UNSW vs USYD 

Hey Victor! I'm doing my HSC exams next month (fingers crossed I'll get an acceptable atar) and I'm planning on doing computer science at UNSW next year. What did you choose for your major, minor (if you had one), free electives and general education? Do you have any advise on what free electives and general education courses to choose? Also do you recommend doing computer science as a double degree? I always had an artistic side to me and the cs/media arts double degree at UNSW caught my interest (also the atar requirement is only 0.3 more than just cs so I might have a chance), but I want to focus on cs more if possible.

@@jojolionjoestar1621 Good luck with your HSC exams! I didn't choose a major nor minor (it's completely okay to do this, I just continued with the normal computer science major). I chose a bunch of free electives in courses that I was interested in, particularly economics and arts (languages/philosophy). I'd highly recommend picking electives that you're genuinely interested in and not just more computer science subjects. University is a time to explore what you like and what you might be good at - not become a specialist at one thing :). For sure! I know a decent number of people who take cs/media arts! Just know that a double degree does greatly lower the number of free electives you have to explore other interests. If you don't take the double, you can always take free electives in media arts and take on the double degree if you like! Or the other way around and drop media arts after.

H Victor! thank you for the insightful vid. I recently got an offer from UNSW to study arts and I didn't apply to USYD. I know you stated that USYD is stronger for the humanities but is UNSW still a worthwhile institution to study a bachelor of arts based on what you know of the student experience? would really appreciate your 2 cents!

@@muskaan3420 Yes, absolutely! There are still heaps of arts students at UNSW and I have taken multiple arts courses here myself. Student experience is good but is mostly what you make of it yourself. There are always heaps of events to attend and interesting people to meet so long as you actively look for them!

Old comment but how was your experience between SYNCS and CSESOC?

Mm I definitely do love it here! Wishing you luck and hopefully you make it next year!

Good luck Joseph! Uni's gonna be super fun so get pumped!

I think the level of stress really depends on you (how you typically handle it) and your degree (the workload associated with it). Workload for engineering, med and law are typically greater than other subjects. I wouldn't worry too much about which uni has lower/higher fail rates!

For masters in engineering which university is good?

Oh, the elitist attitude! My Goodness 😱, it’s still there?? After all these years, I guess some things will never change! 🤦🏽‍♂️

I think it's currently too early to say how CS courses have been affected as trimesters have only just been implemented. From what I've done so far, the core CS courses haven't changed much. You're really just learning the same content as before but now in a much shorter time frame 😂. Professors (not all) are quite lazy and I don't think they've actually yet adapted the course for a shorter time frame, so often, they just cut out certain topics or make the final exam MCQ (they did this for my AI 3411 course lol). I also believe a few higher level cs courses have been straight cut out (although don't take my word on this). I'd say CS at UNSW is still great and most of what you'd learn is very similar if not the same as what it was pre-trimesters.

​@@chewie5870 Couldn't agree more!! Comp1511 still remains my favourite course, by far. We had the same card assignment and again, yeah that competitive environment really makes the assignment more of a game but at the same time, teaches you so much. I know your year had a pokemon/pokedex assignment but for us, we had another ai trading bot after the card assignment which was similar but you built a bot in this virtual world which collected fruit and competed against everyone else's own bots. If you loved coco then you would've loved this assignment even more haha. And yeah, the staff are super supportive offering lab session/assignment help times - but this actually also extends to many of the other comp courses. So yeah cs is pretty good at UNSW :)

Hey Zack! I'm not entirely sure what scholarships there might be for international students specifically, but there are a number of scholarships (at UNSW) which are indifferent to whether you are an international/domestic student. I imagine that it would be a similar case for other universities. Each university should also have a page dedicated to scholarships so looking into that might help!

Within NSW, UNSW looks at your high school ATAR. Outside of looking at your ATAR or IB I'm not sure what else they look at

Hey, dude. Have you transferred to UNSW?

.

Unfortunately I don't study there so I can't say D:

It's definitely a good degree and I have many friends doing it! I think you should research it more yourself before letting someone else tell you if you should do it or not.

@@VictorFang i recently studying data science in Usyd, i dun know if i should change to data science and decisions at unsw

Which one did you end up taking?

@@jeevan88888 I decided to attend USYD. But, u know, due to the COVID pandemic, I finally applied to schools in Hong Kong, China.

I would highly disagree with that. UNSW has an extremely active social atmosphere but making friends is all up to you. Check out my UNSW experience video to see what I participated in. If you want to make friends and put an effort to meet people there are plenty of opportunities to do so. UNSW has so many different societies with so many events that I'm sure you'll find something you enjoy

Hadia Keshtiar I’m also from Melbourne probably moving to NSW. UNSW is better for engineering than Usyd based on the research I’ve done

If you're referring to UNSW, the security major is a super popular one that's taught quite well. Definitely one of the better options

Hey Sagar, I've talked with a few of my friends who are currently studying Commerce and the general consensus is that if you're studying comm in NSW, it's not crucial which university you're attending, although UNSW and USYD are the primary two. It's more of what you make of yourself within university, the opportunities you take and the people you go out and talk with (especially important in comm!). With that being said, UNSW business school is quite notorious and has a fairly good reputation in terms of the opportunities it provides! The UNSW BSOC society is extremely well connected to the industry and holds many industry events where you can meet heaps of smart people. Hope that helps.

@@VictorFang thanks

Making friends all depends on you! There are so many uni events and societies you can meet people at and other students you can talk to in tutorials but at the same time you can just go to your classes, keep to yourself and not meet anyone. That being said, there are such are a diverse range of people you'll meet at university that I'm sure you'll find friends. You should defs be checking out what cool societies there might be during O-week and go to some of their events!

Hey! It's quite different - the UNSW Paddington Campus is only for one faculty so it's a LOT smaller and has less facilities. Hmm I'm not sure about what's 'preferred' but the majority of high school leavers join in term 1 so it's usually more lively and vibrant (and there's O-week for socialising and making new friends)

@@VictorFang Good to know! Thanks. Also, I was told that Trimester curriculum in UNSW is bit hectic in comparison to the regular Semester based curriculum which USYD has. How was your experience regarding that?

I don't have much knowledge on this but most of my friends studying education are at USYD!

sydney has traditionally had an education faculty and offers a Masters of Teaching degree there. they would be your better pick if you want to be a teacher

Most (almost all) people hate it - it gives less study time, shorter breaks and more content to cover. That being said, I personally like trimesters. Having only 3 subjects to focus on (even though it's in a shorter time frame) is much easier to study for and gives me more time to do other things. Couldn't care less about less study time or content cos I'll be cramming it anyways 😂

subbed and awesome!

you should be able to check fees online

Usyd is more better at architecture than UNSW so i prefer u to go to Usyd

Hey Leila, I wouldn't say law is bad at UNSW but I don't think that it's the best place for it? Law is definitely more highly regarded at USYD but it's also extremely competitive with that high atar cut off. Outside of UNSW and USYD, you could also potentially look at law at ANU.

Victor Fang ohh okay thank you !! :)

Victor Fang USyd, Melbourne Law, UNSW, ANU, UQ and Monash are all highly rated Australian law schools

Yep lol

You might be looking in just one bubble? UNSW does tend to have a lot of asian australians in the tech industry but there is still a good amount of diversity. Also, linkedin suggests similar people to who you've been searching/looking for so that might be why you're getting similar results.

@@VictorFang I did search their connections & whenever I find an Australian I would be shocked, because how few they're, please can you give me the top colleges in Sydney/Brisbane/Melbourne? Thanks for your time Victor!

@@Fmrkooo UNSW and USYD in Sydney. University of Melbourne, Monash in Melb

@@VictorFang Thanks a lot Victor, one last question & it's optional to answer. Is racist action popular or rare or very rare in Australia, would you advise someone who's Arabian & Atheist to live there? Or people will despise me just like in my home country? Again thanks for your time & information buddy!

@@Fmrkooo Australia is highly multicultural, open-minded and welcoming :). Racism like in most places, isn't completely eradicated here and mostly from select individuals in the minority. I'm certain you'll find good people and friends here

Hey Amir, my opinions on the video are all subjective and of course I don't expect people to just agree with me (so thanks for the comment). However, if you watch the video, I do hesitate on science and med specifically and not really settle on one uni being objectively better (I don't really go into detail tho so apologies). With regards to med, MANY of my friends do it and although undergrad med at usyd is 99.95 only, a lot of people still opt for/prefer UNSW because of the general culture and people. I don't know too much about med but I do believe that if you want to go further into research/academia and related areas, then usyd med is more preferable.

Which engineerings would you say usyd is good at? Rod

What you say is mostly true lol. UNSW is in a terrible location public transport wise compared to other unis and the buildings at USYD are many factors nicer. I'd switch to USYD just so I could sit and lie on the lawn in front of the Great Hall

Sounds like you’re going to the university for photo shoot or something… and ranking is just based on research. You seem to care about the “appearance” factors more than the actual learning. Now I understand the elitism at Usyd people been talking about lol. I was considering between unsw and usyd but I think I have my answer now thanks to you

hi :~)