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Review of Western Sydney University (1 Viewer)

jimmysmith560

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This thread is for students who may be thinking of studying a Bachelor’s degree(s) at Western Sydney University. It serves as a comprehensive and unbiased review of the university which will hopefully provide students with a clear perspective of what it is like to study at WSU and assist them in making an informed decision regarding whether to attend WSU. It will cover the university as a whole and will also focus on the School of Business.

Background:

At the time of posting this thread, I am a WSU graduand (a student who has completed his degree but has not yet officially graduated). I studied a Bachelor of Business (Advanced Business Leadership) and majored in Human Resource Management. The selection rank for my degree has typically fluctuated between 90 and 95. The reason that it had a selection rank requirement in this range was that it is designed for high achieving students, who will study additional subjects that encompass further research/coursework (including exposure to MBA coursework, Honours- and PhD-type research), as opposed to students enrolled in the standard Bachelor of Business with the lower selection rank requirement of 70. To me, the degree was a convenient alternative to USyd’s Bachelor of Commerce because the then 2-year-old Parramatta City campus was easily accessible in terms of location and travel time and as someone who wishes to pursue postgraduate study in the future, a degree that included a focus on postgraduate study appealed to me.

Thankfully, I have finished my degree on a distinction GPA/WAM.

Positive aspects of WSU:

There is a multitude of things that I was satisfied with and impressed by during my time at this university. The things that I was satisfied with were:
  • Quality of education - I was satisfied with the quality of education. Most academics in both standard and advanced subjects were definitely highly knowledgeable and delivered the content of their respective subjects at a high standard. I recall reading this thread covering my specialisation, which mentioned that WSU has a good HR program. I can confirm that my experience was indeed consistent with this notion.
  • Flexibility – This refers to class times, with an emphasis on tutorials. The university offered good flexibility in terms of class times (including day and night) as well as mode of delivery (on campus and online), which I found convenient, especially since my circumstances and commitments changed fairly frequently, notably in my second year.
  • Employment opportunities - Similar to other universities, WSU has partnerships with different companies, which, depending on the degree(s) studied, can give students a good chance of finding employment opportunities through the university while they are still studying. In my case, I was able to work at PwC (a Big 4 accounting firm) for a few months (after which I quit because I did not study a finance-related major but also because I had two jobs and it was difficult to maintain them both). I am definitely thankful for the experience.
In terms of what I was impressed by during my time at WSU, this would definitely be the commitment that the university has shown to improve itself in multiple areas, whether it be the quality of its degrees (including collaboration with other universities, a good example of which is the WSU-UNSW Collaborative Program for engineering) or the facilities (the Parramatta City campus, the Engineering Innovation Hub and the Bankstown City campus just to name a few).

Negative aspects of WSU:

There are a couple of things that I was not happy with during my time at this university. First, I would like to discuss the stigma associated with WSU. The good news is, it is not entirely accurate that only dropkicks attend WSU. I have met and studied alongside numerous high achievers across both the standard and the advanced degrees, meaning that the university definitely has its fair share of bright students. However, this stigma is not entirely invalid, with some students also being dropkicks or students who are serious about attending university but are low achievers. The reason that I am discussing this is that at university, it is likely that you will be required to complete group assignments, regardless of your degree. I was affected by this in two ways:
  • In the advanced subjects that were part of the advanced degree (which could only be taken by other high-achieving students), I had no issues with group tasks. Think of this as being the selective stream of a semi-selective school. Working alongside other bright students was a pleasant experience and did not pose any obstacles, despite the inherently higher difficulty of advanced subjects.
  • In the standard subjects, I faced issues with group tasks in some (not all) subjects. Think of this as being the comprehensive stream of a semi-selective school, where you may be required to work alongside students who are either high-achievers or low-achievers. The problems that I faced were:
    • Other group members not putting in sufficient effort into their part(s) of the assignments, consequently impacting the overall group mark.
    • Other group members not engaging at all. This happened once in my first year, and the student was given a zero for their lack of participation/contribution.
    • Other group members putting in a commendable amount of effort, but not producing good quality work. This is the only outcome that I can personally forgive, because at least the student was willing to do their best to contribute in such a case, despite being a low achiever.
Where none of the above issues apply, I worked with a combination of high achievers and other not-so-bright students who still made a substantial effort to make positive contributions, leading us to achieve favourable marks (distinctions and high distinctions) in group assignments of particular standard subjects. Of course, every university has its share of high achievers and low achievers and WSU is not an exception. Because of this, if you care about your university results, and should you choose to study at WSU, it is important that you try to prioritise working alongside high achievers and students who are willing to fully commit to group assignments.

This brings me to the second thing that I was not happy with, which is the reason that the first thing exists to begin with. I find the ease with which one can receive an offer to study at WSU unreasonable. This applies to standard degrees with lower ATAR requirements (i.e. anything below 80). Not only are such ATAR requirements already fairly achievable for the average HSC student without the need for adjustment factors, but the university is excessively generous with both adjustment factors as well as the HSC True Reward Early Offer Program. WSU also offers, through The College, pathway programs for students who do not achieve a sufficiently high ATAR or do not have an ATAR which subsequently allows them to progress into the relevant undergraduate degree. This multitude of entry options is unreasonable and is the main way through which low achievers, particularly those who are not serious about attending university and those who identify with the “P's get degrees” ideology can attend WSU and contribute to the distortion of the average perception regarding the university.

Based on this, WSU should seriously consider increasing the ATAR requirements of its degrees that are easy to receive an offer to study by 5-10 points at the very least. The fact that there will be changes made to early entry schemes following NESA’s intervention will also be interesting in terms of the manner in which this will affect the HSC True Reward Early Offer Program. Making this early entry scheme slightly more rigorous would be a welcome change.

What I recommend and do not recommend WSU for:

WSU should be considered as an option for a number of degrees/fields and perhaps disregarded for some other degrees/fields. Based on my knowledge, I would recommend WSU for the following:
  • Any degree offered by the School of Business.
  • The Bachelor of Nursing
  • The Doctor of Medicine
  • Engineering, primarily the Bachelor of Engineering Advanced (Honours)
  • The Bachelor of Psychology (Honours)
Additionally, I would generally recommend advanced degrees and degrees with high ATAR requirements that WSU offers. Of course, it is still important to carefully examine all available options, whether at WSU or at other universities.

Unless it is the only available option, I would not recommend WSU for the following:
  • The Bachelor of Laws, in which case Go8 universities such as USyd and UNSW would be superior options.
  • IT/Computer Science, the only exception being the Bachelor of Information Systems (Advanced). Otherwise, programs offered by universities such as UNSW and UTS are likely superior options.
 

jimmysmith560

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Continued - Summary and final rating:

If you choose to study at WSU, you will be attending a university that is young, innovative, highly committed and one that offers a good quality education in addition to the aforementioned benefits.

At the same time, there is a chance that, unless you are vigilant, you will face difficulties working with not-so-great students at some point during your university journey, although this does not apply to advanced subjects within advanced degrees, or in degrees with higher ATAR requirements, where you are unlikely to face such issues.

Final rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall, this makes WSU a good university.

All the best with your studies! :D
 

jimmysmith560

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Very helpful! Would you recommend physio at WSU?
Yes, if you receive an offer to study the Bachelor of Physiotherapy, you should definitely consider it. It also includes an Honours component, which would be a nice addition to your degree and may not be offered within the Physiotherapy programs at other universities.
 

zaddiaone

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Thanks Jimmy for this insightful review. I was wondering if you know where I could find the allocate link for timetabling. I recently enrolled with uws but i have been searching for the allocate + link and can’t find it anywhere. Thanks @jimmysmith560
 

jimmysmith560

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Thanks Jimmy for this insightful review. I was wondering if you know where I could find the allocate link for timetabling. I recently enrolled with uws but i have been searching for the allocate + link and can’t find it anywhere. Thanks @jimmysmith560
No worries. From what I can see, the Allocate+ link has not yet been made available for the 2023 Autumn semester. It would be a good idea to wait until the specified dates (Monday 23 January 2023 is the day that preference selection opens) and regularly check your university email because they tend to send reminders closer to the date. Such emails may end up including the link. Otherwise, it should be accessible on the following page:

 

[Blank]

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No worries. From what I can see, the Allocate+ link has not yet been made available for the 2023 Autumn semester. It would be a good idea to wait until the specified dates (Monday 23 January 2023 is the day that preference selection opens) and regularly check your university email because they tend to send reminders closer to the date. Such emails may end up including the link. Otherwise, it should be accessible on the following page:

God damn! After such a long day, you’re already back at it again my guy?!! Mad respect bro.
 

Etho_x

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This thread is for students who may be thinking of studying a Bachelor’s degree(s) at Western Sydney University. It serves as a comprehensive and unbiased review of the university which will hopefully provide students with a clear perspective of what it is like to study at WSU and assist them in making an informed decision regarding whether to attend WSU. It will cover the university as a whole and will also focus on the School of Business.

Background:

At the time of posting this thread, I am a WSU graduand (a student who has completed his degree but has not yet officially graduated). I studied a Bachelor of Business (Advanced Business Leadership) and majored in Human Resource Management. The selection rank for my degree has typically fluctuated between 90 and 95. The reason that it had a selection rank requirement in this range was that it is designed for high achieving students, who will study additional subjects that encompass further research/coursework (including exposure to MBA coursework, Honours- and PhD-type research), as opposed to students enrolled in the standard Bachelor of Business with the lower selection rank requirement of 70. To me, the degree was a convenient alternative to USyd’s Bachelor of Commerce because the then 2-year-old Parramatta City campus was easily accessible in terms of location and travel time and as someone who wishes to pursue postgraduate study in the future, a degree that included a focus on postgraduate study appealed to me.

Thankfully, I have finished my degree on a distinction GPA/WAM.

Positive aspects of WSU:

There is a multitude of things that I was satisfied with and impressed by during my time at this university. The things that I was satisfied with were:
  • Quality of education - I was satisfied with the quality of education. Most academics in both standard and advanced subjects were definitely highly knowledgeable and delivered the content of their respective subjects at a high standard. I recall reading this thread covering my specialisation, which mentioned that WSU has a good HR program. I can confirm that my experience was indeed consistent with this notion.
  • Flexibility – This refers to class times, with an emphasis on tutorials. The university offered good flexibility in terms of class times (including day and night) as well as mode of delivery (on campus and online), which I found convenient, especially since my circumstances and commitments changed fairly frequently, notably in my second year.
  • Employment opportunities - Similar to other universities, WSU has partnerships with different companies, which, depending on the degree(s) studied, can give students a good chance of finding employment opportunities through the university while they are still studying. In my case, I was able to work at PwC (a Big 4 accounting firm) for a few months (after which I quit because I did not study a finance-related major but also because I had two jobs and it was difficult to maintain them both). I am definitely thankful for the experience.
In terms of what I was impressed by during my time at WSU, this would definitely be the commitment that the university has shown to improve itself in multiple areas, whether it be the quality of its degrees (including collaboration with other universities, a good example of which is the WSU-UNSW Collaborative Program for engineering) or the facilities (the Parramatta City campus, the Engineering Innovation Hub and the Bankstown City campus just to name a few).

Negative aspects of WSU:

There are a couple of things that I was not happy with during my time at this university. First, I would like to discuss the stigma associated with WSU. The good news is, it is not entirely accurate that only dropkicks attend WSU. I have met and studied alongside numerous high achievers across both the standard and the advanced degrees, meaning that the university definitely has its fair share of bright students. However, this stigma is not entirely invalid, with some students also being dropkicks or students who are serious about attending university but are low achievers. The reason that I am discussing this is that at university, it is likely that you will be required to complete group assignments, regardless of your degree. I was affected by this in two ways:
  • In the advanced subjects that were part of the advanced degree (which could only be taken by other high-achieving students), I had no issues with group tasks. Think of this as being the selective stream of a semi-selective school. Working alongside other bright students was a pleasant experience and did not pose any obstacles, despite the inherently higher difficulty of advanced subjects.
  • In the standard subjects, I faced issues with group tasks in some (not all) subjects. Think of this as being the comprehensive stream of a semi-selective school, where you may be required to work alongside students who are either high-achievers or low-achievers. The problems that I faced were:
    • Other group members not putting in sufficient effort into their part(s) of the assignments, consequently impacting the overall group mark.
    • Other group members not engaging at all. This happened once in my first year, and the student was given a zero for their lack of participation/contribution.
    • Other group members putting in a commendable amount of effort, but not producing good quality work. This is the only outcome that I can personally forgive, because at least the student was willing to do their best to contribute in such a case, despite being a low achiever.
Where none of the above issues apply, I worked with a combination of high achievers and other not-so-bright students who still made a substantial effort to make positive contributions, leading us to achieve favourable marks (distinctions and high distinctions) in group assignments of particular standard subjects. Of course, every university has its share of high achievers and low achievers and WSU is not an exception. Because of this, if you care about your university results, and should you choose to study at WSU, it is important that you try to prioritise working alongside high achievers and students who are willing to fully commit to group assignments.

This brings me to the second thing that I was not happy with, which is the reason that the first thing exists to begin with. I find the ease with which one can receive an offer to study at WSU unreasonable. This applies to standard degrees with lower ATAR requirements (i.e. anything below 80). Not only are such ATAR requirements already fairly achievable for the average HSC student without the need for adjustment factors, but the university is excessively generous with both adjustment factors as well as the HSC True Reward Early Offer Program. WSU also offers, through The College, pathway programs for students who do not achieve a sufficiently high ATAR or do not have an ATAR which subsequently allows them to progress into the relevant undergraduate degree. This multitude of entry options is unreasonable and is the main way through which low achievers, particularly those who are not serious about attending university and those who identify with the “P's get degrees” ideology can attend WSU and contribute to the distortion of the average perception regarding the university.

Based on this, WSU should seriously consider increasing the ATAR requirements of its degrees that are easy to receive an offer to study by 5-10 points at the very least. The fact that there will be changes made to early entry schemes following NESA’s intervention will also be interesting in terms of the manner in which this will affect the HSC True Reward Early Offer Program. Making this early entry scheme slightly more rigorous would be a welcome change.

What I recommend and do not recommend WSU for:

WSU should be considered as an option for a number of degrees/fields and perhaps disregarded for some other degrees/fields. Based on my knowledge, I would recommend WSU for the following:
  • Any degree offered by the School of Business.
  • The Bachelor of Nursing
  • The Doctor of Medicine
  • Engineering, primarily the Bachelor of Engineering Advanced (Honours)
  • The Bachelor of Psychology (Honours)
Additionally, I would generally recommend advanced degrees and degrees with high ATAR requirements that WSU offers. Of course, it is still important to carefully examine all available options, whether at WSU or at other universities.

Unless it is the only available option, I would not recommend WSU for the following:
  • The Bachelor of Laws, in which case Go8 universities such as USyd and UNSW would be superior options.
  • IT/Computer Science, the only exception being the Bachelor of Information Systems (Advanced). Otherwise, programs offered by universities such as UNSW and UTS are likely superior options.
Do you ever sleep?
 

zaddiaone

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No worries. From what I can see, the Allocate+ link has not yet been made available for the 2023 Autumn semester. It would be a good idea to wait until the specified dates (Monday 23 January 2023 is the day that preference selection opens) and regularly check your university email because they tend to send reminders closer to the date. Such emails may end up including the link. Otherwise, it should be accessible on the following page:

Thank you
 

No surprises

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This is very helpful Jimmy thx!! Btw do you know anything about their bachelor of Urban planning course? It's pretty hard for me to make choice since in the "better unis" I know only WSU, UNSW and Macquarie are providing this course. I am doing HSC next year and I can get 80+ atar with over 80% possibility and my aim is around 90.
For all of these unis, the top atar requirement for urban planning is 80 in UNSW and I've asked the professor the guaranteed rank is like 83 something like that so do you think I should do WSU 's early entry as a backup plan or is it actually a pretty good uni for urban planning since it's located in Western Sydney and there are heaps of urban development movement? (e.g. like Western Sydney Airport stuff...idk haha) btw do you know if there is a limit for early entry? Like I can only apply for 3 unis?
Anyway, thx for sharing this is definitely very helpful!:D
 

jimmysmith560

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This is very helpful Jimmy thx!! Btw do you know anything about their bachelor of Urban planning course? It's pretty hard for me to make choice since in the "better unis" I know only WSU, UNSW and Macquarie are providing this course. I am doing HSC next year and I can get 80+ atar with over 80% possibility and my aim is around 90.
For all of these unis, the top atar requirement for urban planning is 80 in UNSW and I've asked the professor the guaranteed rank is like 83 something like that so do you think I should do WSU 's early entry as a backup plan or is it actually a pretty good uni for urban planning since it's located in Western Sydney and there are heaps of urban development movement? (e.g. like Western Sydney Airport stuff...idk haha) btw do you know if there is a limit for early entry? Like I can only apply for 3 unis?
Anyway, thx for sharing this is definitely very helpful!:D
No worries, I am glad to hear that! I think that it is likely that you will essentially be satisfied with the education that you receive at any of those universities. If you achieve an ATAR in your desired range, you will place yourself in a favourable position since you would then be made offers for the degree at each university (in the case of standard ATAR-based entry).

From what I have observed, your choice should be between either WSU or UNSW. WSU's Bachelor of Planning (Pathway to Master of Urban Management and Planning) has the advantage of being the shortest program, being 4 years full-time, which consist of 3 years full-time for the Bachelor of Planning and 1 year full-time for the Master of Urban Management and Planning. At the end of the 4 years, you would graduate with a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree, as opposed to UNSW and MQ, where the Bachelor's degree alone is 4 years full-time.

You are definitely correct in that there are significant initiatives and upcoming projects in the Western Sydney region (such as the Western Sydney Airport as you mentioned). If you intend to be involved in such projects, it is possible that WSU graduates would be perceived favourably, especially when considering the university's own contributions to the region. Of course, this does not necessarily suggest that you would not be able to do the same if you happen to graduate from UNSW or MQ. In any case, it is important that you focus on your academic achievements, your skills as well as your experience because these are the primary elements that will assist you in finding employment, regardless of the university that you attend.

WSU allows for up to 10 bonus points to be applied to your selection rank based on factors such as whether you live in the Western Sydney region as well as your HSC results (this is done automatically by WSU if you meet such criteria). Additionally, the HSC True Reward Early Offer Program has fairly achievable requirements for Bachelor of Planning (Pathway to Master of Urban Management and Planning), where the highest year 11 grade requirement is a B and the highest HSC result band requirement is a band 4.

UNSW has the advantage of including an Honours component in its Bachelor of City Planning (Honours), which is not the case of either WSU's or MQ's Bachelor of Planning. Here, you should consider whether you are interested in doing Honours and/or a Master's degree in the same field. If you are interested in both, you can then either study UNSW's Master of City Planning, which is 2 years full-time (resulting in a total of 6 years full-time), or WSU's Master of Urban Management and Planning, which is 1 year full-time (resulting in a total of 5 years full-time). Qualifications from both UNSW and WSU seem to blend in nicely.

MQ's Bachelor of Planning lacks an Honours component and yet remains a 4-year degree, although it has the lowest ATAR requirement of the three universities at 75, meaning that it would be a good backup option in the event that you do not receive an offer to either WSU or UNSW (hopefully you do).

As far as I am aware, there is no limit to the number of universities that you can apply for in terms of early entry schemes. WSU and MQ both require direct applications, which can be done through their respective westernsydney.uac.edu.au and mq.uac.edu.au portals. UNSW's early entry scheme is the Gateway Admission Pathway. It is administered through UAC's Schools Recommendation Scheme (SRS) and thus requires you to apply through the UAC website.

I hope this helps! 😄
 

Master Singleton

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Having graduated from Western Sydney University and University of Sydney I can safely say right now that Western Sydney University have an excellent Property stream within the Business School for both undergrad and postgrad whereby the professors within the Property stream still work within the property industry as managers and consultants. Plus within the property industry Western Sydney University Business School Property stream is well known and respected.
 
Last edited:

No surprises

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No worries, I am glad to hear that! I think that it is likely that you will essentially be satisfied with the education that you receive at any of those universities. If you achieve an ATAR in your desired range, you will place yourself in a favourable position since you would then be made offers for the degree at each university (in the case of standard ATAR-based entry).

From what I have observed, your choice should be between either WSU or UNSW. WSU's Bachelor of Planning (Pathway to Master of Urban Management and Planning) has the advantage of being the shortest program, being 4 years full-time, which consist of 3 years full-time for the Bachelor of Planning and 1 year full-time for the Master of Urban Management and Planning. At the end of the 4 years, you would graduate with a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree, as opposed to UNSW and MQ, where the Bachelor's degree alone is 4 years full-time.

You are definitely correct in that there are significant initiatives and upcoming projects in the Western Sydney region (such as the Western Sydney Airport as you mentioned). If you intend to be involved in such projects, it is possible that WSU graduates would be perceived favourably, especially when considering the university's own contributions to the region. Of course, this does not necessarily suggest that you would not be able to do the same if you happen to graduate from UNSW or MQ. In any case, it is important that you focus on your academic achievements, your skills as well as your experience because these are the primary elements that will assist you in finding employment, regardless of the university that you attend.

WSU allows for up to 10 bonus points to be applied to your selection rank based on factors such as whether you live in the Western Sydney region as well as your HSC results (this is done automatically by WSU if you meet such criteria). Additionally, the HSC True Reward Early Offer Program has fairly achievable requirements for Bachelor of Planning (Pathway to Master of Urban Management and Planning), where the highest year 11 grade requirement is a B and the highest HSC result band requirement is a band 4.

UNSW has the advantage of including an Honours component in its Bachelor of City Planning (Honours), which is not the case of either WSU's or MQ's Bachelor of Planning. Here, you should consider whether you are interested in doing Honours and/or a Master's degree in the same field. If you are interested in both, you can then either study UNSW's Master of City Planning, which is 2 years full-time (resulting in a total of 6 years full-time), or WSU's Master of Urban Management and Planning, which is 1 year full-time (resulting in a total of 5 years full-time). Qualifications from both UNSW and WSU seem to blend in nicely.

MQ's Bachelor of Planning lacks an Honours component and yet remains a 4-year degree, although it has the lowest ATAR requirement of the three universities at 75, meaning that it would be a good backup option in the event that you do not receive an offer to either WSU or UNSW (hopefully you do).

As far as I am aware, there is no limit to the number of universities that you can apply for in terms of early entry schemes. WSU and MQ both require direct applications, which can be done through their respective westernsydney.uac.edu.au and mq.uac.edu.au portals. UNSW's early entry scheme is the Gateway Admission Pathway. It is administered through UAC's Schools Recommendation Scheme (SRS) and thus requires you to apply through the UAC website.

I hope this helps! 😄
Yes this helps a lot thank you Bos hero TVT
 

vbored

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This thread is for students who may be thinking of studying a Bachelor’s degree(s) at Western Sydney University. It serves as a comprehensive and unbiased review of the university which will hopefully provide students with a clear perspective of what it is like to study at WSU and assist them in making an informed decision regarding whether to attend WSU. It will cover the university as a whole and will also focus on the School of Business.

Background:

At the time of posting this thread, I am a WSU graduand (a student who has completed his degree but has not yet officially graduated). I studied a Bachelor of Business (Advanced Business Leadership) and majored in Human Resource Management. The selection rank for my degree has typically fluctuated between 90 and 95. The reason that it had a selection rank requirement in this range was that it is designed for high achieving students, who will study additional subjects that encompass further research/coursework (including exposure to MBA coursework, Honours- and PhD-type research), as opposed to students enrolled in the standard Bachelor of Business with the lower selection rank requirement of 70. To me, the degree was a convenient alternative to USyd’s Bachelor of Commerce because the then 2-year-old Parramatta City campus was easily accessible in terms of location and travel time and as someone who wishes to pursue postgraduate study in the future, a degree that included a focus on postgraduate study appealed to me.

Thankfully, I have finished my degree on a distinction GPA/WAM.

Positive aspects of WSU:

There is a multitude of things that I was satisfied with and impressed by during my time at this university. The things that I was satisfied with were:
  • Quality of education - I was satisfied with the quality of education. Most academics in both standard and advanced subjects were definitely highly knowledgeable and delivered the content of their respective subjects at a high standard. I recall reading this thread covering my specialisation, which mentioned that WSU has a good HR program. I can confirm that my experience was indeed consistent with this notion.
  • Flexibility – This refers to class times, with an emphasis on tutorials. The university offered good flexibility in terms of class times (including day and night) as well as mode of delivery (on campus and online), which I found convenient, especially since my circumstances and commitments changed fairly frequently, notably in my second year.
  • Employment opportunities - Similar to other universities, WSU has partnerships with different companies, which, depending on the degree(s) studied, can give students a good chance of finding employment opportunities through the university while they are still studying. In my case, I was able to work at PwC (a Big 4 accounting firm) for a few months (after which I quit because I did not study a finance-related major but also because I had two jobs and it was difficult to maintain them both). I am definitely thankful for the experience.
In terms of what I was impressed by during my time at WSU, this would definitely be the commitment that the university has shown to improve itself in multiple areas, whether it be the quality of its degrees (including collaboration with other universities, a good example of which is the WSU-UNSW Collaborative Program for engineering) or the facilities (the Parramatta City campus, the Engineering Innovation Hub and the Bankstown City campus just to name a few).

Negative aspects of WSU:

There are a couple of things that I was not happy with during my time at this university. First, I would like to discuss the stigma associated with WSU. The good news is, it is not entirely accurate that only dropkicks attend WSU. I have met and studied alongside numerous high achievers across both the standard and the advanced degrees, meaning that the university definitely has its fair share of bright students. However, this stigma is not entirely invalid, with some students also being dropkicks or students who are serious about attending university but are low achievers. The reason that I am discussing this is that at university, it is likely that you will be required to complete group assignments, regardless of your degree. I was affected by this in two ways:
  • In the advanced subjects that were part of the advanced degree (which could only be taken by other high-achieving students), I had no issues with group tasks. Think of this as being the selective stream of a semi-selective school. Working alongside other bright students was a pleasant experience and did not pose any obstacles, despite the inherently higher difficulty of advanced subjects.
  • In the standard subjects, I faced issues with group tasks in some (not all) subjects. Think of this as being the comprehensive stream of a semi-selective school, where you may be required to work alongside students who are either high-achievers or low-achievers. The problems that I faced were:
    • Other group members not putting in sufficient effort into their part(s) of the assignments, consequently impacting the overall group mark.
    • Other group members not engaging at all. This happened once in my first year, and the student was given a zero for their lack of participation/contribution.
    • Other group members putting in a commendable amount of effort, but not producing good quality work. This is the only outcome that I can personally forgive, because at least the student was willing to do their best to contribute in such a case, despite being a low achiever.
Where none of the above issues apply, I worked with a combination of high achievers and other not-so-bright students who still made a substantial effort to make positive contributions, leading us to achieve favourable marks (distinctions and high distinctions) in group assignments of particular standard subjects. Of course, every university has its share of high achievers and low achievers and WSU is not an exception. Because of this, if you care about your university results, and should you choose to study at WSU, it is important that you try to prioritise working alongside high achievers and students who are willing to fully commit to group assignments.

This brings me to the second thing that I was not happy with, which is the reason that the first thing exists to begin with. I find the ease with which one can receive an offer to study at WSU unreasonable. This applies to standard degrees with lower ATAR requirements (i.e. anything below 80). Not only are such ATAR requirements already fairly achievable for the average HSC student without the need for adjustment factors, but the university is excessively generous with both adjustment factors as well as the HSC True Reward Early Offer Program. WSU also offers, through The College, pathway programs for students who do not achieve a sufficiently high ATAR or do not have an ATAR which subsequently allows them to progress into the relevant undergraduate degree. This multitude of entry options is unreasonable and is the main way through which low achievers, particularly those who are not serious about attending university and those who identify with the “P's get degrees” ideology can attend WSU and contribute to the distortion of the average perception regarding the university.

Based on this, WSU should seriously consider increasing the ATAR requirements of its degrees that are easy to receive an offer to study by 5-10 points at the very least. The fact that there will be changes made to early entry schemes following NESA’s intervention will also be interesting in terms of the manner in which this will affect the HSC True Reward Early Offer Program. Making this early entry scheme slightly more rigorous would be a welcome change.

What I recommend and do not recommend WSU for:

WSU should be considered as an option for a number of degrees/fields and perhaps disregarded for some other degrees/fields. Based on my knowledge, I would recommend WSU for the following:
  • Any degree offered by the School of Business.
  • The Bachelor of Nursing
  • The Doctor of Medicine
  • Engineering, primarily the Bachelor of Engineering Advanced (Honours)
  • The Bachelor of Psychology (Honours)
Additionally, I would generally recommend advanced degrees and degrees with high ATAR requirements that WSU offers. Of course, it is still important to carefully examine all available options, whether at WSU or at other universities.

Unless it is the only available option, I would not recommend WSU for the following:
  • The Bachelor of Laws, in which case Go8 universities such as USyd and UNSW would be superior options.
  • IT/Computer Science, the only exception being the Bachelor of Information Systems (Advanced). Otherwise, programs offered by universities such as UNSW and UTS are likely superior options.
Good summary and wholeheartedly agree with all of your comments!

To add weight to Jimmy’s comment surrounding group projects, I only did 16/24 units at WSU and 11 of those units had group work. The weighting for these assignments ranged between 40-60%, placing a large portion of your grade on the reliability of other students. I have spoken to tutors at other universities and they have said they mostly have a rule of no group work above 30%. The sheer amount of group work at WSU was challenging and (1/2)
 

vbored

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I really do also recommend you find a solid cohort of high achieving peers to work with throughout your degree. I am lucky that I actually went through and completed my degree with Jimmy but if I didn’t have him and a solid group of students to be assigned to group work with I do not think I would have also been able to finish with a distinction WAM .

Another sticking point for me, which isn’t huge but still annoying, is how far after finishing your degree they have scheduled graduation ceremonies. We finished mid-November and we won’t have our graduation till end of April 2023. I have seen multiple universities have graduation in December (and a university I attended for my first 8 units has theirs in Feb). I think this is unreasonable to only have April and September graduations (scheduled during mid-sem break for convenience) and not one somewhere between December and February (2/2).
 

Tiki Taka

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Having graduated from Western Sydney University and University of Sydney I can safely say right now that Western Sydney University have an excellent Property stream within the Business School for both undergrad and postgrad whereby the professors within the Property stream still work within the property industry as managers and consultants. Plus within the property industry Western Sydney University Business School Property stream is well known and respected.
How does the property degree compare to UTS and UNSW?
 

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