Hey.
I've just responded to
your other thread, where I said this:
The way I see it:
Your dream career is academia, under the umbrella of Arts. You want to do it. You're good at it.
... could it be more of a risk not to transfer?
(Don't want to persuade you either way, but that's how I'd be looking at it.)
(Is there a reason the two are in different boards? They seem pretty similar - shall I just merge them for you?)
To respond to your other questions:
1. BA is less prestigious than BCom (a particular fear cultivated from childhood by my Asian mother). I'm always been told Arts graduates won't find employment. I know that academia is incredibly competitive and in the scenario where I don't make it, having a BCom is comparatively better, right? My backup career is consultancy/policy work in development (NGOs, government, consultant firms etc). Do employers consider this to be a substantial factor, especially considering I will be majoring in Economics either way?
Eh. I studied straight Arts - got a job straight out of uni. That's obviously only a sample size of one, but IMO the lack of jobs thing is overblown. Yeah, there's not as clear a career path in Arts. Like, Medicine > doctor, Laws > lawyer, Arts > ? etc. But is that necessarily a bad thing? Take the degree seriously, do well, and I honestly think you'll learn a lot - and very many of those skills are highly valued by employers.
I don't even really know what prestige is, but I certainly know that I wouldn't want it dictating my life choices. Am I happy I studied Arts over more prestigious degrees? Absolutely. Wouldn't change a thing.
Considering the above, though, I can't comment on whether or not employers in consultancy/policy work would see that to be a considerable factor haha.
2. WAM. Less importantly, my WAM would drop to about 78-79 as many of my highest scoring (85+) subjects have been in commerce or breadth. Is this a big issue?
You can't get credit for them as Arts electives? The slight WAM drop is inconvenient, but hey, I'd rather that than a career I'm not fully happy with.
3. Inertia. I'm halfway through my degree, I've already done the worst commerce subjects (fucking Organisational Behaviour) so from here on out it'd just be econ and arts breadth. Are the advantages of having that formal arts qualifications over just pursuing arts through breadths worth upheaving my degree at this point?
This one I'm genuinely not sure about because I guess it depends what you consider the advantages to be. What are your thoughts on this?
Sorry for the rambling, mad existential crisis-ing rn. Any advice/insight is appreciated.
Always welcome - it's really great to have you on ATAR Notes.