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March 30, 2024, 11:01:26 am

Author Topic: Double degree vs Accelerated masters pathway  (Read 1978 times)  Share 

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Jac_k

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Double degree vs Accelerated masters pathway
« on: October 05, 2021, 03:45:28 pm »
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I'm currently looking at two engineering degrees at Monash, one of them would be a double degree in Engineering + Computer science, and the other an accelerated pathway that would get me my bachelor degree and my masters degree in five years (the same period of time the double degree would take).

So my question is:
Which would be more beneficial after university? Each currently has several advantages and disadvantages in my eyes, but what I'm not sure about is which of a masters degree or a second bachelors degree would prove to be more useful to have after uni.

LifeisaConstantStruggle

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Re: Double degree vs Accelerated masters pathway
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2021, 06:48:30 pm »
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Hey Jack_k.

I think the answer depends on whether you actually know what your career ambitions are, and how solid your aspirations are as well.

If you are pretty solid on a specific pathway then the masters would be a great option. The MEng path is quite prestigious and definitely has an edge over BEng overseas, and academically would entail deeper and more exciting topics than what you can get with a BEng. Say if you want to pursue academia instead of going into the industry, the MEng gives you a better edge on applying overseas as well, so that's pretty cool. Doing BEng/CS is sufficient to start a PhD here, but not overseas.

The downside though is that you don't really have a flexibility of options to choose what you might want to do down the road, compared to doing BEng/CS. Personally, I think doing a BEng without an additional CS degree won't harm much anyways, the career prospects are similar with or without the CS degree (and you can definitely get software roles as easily as CS grads if you did either software or ECS engineering, if not it's still very much possible), but it does give you a perspective on what you want to pursue if you haven't already explored your options enough. Plus, I'm not sure if the MEng part of your degree is covered by CSP, so you might incur higher fees/HECS debt, and that's something to also consider as well.
2018-2020: Bachelor of Actuarial Science (+ Econometrics), Monash
2021: Bachelor of Commerce (Honours), Econometrics & Financial Mathematics, Monash
2022-2023: Work and some soul-searching

Jac_k

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Re: Double degree vs Accelerated masters pathway
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2021, 07:31:37 pm »
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Hey Jack_k.

I think the answer depends on whether you actually know what your career ambitions are, and how solid your aspirations are as well.

If you are pretty solid on a specific pathway then the masters would be a great option. The MEng path is quite prestigious and definitely has an edge over BEng overseas, and academically would entail deeper and more exciting topics than what you can get with a BEng. Say if you want to pursue academia instead of going into the industry, the MEng gives you a better edge on applying overseas as well, so that's pretty cool. Doing BEng/CS is sufficient to start a PhD here, but not overseas.

The downside though is that you don't really have a flexibility of options to choose what you might want to do down the road, compared to doing BEng/CS. Personally, I think doing a BEng without an additional CS degree won't harm much anyways, the career prospects are similar with or without the CS degree (and you can definitely get software roles as easily as CS grads if you did either software or ECS engineering, if not it's still very much possible), but it does give you a perspective on what you want to pursue if you haven't already explored your options enough. Plus, I'm not sure if the MEng part of your degree is covered by CSP, so you might incur higher fees/HECS debt, and that's something to also consider as well.
I know I won't have to pick my specialisation for a while, but currently my thoughts are I would do the Robotics and Mechatronics engineering specialisation for my bachelor's degree and then my masters in Electrical engineering. ECS engineering is also something I would be more than happy to do, but given how it shares a few units and the same general... I guess topic as the other specialisation - in that both have a focus on robotics, electronics, programming, control systems etc, although I'll have to look into the differences a bit more - and I cover a lot of what I would otherwise have missed out on (by not doing ECSE) in the masters of Electrical engineering course, it seems like a very nice pathway to go down that lets me get the best of both specialisation's.
As you mentioned I'm not entirely sure what I want to do after uni, but I am already quite familiar with the world of programming and have a little experience when it comes to things like robotics and microcontrollers, so I know that both of the above specialisation's would be great fun for me.

I think currently what it's coming down to for me is the flexibility provided by the accelerated pathway. If I were to do the double degree I would be locked into both degrees without a heap of electives to explore some more areas I'm interested in, unlike the accelerated pathway where I retain most of my electives up until... I think the fourth year? When you start to do some of the units in the masters degree.

So if the opportunities provided by the two are fairly balanced I'm probably going to lean towards the accelerated pathway. Although there's still plenty of time to think it through.
« Last Edit: October 05, 2021, 07:33:45 pm by Jac_k »

LifeisaConstantStruggle

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Re: Double degree vs Accelerated masters pathway
« Reply #3 on: October 10, 2021, 09:44:04 pm »
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hahaha, you're absolutely right. I forgot to add that robotics/mechatronics is one of those specialisations where software roles are within each as well, like ECS and software. You wouldn't be excluded from selection if your transferrable technical skills are up to par. and yes, I think the accelerated pathway definitely is the more appealing option.

 
2018-2020: Bachelor of Actuarial Science (+ Econometrics), Monash
2021: Bachelor of Commerce (Honours), Econometrics & Financial Mathematics, Monash
2022-2023: Work and some soul-searching