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Anyone who has/is at uow for commerce related studying (1 Viewer)

GL1001

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I'm currently in yr11 HS. I am considering UOW to study commerce, finance.


If you are studying or have studied this, I would like to know a few things...


  1. how do you find the school work? I do 3 units of english (advanced + extension) but only general maths...will i be able to handle the work?
  2. What job do you plan on looking for upon recieving your degree?
  3. How easy is it to obtain a job after graduation? Is a financial career, a "safe" career?
thanks
 

jm1234567890

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I did one very basic economics subject for fun... and I would say general maths is probably not enough. You should have at least 2U in my opinion.

However, the good news is, it should not take long to pick up if you work hard.
 

Absolutezero

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1. Yes. If all you are doing is a single degree, and have done either economics or business studies, the workload should be fairly easy to manage.
2. I'm doing a double with Creative Arts, so something in terms of Producing.
3. Depends on your major. Financial/Accounting is the safer option.
 

spazamataz

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I'm currently in yr11 HS. I am considering UOW to study commerce, finance.


If you are studying or have studied this, I would like to know a few things...


  1. how do you find the school work? I do 3 units of english (advanced + extension) but only general maths...will i be able to handle the work?
  2. What job do you plan on looking for upon recieving your degree?
  3. How easy is it to obtain a job after graduation? Is a financial career, a "safe" career?
thanks
1. I have only just started, but it's fairly similar to HSC, only problem is you need to be able to motivate yourself to do it. Nearly all of the work you do yourself!

2. I plan on entering marketing to some extent

3. I can't really answer this, just depends on who you are. At the end of the day there will be a lot of people out there with the same degree, but if you maintain high grades, and develop interview skills you should be able to land the job!

On the topic of question 3, just because you get the degree and have good grades doesn't mean you're going to get a job, you need to be an all rounder and be able to do all the job stuff right :)

Good luck, and UoW is a great univeristy from my experience so far and i'm loving living in Wollongong!
 

GL1001

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1. Yes. If all you are doing is a single degree, and have done either economics or business studies
Economics isnt being run at our school (only 2-3 kids picked it)

BS was being run on two lines...from the two lines only about 30-35 chose it...they could only keep 28...I was cut because my backup "needed more people"

is there still hope or should i rethink things?
 

A.Chair

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To be honest GL1001, i think you'll be fine. Doing 2U maths, economics and business studies would be helpful but is not really a prerequisite. In my opinion 2U maths would probably only affect FIN111 and COMM121 (although i haven't done FIN111 since the degree changed this year, but it looks similar to FIN221). Still, neither of them are that hard, so i don't see it as a big problem.
 

Absolutezero

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I'm doing FIN111 at the moment, and I don't think the Maths will be any more in depth than ACCY is/was.

is there still hope or should i rethink things?
There's still hope. BS or Eco skills will help, but certaintly aren't a pre-requisite. You'll just have more to learn. You can always download the economics and Business Studies syllabus from Board of Studies, and learn the stuff in the break between school and uni. It's not too hard to pick up.
 

Cookie182

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Hi,

I've almost completed my commerce degree at UOW with a Finance major (only have 2 subjects to go).

Few things:

1) I would, at minimum, complete 2U maths. The finance major basically becomes a "watered down" applied maths major- it's just all formulae and lots of algebra. This is not necessarily hard, but it can get tedious and an appreciation as opposed to a strong ability in maths is at least needed to get through it. In my opinion you can run through the major without ever knowing any calculus, as the formulas are derived for you, however do keep in mind that you will only have a surface understanding- knowing how to derive most formulas help build on the question of "why" are you doing it this way, which deepens your learning.

A solid understanding of basic statistics is important (though you will learn that at uni) and I had to do an econometrics subject which was quite mathematical. A good understanding logs/exponentials/graphing is always useful.

2) Ask yourself why you want to complete a finance major. The major alone, unless you score very high marks and perhaps do honours will not provide a guarranteed entry into a high paying finance job- for these there are far better degrees in which you could study I think (BMathFin/Comm(Fin)/Law, BEng/Comm).

If your a written person you may find finance highly boring- I have. It is a very narrow specialisation, has little room for interaction and questioning, there is very little discussion of 'deeper' or philosophical aspects & you certainly do not learn any 'skills' such as trading etc.

It is good however if you enjoy learning about basic market theories, the basics of pricing models for securities, hedging strategies & diferent types of financial instruments. Beyond this (which gets highly repetitive) the major branches out very little. One major criticism is that none of the stuff you learn has any real use in reality- ie most of the financial models make wild theoretial assumptions and are rather useless in the real world.

3) On employability though, it is considered favourably by employers. Looking through the current grad guide, a finance major from a dedicated student can basically work in most organisations. This won't always be the massive paying, glamourous IB jobs but realistically it is very employable over many other majors, particularly when combined with something else.

4) Personally, I don't regret doing it, however I'm not looking for immediate emplyment in the industry. I've taken up an earth science degree & I'm looking at emplyoment in the "green" economy somewhere (first as a scientist, then some kind of management consulting role).

At the end of the day though, depressing as it is, the finance major just leaves you with a piece of paper that expresses interest to employers, shows you can think independly but also follow instructions, have a base level of dedication, strong numerical/excel skills & overall have a generally good grasp of the reality of funding projects/cash flows//risk management/accounting/global financial markets.

But hey that's most Australian degrees...:( Don't listen to me, I'm just one of the few who is depressed by our drive towards vocational education and wish in some ways I had had the balls to enrol in a more "classical" education like a generalist Arts or Science degree from the beginning...but oh well at least I can go out and join my fellow capitalists in slavery........

If that sounds great, i would go for it.
 
Last edited:

GL1001

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Hi,

I've almost completed my commerce degree at UOW with a Finance major (only have 2 subjects to go).

....
This post really blew my mind. I was considering a commerce career because I aimed to make a lot of money. However, I dont think I could wake up everyday and continue working happily

How can I decide on what career path I should take?
 

Absolutezero

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Find out what you are interested in, and would do well in. Then do it.
 

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