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March 30, 2024, 01:33:16 am

Author Topic: Accelerated Engineering vs an Engineering double degree  (Read 1775 times)  Share 

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Jac_k

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Accelerated Engineering vs an Engineering double degree
« on: October 02, 2021, 12:59:00 am »
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I'm hoping to go to Monash next year, and I've been tossing up between their accelerated engineering pathway or an engineering + computer science double degree.
Here's the predicament, choosing the double degree would lock me into the two course, with very little flexibility compared to if I were to do the accelerated pathway (as the double degree fills most of your elective units). But then I'm not entirely sure if the double degree would provide me with greater opportunities after uni.
So what's everyones thoughts? Do you think it would be better to do the accelerated pathway and get the masters degree in a short period of time or to just do the double degree?

And while we're at it, I've been looking at both the Robotics and Mechatronics engineering specialisation and the Electrical and Computer Systems specialisation, I know I won't actually have to choose my specialisation for a while, but currently my thoughts are that if I were to do the accelerated pathway I would do Robotics and Mechatronics since I could then do my masters of Electrical engineering and cover a lot of what I would have missed in the ECSE specialisation. But if anyone has some thoughts feel free to throw them at me.

Kimchi27013

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Re: Accelerated Engineering vs an Engineering double degree
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2021, 07:11:08 pm »
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Disclaimer: I'm not a uni student, I actually am thinking of doing engineering + computer science at Monash next year too :) and I'm also not gonna give you a conclusive answer but I hope this gets you thinking about ur personal choices

If this is in terms of ordering your subject preferences, I say put the accelerated pathway first since it has a higher ATAR requirement (my understanding is that they look at ur first preference first and so it will be easier for you to reject the higher atar one if you change your mind)

Else, for the accelerated pathway:
  • A scholarship is a scholarship. I feel like reducing your costs will allow you to use the leftover money for other passions that could fuel your elective studies (eg. intro to comp sci FIT2085)  ;D
  • If you are someone who organises time well, the more time you have will be beneficial to you. Especially in the first year of studies since the uni lifestyle is quite different from the high school experience
  • Surely a masters degree will get you to more places than a bachelor degree. It would at least be a good addition to your CV when you are in more professional stage in your career
  • Engineering, from my perspective, is something that highly values experience so if you can get industry experience a lot quicker that would be a booster

Else, for the double degree:
  • I chose to do a double degree because I am really bad at managing time, I know I wouldn't take my elective seriously from experience (doing UMEP maths this year gave me soooo many free periods I wasted all of them)
  • A job in tech is something that seems to be highly sought after. Take my aunt for example, she's returning to study IT from a fashion design career for the job prospects so maybe comp science will allow that flexibility
  • From ur post, I'm guessing electrical engineering is the final goal so maybe it would be good to already start specialising in it in the double bachelor degree
  • U might be locking yourself into engineering by choosing the accelerated pathway, u are still in high school (ha, ironic coming from me) and so I think opening up your options is the best decision

Like all things, as much as jobs are important, it probably is mostly dependent on you as a person. What you are like with time/whether engineering is ur passion/your financial position/what you want to do next year/the freedom you want next year. Honestly, COVID has made me not worry too much about my decisions because we all have to be flexible no matter what we choose. That wasn't reassuring in the slightest but I hope I got you thinking about it. Actually, you kinda encouraged me to do more research about engineering and question my own choices so I guess we all are in the same boat  :D
« Last Edit: October 18, 2021, 07:16:20 pm by Kimchi27013 »

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Re: Accelerated Engineering vs an Engineering double degree
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2021, 02:41:48 am »
+1
Here's my 2c.
If you plan on majoring in software engineering, just do a computer science degree. Software eng + CS is basically CS with extra steps.
Both the courses you've mentioned are very limiting and I doubt there's much room to explore other areas. I've heard from other people that mechatronics is pretty much mechanical, electrical and software mixed together, so you'll get a bit of exposure to electrical. What are you planning to get out of the double? If you want to work on robots, you can just do a single mechatronics degree. The only perk I can think of for eng + cs is you'll be able to be an electrical engineer + know how to code but I feel like you learn to code more or less in EE anyway. If anything the accelerated pathway is even more limiting since you're basically streamlining a masters degree but you can become an accredited engineer with the normal honours degree anyway. Have you thought of doing a single eng degree and choosing ECSE electives while majoring in mechatronics or vice versa?
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Jac_k

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Re: Accelerated Engineering vs an Engineering double degree
« Reply #3 on: October 27, 2021, 05:41:29 pm »
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Disclaimer: I'm not a uni student, I actually am thinking of doing engineering + computer science at Monash next year too :) and I'm also not gonna give you a conclusive answer but I hope this gets you thinking about ur personal choices

If this is in terms of ordering your subject preferences, I say put the accelerated pathway first since it has a higher ATAR requirement (my understanding is that they look at ur first preference first and so it will be easier for you to reject the higher atar one if you change your mind)

Else, for the accelerated pathway:
  • A scholarship is a scholarship. I feel like reducing your costs will allow you to use the leftover money for other passions that could fuel your elective studies (eg. intro to comp sci FIT2085)  ;D
  • If you are someone who organises time well, the more time you have will be beneficial to you. Especially in the first year of studies since the uni lifestyle is quite different from the high school experience
  • Surely a masters degree will get you to more places than a bachelor degree. It would at least be a good addition to your CV when you are in more professional stage in your career
  • Engineering, from my perspective, is something that highly values experience so if you can get industry experience a lot quicker that would be a booster

Else, for the double degree:
  • I chose to do a double degree because I am really bad at managing time, I know I wouldn't take my elective seriously from experience (doing UMEP maths this year gave me soooo many free periods I wasted all of them)
  • A job in tech is something that seems to be highly sought after. Take my aunt for example, she's returning to study IT from a fashion design career for the job prospects so maybe comp science will allow that flexibility
  • From ur post, I'm guessing electrical engineering is the final goal so maybe it would be good to already start specialising in it in the double bachelor degree
  • U might be locking yourself into engineering by choosing the accelerated pathway, u are still in high school (ha, ironic coming from me) and so I think opening up your options is the best decision

Like all things, as much as jobs are important, it probably is mostly dependent on you as a person. What you are like with time/whether engineering is ur passion/your financial position/what you want to do next year/the freedom you want next year. Honestly, COVID has made me not worry too much about my decisions because we all have to be flexible no matter what we choose. That wasn't reassuring in the slightest but I hope I got you thinking about it. Actually, you kinda encouraged me to do more research about engineering and question my own choices so I guess we all are in the same boat  :D
Both specialisation's I'm interested in have quite a focus on programming, so I'm not too worried about missing out on opportunities there. And I'm already a relatively experienced programmer so I doubt I'd miss out on too much so long as I continue to self-learn and make things in addition to all the programming I'll undoubtably be doing at Uni.
I think for me the accelerated pathway is the better option, it leaves more electives open to explore other minor areas of interest and as you said would probably end up looking better from an employer's point of view. But anyway, I should probably focus on exams first, good luck with your exams.