Bachelor of Political, Economic and Social Science - advice needed (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Bongos
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Hi,
I am in my third year of this degree - it's been great and I highly recommend it, great lecturers, facilities, units and resources.
Exams - whether or not you have exams depends entirely on the lecturer who delivers the course and their assessment preferences. Generally speaking though, yes there will be exams (I've always had at least three per semester). Take-home exams are also quite common in the social sciences, so you get say two essay questions that you complete within maybe 4-5 days (obviously referencing/research requirements are not quite as high). Mid-semester exams are pretty rare, although you might get the occasional 'quiz' worth up to 20%. In my experience, you can generally expect to complete four assessments for each unit - an exam of sorts, tutorial participation, a major research essay and a shorter research essay/review/presentation.
I am doing a major in Political Economy - which I have really enjoyed (I've only really struggled with one unit), I've also done a fair bit of Anth and Govt which complemented my major well. Political economy is essentially heterodox economics with an international focus, taught from a social sciences perspective, meaning much more of a focus on critically analysing the mainstream as well as the philosophy of economics, as in what it is trying to achieve and the implications. There are general core units you take to do a major and they focus on the international economic system, history of economic theory and economic policy. Plus quite an array of electives covering everything from economic data analysis (if you want some practical skills), to human rights and development.
Is economics hard? Well that depends on your interests, your skills and how well you want to do. Most subjects are hard when it's HDs you're aiming for. Content wise, mainstream economics based on a mathematical/quantitative framework so you will need to be relatively on top of your maths. If you're more so of a humanities/english background then political economy may be the way to go, because there is some content cross-over, but it is delivered very differently. In political economy, you still get all the maths/graphs/equations that you do in economics, but you also get an explanation in words.
I'm gonna go for the sell here and say Sydney is the only uni in Aus where you can do political economy and you will be exposed to world class scholars. Employment wise, political economy is a fantastic accomplice to straight economics as it gives you the breadth, while economics focuses you the depth (we have had RBA reps come and speak to us about graduate positions).
Is there anything else you'd like to know about the course?
I am in my third year of this degree - it's been great and I highly recommend it, great lecturers, facilities, units and resources.
Exams - whether or not you have exams depends entirely on the lecturer who delivers the course and their assessment preferences. Generally speaking though, yes there will be exams (I've always had at least three per semester). Take-home exams are also quite common in the social sciences, so you get say two essay questions that you complete within maybe 4-5 days (obviously referencing/research requirements are not quite as high). Mid-semester exams are pretty rare, although you might get the occasional 'quiz' worth up to 20%. In my experience, you can generally expect to complete four assessments for each unit - an exam of sorts, tutorial participation, a major research essay and a shorter research essay/review/presentation.
I am doing a major in Political Economy - which I have really enjoyed (I've only really struggled with one unit), I've also done a fair bit of Anth and Govt which complemented my major well. Political economy is essentially heterodox economics with an international focus, taught from a social sciences perspective, meaning much more of a focus on critically analysing the mainstream as well as the philosophy of economics, as in what it is trying to achieve and the implications. There are general core units you take to do a major and they focus on the international economic system, history of economic theory and economic policy. Plus quite an array of electives covering everything from economic data analysis (if you want some practical skills), to human rights and development.
Is economics hard? Well that depends on your interests, your skills and how well you want to do. Most subjects are hard when it's HDs you're aiming for. Content wise, mainstream economics based on a mathematical/quantitative framework so you will need to be relatively on top of your maths. If you're more so of a humanities/english background then political economy may be the way to go, because there is some content cross-over, but it is delivered very differently. In political economy, you still get all the maths/graphs/equations that you do in economics, but you also get an explanation in words.
I'm gonna go for the sell here and say Sydney is the only uni in Aus where you can do political economy and you will be exposed to world class scholars. Employment wise, political economy is a fantastic accomplice to straight economics as it gives you the breadth, while economics focuses you the depth (we have had RBA reps come and speak to us about graduate positions).
Is there anything else you'd like to know about the course?
_traveler_
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As I've recommended many friends within the same majors doing the same subjects but different degree. Avoid BPESS, its an honorary Arts degree. Fancy name with greater limitation. In the end you can major in all the subjects in BPESS within Arts. You're effectively forced to do subjects that you may or may not vaguely have an interest in eg: GOVT/ANTH/ECOP/SCLG.
Enroll in Arts and major in economics then you can feel free pick and choose your electives. As the poster above has said ECOP is only available at USYD. Its a great subject and gives you a broad understanding of all the schools of economic thought. However, if you have your eyes trained on ECON and go ahead and major in that.
Enroll in Arts and major in economics then you can feel free pick and choose your electives. As the poster above has said ECOP is only available at USYD. Its a great subject and gives you a broad understanding of all the schools of economic thought. However, if you have your eyes trained on ECON and go ahead and major in that.
Well obviously, if you're not interested in GOVT/ANTH/SCLG/ECOP then don't do the degree. That would be like enrolling in an engineering degree hoping to avoid maths and physics.
It's a social sciences degree with an international focus - so if you're looking to get into development, NGOs, IGOs, NFP etc, it's going to be perceived as a more relevant qualification than an arts degree in the first instance. It's also quite a popular one with grad recruiters at DFAT and Immigration.
If you have no idea what you want to do, then a straight arts degree is probably a good place to start - but if you know vaguely where you want to go, a slightly more tailored course is the way to go. And as I said, don't do BPESS if you're not interested in the core majors, that would just be foolish.
It's a social sciences degree with an international focus - so if you're looking to get into development, NGOs, IGOs, NFP etc, it's going to be perceived as a more relevant qualification than an arts degree in the first instance. It's also quite a popular one with grad recruiters at DFAT and Immigration.
If you have no idea what you want to do, then a straight arts degree is probably a good place to start - but if you know vaguely where you want to go, a slightly more tailored course is the way to go. And as I said, don't do BPESS if you're not interested in the core majors, that would just be foolish.
_traveler_
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But wouldn't it still be the case that if a student in arts did the exact same subjects as the student in BPESS they should both be looked upon equally? Like I said BPESS is just an honorary arts degree. The problem is that BPESS has those compulsory rules which I reckon restricts student development rather than furthers it. Especially when both degree's have the similar if not the same outcome. Students end up doing BPESS cause they're interested in ECOP/ECON/GOVT but then end up dreading the fact that they have to do either ANTH/SCLG and the same could be said for the other students with interests in ANTH/SCLG.
It reminds me students that are enrolled in BIGS degrees. They forced to do 6 INGS subjects and a lot of them are disappointed that they overlap with a lot of their other studies and wished that they could have use those CPs to do something mildly interesting.
Maybe in a graduate, first job out of uni type role, but not any further than that. Once you get to the real world, no one cares what subjects you did at uni, it's just about having the qualification on your resume. And if you're going for a social sciences related position, they will see BPESS as more relevant than Arts.
In my mind, it's similar to how you can do BEc or you can do BA majoring in economics - pretty much the same course, but on paper, the person with the BEc is going to get the economics position all other factors equal. I was originally enrolled in Arts, doing all the BPESS subjects, my reason for tranferring was to have a more specific (looking) qualification.
It's a course for people who know what they're interested in. As I said, if you're not sure, or if you don't like the majors, then obviously don't do it. It's also very straight forward to transfer out of a specific course, like BPESS or BIGS into a BA if you find you don't like it - it's a lot harder to go from the BA to the more specific course (you have to reapply through UAC).
Also, I'm majoring in ECOP and ANTH - I don't think there's any inherent split between the ECOP/ECON/GOVT and ANTH/SCLG subject areas. I've found all the subjects to be very complementary.
Amleops
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The difference with a Bachelor of Economics though is that it is a pretty standard degree that is offered by most if not all universities in Australia (perhaps not as standard as something like a L.L.B., B.Sc. or B.Com., but still fundamental enough). It would be looked upon more favourably because a B.Ec. or a B.Com. would pretty much be the industry standard for a career in the business/economics sector.
BPESS is quite a focused degree which is unique to USYD; if there are other universities that offer a similar course it would probably be under a different name. So it's not really an industry standard, which is not to say that BPESS wouldn't be looked on more favourably, it might well be, but the difference wouldn't be as strong as the case with Economics.
Nevertheless, if you are 100% sure of what you want to study and what career options you want to have, you have nothing to lose by choosing BPESS over Arts.
BPESS is quite a focused degree which is unique to USYD; if there are other universities that offer a similar course it would probably be under a different name. So it's not really an industry standard, which is not to say that BPESS wouldn't be looked on more favourably, it might well be, but the difference wouldn't be as strong as the case with Economics.
Nevertheless, if you are 100% sure of what you want to study and what career options you want to have, you have nothing to lose by choosing BPESS over Arts.