What should I study in Arts that can complement my Commerce Degree ?

[-elcee]

Hi,
So after going back and forth with Pharmacy, ComxSci, sole Commerce degree, ComxI.T, I've decided to choose Arts and Commerce double degree.
The main reason why I chose ComxArts was because I want to study Chinese, because I think being able to speak fluently in Mandarin will be beneficial in a Commerce career.
I know you can study a diploma of languages, but at the time of submitting my offer to VTAC, I just thought having a bachelor of arts degree along side my commerce degree would allow me stand out against other graduates.

But, it's time for me to choose my units and I'm not sure what else to pick. From my (very limited) understanding, I have to pick a major and a minor.
At this point in time, I don't know what I will major in commerce yet, since I haven't done any commerce based VCE subjects at all.

So, what do you suggest I pick to complement my commerce degree, taking into consideration the fact that I'm unsure what to major in commerce yet ? A few have caught my eye so far :
- International Relations
- Global Studies
- Psychology (if I want to study marketing, I think this may help)

Otherwise, do you think it is wise to drop my Arts degree and go on with a Diploma of Languages ?

I understand that in the end, it is ultimately my decision on where I go about; but if I could just have a few suggestions; that would be really great. Thank you !

[brenden]

Dropping Arts for a DipLang is definitely worthy of consideration.

I did Arts with a double major in Philosophy and Human Rights Theory (which, let's face it, may as well be a double major in Philosophy). Many of my HRT units could be counted as International Studies/International Relations. Just do Philosophy instead. The whole goal of the discipline is to think better (always a valuable skill), and I'm sure it will make you look unique

*disclaimer* I am insanely biased

[Joseph41]

I personally like the idea of having both Arts and Commerce under your belt. Just to clarify, if you were to go down this path, would Chinese studies be your major?

[Coffee]

I can’t tell you whether or not to drop Arts. That decision is up to you! Are you interested in any Arts disciplines apart from Chinese?

Off the top of my head, you might like:
- International Relations
- International Studies
- Politics
- Linguistics
- Human Rights

I know someone doing Arts/Education and she majored in Japanese and minored in International Relations. That seems like a good combination.

Alternatively, your minor doesn’t necessarily need to complement your major. Do you have any other interests you might like to explore? Theatre, maybe?

[-elcee]

I personally like the idea of having both Arts and Commerce under your belt. Just to clarify, if you were to go down this path, would Chinese studies be your major?

At the moment; major. I don't really mind exploring other options though; I'm mainly picking Chinese because of 'standing out' against other graduates thats all.

Btw, thank you for all of your responses !

[appleandbee]

So I am biased, but I feel that Philosophy goes well with anything, I know of Medicine, Law, Commerce, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Computer Science and Science students that study Philosophy at undergrad level. Also very few people major in it unlike International Relations, which would help you stand out as well as from the fact it's perceived as difficult. The topics and things discussed are really interesting as well, I don't think you will get bored.

If you are interested in the cross-cultural aspect, I would also recommend Anthropology. It's a discipline where you get to explore issues like  issues such as social inequality, gender, technology, public health, migration, religion, human rights, climate change, and globalisation in a cross-cultural and observation based manner. The cross-cultural, storytelling and ethnographic aspects would complement marketing especially well (there are also quite a few anthropology-based marketing firms like Flamingo in London or ReD Associates based in Denmark).

[Orb]

Just my two cents, but don't pick Chinese because it helps you stand out, I don't actually see it helping too much, given the large proportion of the student base who are able to speak Chinese of some degree.

[spectroscopy]

I'd do straight commerce and do arts electives/breadths over adding a whole new degree/ diploma.

 Like orb has mentioned briefly above, A lot of people start doing Chinese at uni because of the same reasons you are, but that logic never really works when it comes to job time for anything commerce related. Any role that requires Chinese will be filled by a native speaker/Chinese at home speaker who is fluent, and very often (90% of the time) the jobs that are open to non-prc citizens are in Hong Kong and they will always want you to speak Cantonese on top of mandarin. The jobs there either require no Chinese at all or both and the ones that require both are always filled by native speakers or first generation Australians (but usually people born in china).

Even if you became fluent in mandarin and Cantonese which is a waste of time (and will take you so long your commerce skill set will deteriorate), they would hire a native over you because they would be more in tune with cultural differences and bias (especially since many roles that require Chinese are either client facing or require a really really really high level of Chinese).

Youre probably best off doing straight comm + arts electives if you want or a couple of Chinese subjects as electives  + a few arts electives.

Pretty much everyone I know who did a year or Chinese at uni eventually dropped it because of diminishing marginal returns on studying the language. The optimal point is doing 2-3 semesters of Chinese where you can speak it enough to have conversations and survive without English but without having to waste a lot of time and effort to get the complicated things understood which will most likely take away from you studying commerce subjects.

Also the double degree commerce arts won't really make you stand out. Pretty much everyone who isn't from Melbourne uni has a double degree and increasingly you are seeing a lot of interns and graduates who have finished/are doing masters degrees. Just get good grades and you'll stand out enough or do interesting extra-curriculars and exchange and shit. The job market is super saturated with double degree students. You'd probably even be better off doing honours instead of a double and at least doing honours with a single degree you have freedom with your subjects for your Bcomm


Good luck with whatever you choose

[-elcee]

I'd do straight commerce and do arts electives/breadths over adding a whole new degree/ diploma.

 Like orb has mentioned briefly above, A lot of people start doing Chinese at uni because of the same reasons you are, but that logic never really works when it comes to job time for anything commerce related. Any role that requires Chinese will be filled by a native speaker/Chinese at home speaker who is fluent, and very often (90% of the time) the jobs that are open to non-prc citizens are in Hong Kong and they will always want you to speak Cantonese on top of mandarin. The jobs there either require no Chinese at all or both and the ones that require both are always filled by native speakers or first generation Australians (but usually people born in china).

Even if you became fluent in mandarin and Cantonese which is a waste of time (and will take you so long your commerce skill set will deteriorate), they would hire a native over you because they would be more in tune with cultural differences and bias (especially since many roles that require Chinese are either client facing or require a really really really high level of Chinese).

Youre probably best off doing straight comm + arts electives if you want or a couple of Chinese subjects as electives  + a few arts electives.

Pretty much everyone I know who did a year or Chinese at uni eventually dropped it because of diminishing marginal returns on studying the language. The optimal point is doing 2-3 semesters of Chinese where you can speak it enough to have conversations and survive without English but without having to waste a lot of time and effort to get the complicated things understood which will most likely take away from you studying commerce subjects.

Also the double degree commerce arts won't really make you stand out. Pretty much everyone who isn't from Melbourne uni has a double degree and increasingly you are seeing a lot of interns and graduates who have finished/are doing masters degrees. Just get good grades and you'll stand out enough or do interesting extra-curriculars and exchange and shit. The job market is super saturated with double degree students. You'd probably even be better off doing honours instead of a double and at least doing honours with a single degree you have freedom with your subjects for your Bcomm


Good luck with whatever you choose

You've pretty much persuaded me to drop my Arts degree haha.
Now the question is, how do I drop the Arts degree from my commerce double after round 1 offers ?
I don't think theres any other double degree Monash offers with Commerce that appeal to me.

[dankfrank420]

If you're looking to stand out in the commerce field (and have the numerical bent), you could study something like mathematics, statistics, financial and insurance math, or maybe even computer science. Depends entirely what sort of field you're into though, but having the numerical chops would put you head and shoulders above the average commerce grad for analyst work.

[appleandbee]

You've pretty much persuaded me to drop my Arts degree haha.
Now the question is, how do I drop the Arts degree from my commerce double after round 1 offers ?
I don't think theres any other double degree Monash offers with Commerce that appeal to me.

You don't need to a double degree. Don't do it for the sake of doing it if there is none that interests you.

[brenden]

So, you don't actually need to change your degree. Just accept your first round offer but only take Commerce subjects in first semester. After first semester you can transfer out of Arts/Comm into straight Commerce. (Or, you could even just do "Arts/Commerce" for three years, only taking Commerce subjects, and then "exit early" from your double degree).

As above, don't do a double degree just for the sake of doing one.