UNSW Comp Sci vs. UNSW Comp Sci + Engineering (Honours) (1 Viewer)

[rainpuppy11]

Hello!

I'm currently debating what to do for next year entering university. I am definitely set on going to UNSW (I am currently shortlisted for UNSW Co-op in Comp Sci, and also am eligible for the AAA scholarship, and I also like the campus and teaching style).

I'm just wondering if it is worth doing a double degree in Computer Science + Engineering (Honours), majoring in something like electrical engineering.

Comp Sci is only 3 years, whereas the double degree is 5.

Some questions I had:
- Does anyone have any experience with UNSW Comp Sci standalone, or with the double degree and could share some advice?
- Is it worth taking the double degree and doing honours with the extra 2 year difference?
- Is there a specific engineering major I should take for career opportunities? Or just whatever I find interesting?

I'm mainly just considering about how I will be able to differentiate myself from the big crowd of Computer Science graduates after university - and maybe the double degree would help. But once again I'm not too sure.

Thanks in advance!

(hopefully I posted this in the correct section, I'm not too savvy with forums sorry)

 

[dav53521]

Whilst co op is great it adds another year to your degree, you could easily earn the full co op amount as a first year grad

The co-op is a lot more then money and I would argue that it's better then a comp sci / Eng honours degree as it provides the students with guaranteed work experince and also guarantees that you'll be working at different companies. This is incredibly useful in the sense that the students get work experince while in uni which is something that is almost a must at this point in a lot of the tech industry and it also makes getting grad jobs easier for a multitude of reasons such as students can get rehired by a company you worked at before and they can also show potential employers that they have actually worked in the industry before.

 

[dav53521]

These are fair points but co op isn’t free, you have to work for it whilst juggling Uni

The co-op is free as it's a scholarship program and from what I heard you just need to maintain a credit wam to stay in the course and you also get paid ~20k per year.

Lots of industry placement opportunities with Eng as well, internships etc etc

But the thing is that they're not guaranteed, you have to apply for them and be accepted which involves proving to the employer why you should be chosen over other candidates and if you want to do multiple placements you have to do this multiple times while with a a co-op you only have to do this once.

But I do agree with you that they're both good degrees and you can't go wrong with either as the double does provide you with more opportunities.

 

[dav53521]

This a great discussion and very good points about fighting for each placement opp v guaranteed at co op. So if you get a faculty scholarship at 10k pa would you take that over co-op if offered ?

Im not too sure on how scholarships work at unsw or most unis but I would assume you're either ineligible or you get both.

I actually think anything you work for isn’t free as it has an opportunity cost, merit/faculty scholarships are def free.

Yeah I do agree there is an opportunity cost as the co-op would probably restrict some opportunities as there is a need to perform and also work although I assume that students might not be doing full time uni during placements but still stuff like attending societies might be a bit tricky and also switching courses can be difficult due to the nature of the co-op.

But overall I'll say it's a good course if the student is interested in the co-op and knows they want to do it otherwise another degree might be better as it doesn't stop you from getting placements it just means the student has to work hard and try their best.

 

[rainpuppy11]

Im not too sure on how scholarships work at unsw or most unis but I would assume you're either ineligible or you get both.



Yeah I do agree there is an opportunity cost as the co-op would probably restrict some opportunities as there is a need to perform and also work although I assume that students might not be doing full time uni during placements but still stuff like attending societies might be a bit tricky and also switching courses can be difficult due to the nature of the co-op.

But overall I'll say it's a good course if the student is interested in the co-op and knows they want to do it otherwise another degree might be better as it doesn't stop you from getting placements it just means the student has to work hard and try their best.

Thank you both for replying! Really appreciate the advice.

Unfortunately I've only been *shortlisted* for the co-op scholarship (meaning I may be offered a spot if someone else drops out, but uncertain).

I definitely see what you mean by the limitations of single degree comp sci, as well as how I'd be able to find the opportunities provided by co-op on my own.

I think I'll go for the double degree and see how I find it (in terms of workload). I should still be eligible for comp sci co-op shortlist if I do it, but I'll contact the office and check anyways. Although co-op isnt the be-all-end-all.

Also, Helpful you mentioned about a 10k/year merit scholarship? Any chance you could expand on how to get it at UNSW? Is it just being a distinguished achiever in the course?

Another note: the double degree is 5 years, vs a 4 year co-op comp sci degree, or a 3 year normal comp sci degree. So the double is still longer I believe.

Thanks! Sorry if formatting is bad I'm replying via phone.

 

[pikachu975]

Hello!

I'm currently debating what to do for next year entering university. I am definitely set on going to UNSW (I am currently shortlisted for UNSW Co-op in Comp Sci, and also am eligible for the AAA scholarship, and I also like the campus and teaching style).

I'm just wondering if it is worth doing a double degree in Computer Science + Engineering (Honours), majoring in something like electrical engineering.

Comp Sci is only 3 years, whereas the double degree is 5.

Some questions I had:
- Does anyone have any experience with UNSW Comp Sci standalone, or with the double degree and could share some advice?
- Is it worth taking the double degree and doing honours with the extra 2 year difference?
- Is there a specific engineering major I should take for career opportunities? Or just whatever I find interesting?

I'm mainly just considering about how I will be able to differentiate myself from the big crowd of Computer Science graduates after university - and maybe the double degree would help. But once again I'm not too sure.

Thanks in advance!

(hopefully I posted this in the correct section, I'm not too savvy with forums sorry)

Comp sci alone is fine, there's so many fields in tech already. You don't take a double degree to stand out, you should just do one only if you want to study that extra degree.

Reason being is that if you study that extra degree for 2 years to 'stand out' you probably could've built projects and gotten tech work experience by then. The projects + work experience is what helps you stand out.

 

[rainpuppy11]

Comp sci alone is fine, there's so many fields in tech already. You don't take a double degree to stand out, you should just do one only if you want to study that extra degree.

Reason being is that if you study that extra degree for 2 years to 'stand out' you probably could've built projects and gotten tech work experience by then. The projects + work experience is what helps you stand out.

I see what you mean. There's no point doing the double if I'm not planning to use the engineering degree for a specific field or career.

So the best course would be to just maximise what I do during university? Like do as many internships as I can, build up a portfolio, and get as much experience in the field?

I'm just wondering:
- How to build these connections with companies and workers already in the field (like just apply for internships directly to the company?)
- What type of projects I should try to build up my portfolio with (what are companies looking for?)

I was also wondering if 3 years of uni would feel too short - although I can't really say as I haven't actually started university yet.

If anyone has any advice or resources I'd really appreciate it. Thanks

 

[rainpuppy11]

Also sorry for replying so late haha I didn't check my inbox until now

 

[dav53521]

What type of projects I should try to build up my portfolio with (what are companies looking for?

Honestly just build what you want but later on probably add stuff like unit testing functionality to show that you're somewhat competent and have a general idea on what to do. Imo projects are to show knowledge and demonstrate coding abilities.

 

[rainpuppy11]

Honestly just build what you want but later on probably add stuff like unit testing functionality to show that you're somewhat competent and have a general idea on what to do. Imo projects are to show knowledge and demonstrate coding abilities.

I assume I'd best github everything?

Is a personal website portfolio worth it? Costs for hosting etc.

 

[dav53521]

I assume I'd best github everything?

I mean any code repository site would work but GitHub is pretty good for it's purpose.

Is a personal website portfolio worth it? Costs for hosting etc.

Depends if you're going for a front end job then it can be useful in demonstrating front end skills. Also I wouldn't be too surprised if there's other benefits to it but I can't think of them off the top of my head.