Is the difficulty of the course taken into account? (1 Viewer)

[alstah]

Hi, I was wondering if the difficulty of the course (e.g. Commerce v Arts) is taken into account when transferring to say, Combined Law.

I'm pretty passionate about studying Law, but I only got 99.15 and I pretty much wanted to do it at USyd (preferably) or UNSW, so I'm now unsure of what degree to study in order to get a transfer.

I've wanted to study Arts/Law for a while, however, UNSW said they are guaranteeing 100 places for internal transfers to combined law in 2013 and my friend who got 99.2 last year transferred from UNSW commerce to combined law at UNSW with a WAM of 74. Since UNSW is a renown for business, I was thinking about studying Commerce there. However, the first year subjects don't really seem that appealing to me...Accounting (yuck), Microeconomics (urgh) and Business statistics etc. I'm more of a English and HSIE type person (except I hated economics with a passion lol).

My other options are studying Arts (Adv.) (Hons.) at USyd (atar about 98.5) which means I get straight into 2nd year subjects, but I realised I won't be accustomed to Uni essays etc. and i'll be thrown straight into the deep end with harder marking in 2nd year advanced arts subjects. So i'm not sure if i'll get that D-HD doing this degree.

I was also considering studying a basic Bachelor of Arts at USyd (atar of 84), cos many of the subjects in 1st year seem similar to year 11-12 extension English. I know I can blitz that and get a HD. I could also study BPESS or BIGS.

So what do you people think? Should I study Arts Adv or Commerce (if the difficulty is taken into consideration and not just GPA for first yr transfers), or basic Arts at Usyd.

Also, UNSW say 100 guaranteed places for transfer (2013 entry). How many places on average are there for USyd combined law internal transfer?


Thanks!

 

[Deer]

Noooooooo don't do arts (adv)(hons) if you're planning on transferring.

The degree has its benefits, but only if want to fast track to postgraduate study. So for your purposes, start off in a normal b arts and blitz it.

I did arts (adv)(hons) at USyd this year and luckily scraped a D average, but I'm trying to transfer to another uni next year and nope, they don' care that I was thrown into the deep end doing 2nd year subjects. It's not taken into account.

The degree difficulty itself isn't taken into account either, so if you're more into the humanities, definitely do arts over commerce. You'll be more motivated to study and do well if you're taking subjects you actually enjoy. So doing commerce could actually be detrimental if you find it so dull. Plus I'm pretty sure commerce is really easy. So even if degree difficulty *was* taken into consideration, it would be more like the engineering and science degrees that would get the advantage.

Also, I have a friend studying BPESS and she absolutely loves it, *but*... my honest opinion is that you might as well just do a normal arts degree, because you can study all the same subjects as a BPESS (not sure about BIGS), it just gives you the flexibility to choose others too. Plus it's more widely understood and recognised. And if you do feel like you need some economics/political knowledge, just take those electives in your arts degree. That's what I'd do if I were you.

I know it sucks having to do a degree with the cut-off of 84 when you got such a high atar, but trust me, no one cares about your atar at uni. Sad and harsh but true. So just choose what you think you'll enjoy the most for one year. Hope that helped!

 

[qwerty44]

Only 99.15......

 

[alstah]

Noooooooo don't do arts (adv)(hons) if you're planning on transferring.

The degree has its benefits, but only if want to fast track to postgraduate study. So for your purposes, start off in a normal b arts and blitz it.

I did arts (adv)(hons) at USyd this year and luckily scraped a D average, but I'm trying to transfer to another uni next year and nope, they don' care that I was thrown into the deep end doing 2nd year subjects. It's not taken into account.

The degree difficulty itself isn't taken into account either, so if you're more into the humanities, definitely do arts over commerce. You'll be more motivated to study and do well if you're taking subjects you actually enjoy. So doing commerce could actually be detrimental if you find it so dull. Plus I'm pretty sure commerce is really easy. So even if degree difficulty *was* taken into consideration, it would be more like the engineering and science degrees that would get the advantage.

Also, I have a friend studying BPESS and she absolutely loves it, *but*... my honest opinion is that you might as well just do a normal arts degree, because you can study all the same subjects as a BPESS (not sure about BIGS), it just gives you the flexibility to choose others too. Plus it's more widely understood and recognised. And if you do feel like you need some economics/political knowledge, just take those electives in your arts degree. That's what I'd do if I were you.

I know it sucks having to do a degree with the cut-off of 84 when you got such a high atar, but trust me, no one cares about your atar at uni. Sad and harsh but true. So just choose what you think you'll enjoy the most for one year. Hope that helped!

Thank you so much Deer, this really, really helped!

 

[Deer]

You're very welcome

Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions about arts or arts (adv) at USyd! I shall try my best to answer them! Also congrats on your ATAR!