got a UAI of 88 and Im thinking of doing a combined commerce or economics/social science degree at UNSW (d-fee). As I'm young (turned 17 in september), the fact that I'll be spending longer at university than other people doesn't necessarily bother me too much. My dad (who is a commerce graduate in accounting, finance and systems from UNSW) has told me numerous times that by entering the workforce at a young age, employers are unlikely to hire you depending obviously on your experience/skills/personality.
As for the other costs you've mentioned, I'm in an entirely different boat since I've applied (and hoping to get in) for a residential college on campus and if that doesn't work out, it looks like I'll be at my parent's apartment.
As other people in this thread have mentioned, you definitely seem to be a pretty smart guy so you shouldn't look into these things too deeply for now. I'm pretty sure you'll figure something out next year. Otherwise, good luck and let's hope we'll just get into UNSW in 2007 without any major problems!
Hmm... I understand that being younger, you might be perceived to be less mature by some people but I think it's something that you can prove to be wrong in the interview!
Ahh... I wanted to live on campus too but I figured out that it'll cost me around $300/week and I just can't earn that independently
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. I didn't want to depend on YA either in case my parents' circumstances changed.
Yeah gl on getting into the degree you want and hopefully we'll both get in!
ditto. said:
Um yeah I know, i did High School Economics and University Economics, I'm quite familiar with the term.
I wasn't doubting your knowledge of the term
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. Your post just seemed to me as if you were suggesting that I posted this thread in order to impress rather than actually discuss the costs of doing a combined degree. I'm sorry that my wording made it seem as though I was attacking you
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ditto. said:
Yeah but...what's two years in the grand scheme of things?
Two years, out of your whole 80 year life...you should spend it on what you think is most enjoyable.
You seem to be talking yourself out of doing the combined degree, so I don't think your hearts really in it.
And we all have to start out with no experience anyway...if you were concerned with moving ahead with yr life as quickly as possible, you'd have skipped grades in High School...or at uni you'd overload every semester, or accelerate during summer school.
I just think the whole analysis you did is irrelevant and unneccessary.
Hmm... I understand that two years isn't much if you compare it to your whole lifetime, but two years worth of income/work experience and savings from not having to pay rent helps considerably when you move out (which, in my opinion, is a big turning point in life).
To be honest, I'm not really 100% sure now if I'd do the combined degree even if there was no financial or career cost associated with it. I have heard that uni psych isn't what I'm expecting and that it's got a lot to do with stats and neuroscience, and I'm not sure if that's something I'd be interested in, although I am interested in human behaviour. So I guess you're correct in saying that this might just be an excuse to talk myself out of it
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I don't agree with the point that we all start with no experience so it doesn't matter when we start working though. Whilst 2 yrs work experience mightn't be much in the grand scheme of things, it helps considerably when you move out, because at that point of your life, the experience makes considerably more employable and thus easier to find work as well as having a higher salary
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. I understand your point about how I could just skip high school or overload myself in uni if I was that concerned about moving ahead in life but I'm not. Rather than wanting to move ahead, I don't want to be left behind. I also don't want to overwork myself, which is necessary if I want to skip or overload.
Affinity said:
First to correct a mistake you have with your estimation -> you have living expenses whether you are at university or not, so it's really 90K instead of 140K. remembering that parent's money comes out of your inheritance.
secondly, things aren't as clear cut as you set it out to be. For example, who knows one will get employed after 3 years? And work experience isn't more the better, it's about what you do and your "success rate".
Thirdly, you seem to see education as a mere selection process to rank graduates. Don't you think a person actually learns something useful?
Forthly, The aussie first degrees are really short compared to other places. US -> 4 years, china -> 4 years, Europe -> usually 5/6 depends on country, UK->3 but they have 7 years in Highschool. perhaps there's a reason for that.
Lastly, you can consider a double degree as some sort of hedge, maybe when you graduate, they would be hiring less accountants.
Although, you might find psych boring...
Hmm.. I understand that living expenses such as food have to be paid whether or not I'm at uni, but additional rent, which makes up the majority of that $50k does not have to be paid if I'm living with my parents (renting 1 household instead of 2). Thus you still have more disposable income through saving money that would otherwise be spent on rent
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. I also believe that your point that parents' money comes out of my inheritence is irrelevant, because if I plan on moving out when I'm say, 25, my parents would still have to feed me for 25 yrs. Doing a combined degree or a straight degree has no influence on this. My point was that disposable income would be higher due to having less necessary living expenses while working and staying at home than working and living on your own. These expenses can't be saved if you have no disposable income (because you're at uni rather than working), so studying a single degree and working for 2 yrs will allow you to save more than if you were to do a 5 yr combined degree.
I understand that I'm making assumptions as employment is not guaranteed. But compared to other degrees, commerce graduates seem to have more success in finding employment
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. I don't understand what you mean by success rate, can you please elaborate?
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Yes, I agree that people actually learn something useful at uni, but is learning about psych worth the huge costs?
Comparing Australian unis to overseas unis seem irrelevant to me. I am comparing the two me's five years from now, one who's done straight comm and has worked for 2 yrs and one who's just graduated from Comm/Arts. Whilst overseas unis might cover their courses in more depth and graduates might have more understanding, doing a combined degree does not change this as you are studying two separate degrees rather than covering one in more depth. If overseas graduates are at a better age to start employment, it shouldn't be much of an issue if you plan on working in Australia, as most of the people you're competing against to get those graduate entry jobs would have gone to uni in Aus.
I agree that studying a combined degree acts as insurance as you have more options to choose from if you end up not liking your type of job but from what I've gathered, commerce is already a really broad degree and there are many occupations suitable for commerce graduates.
Yeah.. I'm unsure of whether I'd actually find uni psych interesting. While I'm interested in human behaviour, I've heard that uni psych isn't what I expect, and a lot of it has to do with stats and neuroscience so I'm not sure
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