Lest we forget.

wow...so cool!! i would love to take part in wacky stuff! staying, in their own cocoons, thats just sad. no point going overseas to study in da first place : (

oww, so they hav a pretty strong drinking culture huh.....well i dont mind that. i consider myself to be a social drinker.
not the extreme drunkard, but i hav gotten drunk a couple of occasions. but i dunno how i'll cope with too much drinking ; )

no msian food..........definitely a con! : (

other than that, this uni pretty much suits my profile!

btw, u sound like ur from otago.... so u reli enjoying ur life there?
n does auckland hav a drinking culture as well?

NZ has a drinking culture, period. But in Auckland Uni, cos most people stay in the suburbs, are more spread out and have to worry about transport, it's not as strong. In Otago, people go crazy partly cos home and bed is a 10 min walk away if they need to collapse.

I did my Bachelors in Otago then went to Auckland for my Masters. I had a time of my live at Otago, though I did enjoy Auckland as well.

If you go, I encourage you to get a place in a residential college, at least for the first year. The you'll have the chance to mix with a greater variety of people - much harder to stick with Malaysians/Asians only that way. If you flat in the first year, you tend to end up with a smaller group of friends UNLESS you really get involved in activities.
Biggest con staying in a college is that the food sucks. It starts out alright, but by the end of the year you'll be running out for lunch/dinner every other day (depending on finances, ie how much you spent drinking thru the year. )

Just curious, wornbook. Based on previous posts, i gather that u did a double degree in law and economics. I plan to undertake a double degree as well. BCom/BA in Economics and Poltical Studies, either in otago or auckland. Are there good job opportunities for this particular combination? im pursuing this course based mainly on interests, as im passionate about both subs. wil that be a problem wen im looking for a job in nz or elsewhere?


Can I complete the doub. deg. plus honours in less than 5 years? (factoring in summer school, cross-crediting and credit overloading)

anotha factor, im transferring into 2nd year straight.(im doin 1st year here in msia) so am i still eligible to complete the double degree in otago/auckland? coz i rememba readin somwhere that u can start workin on ur 2nd degree credits in ur 2nd year(in this case the BA), coz im currently completing only the BCom requirements rite now for 1st year.



btw im in INTI nilai enrolled in the adelaide uni BCom twinning programme. But switching to NZ for 2nd year coz received ITA for PR. most prob gettin it by this december.

I strongly recommend against that. Yes, theoritically you can squeeze it in 5 years if you overload every semester and do all summers, but it will be very tight, hard work, and you'd be so busy, you'd end up in your room to yourself. You wouldn't have the time to do the crazy things.

4 subjects is hard as it is. 5 subjects is murder in one semester, let alone for the next 4 years. Think carefully.

That said, I'm in the more technical field of Computer Science. I've noticed that Econs students tend to be less busy, and I know one Econs (Accounting) friend of mine who did 5 subjects because he "was bored".

Economics and Politics? Excellent choices, from the interest point of view. I sometimes regret not doing politics, but hey, I can't have everything.
Have you considered changing to Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE)? It's a BA. Btw economics can also be taken as a BA.

I don't think I'm really in a position to give you accurate info about job opportunities. From my own experience and observing others, I think there are opportunities but they don't come easily. It's only easy to get a job in NZ if you're doing accountancy, engineering (but only in some fields), medicine and dentistry. Like it or not, it's a small market with far too many grads, IMHO.

If you want to boost your employment chances, consider adding accounting as a major to the BCom.

I suppose you could complete the double degree plus honours in less than 5 years, depending partly on what your first year credits from INTI are like. A double degree in econs and pols will take 4 years and a single honours another 1 year. It's not too hard to reduce that by a semester or even a year if you push it with summer school and credit overloading. Most people only do 3-4 papers a semester... you could do 5, it's manageable enough. For 6, I think you'll need special permission. Note that you can only do 2 summer school papers at once and to push for max credits you need good grades.

But why the rush? 5 years isn't too long, and frankly whether you do it in 4 or 5 years isn't going to affect your employment prospects. Better that you use the extra time to get a summer job/internship and get involved in clubs/societies... that'll do much more for your employability.

For Otago, I'm fairly sure that you can still do a double degree. Otago has a very flexible system... I have friends who transferred from HELP for their second year, changed their degree and picked up another one. Another friend of mine picked up her second degree in her 3rd year. So I think you'll be fine... but just check with the uni to be sure.

As for Auckland, they don't actually offer double degrees - it's conjoint degrees for them. From what I understand, it's more than a simple difference in name. The structure is tighter because more cross credit between degrees is allowed, but it does mean that people who pick up the second degree late lose some time. Since I didn't do my undergrad in Auckland, I'm not quite sure how it works.

I'll strongly advise you to check with the unis first - both Otago and Auckland. You don't want to be surprised.

---

Added on April 21, 2008, 6:28 pmLol, I did 5 papers hoping the greater workload will make me more hardworking and organised. My friends thought I was going psycho. It worked though.

But yeah, I agree there's a difference between tech and non-tech subjects. We Humanities/Arts/Commerce students don't have so many contact hours (no labs)... unless you're studying languages. It really comes down to how fast you can read/absorb and how much reading you want to do.

This post has been edited by wornbook: Apr 21 2008, 06:28 PM

Thx for the detailed explanation. Im much more informed now. The websites of the two unis dint reli giv this kinda detail.... : )

Ic, problem is i'm just not into accounting. struggled thru it for my SPM, Australian matriculation and now my first year..(although im getting the hang of it now afta those countless repetitive exercises)
econs on the other hand, has been quite fun for me. although not easy at times, i find that i can grasp the concepts fairly well. so interest wise, definitely econs. plus i also am reli drawn to the link between econs n politics in global issues and stuff, so i thought it wud be a gud combination.

i did consider PPE, but if i did a Bcom major in econs, and a BA in ppe, wudnt some parts of the double degree be repeating itself?

plus i dont on hell plan to become an accountant. rite now i dont reli hav a clear picture of wad career i want 2 embark on but my interests are:

management/strategy consulting,
pr,
financial journalism,
investment banking
(all 4 of which do not require any specific degree)
.....................
international organizations,
and perhaps even academia.

such wide interests rite? thats why i thought maybe getting a liberal education wud be better, coz i dont want to go on a set path right now.

since u did a law/econs double, how were ur opportunities wen u graduated. shud i substitute the BA component for an LLB instead? (the law also interests me, but dont reli plan on practicing)


yeah ill check with both unis for further clarification bout the structure.

This post has been edited by aaron4d: Apr 21 2008, 10:33 PM

Heh, totally understand not liking accounting. It's also something I tried and gave up on. You actually sound like me, with all those wide interests. It can be hell trying to decide what to do.

Oh when I threw the PPE idea out I was thinking about you doing PPE with Accounting or something like that (but that's out of the picture now). Not PPE with Econs.

If you're thinking about going down the investment banking/international organizations/academia line, I think it would be good for you to do Econs with Honours. Make sure you do the maths and econometrics papers (some are required for Honours anyway). In NZ, you can almost get away without touching the maths in an economics degree... a bit silly IMO. Or at least you could when I was a student.

As for me, the job market was difficult to break into. I tried to get a law graduate position at a law firm but was unsuccessful. I'm now working at another company, doing nothing related to law/econs while doing the NZ equivalent of CLP. Hopefully after that, things will look up.
Of my 4 good friends at law school, one went back to Malaysia and 2 are working in accounting firms (one did acctg and another did econs), and the last is still at uni pursuing postgrad qualifications.

It's really up to you whether you want to do law. But bear in mind that it'll take an extra year (6 if you intend to do honours in any subject) and it's not easy to get in.

Speaking of law, the racial composition of Otago and Auckland law schools are like night and day. There were a grand total of about 15 non-white students (that includes Chinese, Indian, Maori etc) in my Otago class. But in Auckland, there's a huge number of Asians... my friend says it's almost 50%.

yeap thats what i'm probably going to do. get a BCom(Econs)/BA(Pols) with Honours in economics. I can do without the honours for politics. well since according to u there's really little or no difference (in job prospects, assuming that i dont want to practice) if i take a BCom/LLB VS. Bcom/BA., plus it takes an extra year, i might as well settle for the BCom(Hons)/BA. Between law and politics, im definitely more inclined towards politics anyway.

that wud be fine rite? plus i can still end up in an accounting firm with econs rite? just that i wont get the same exemptions as the accounting grads for cpa or nzica.(that wud be my last resort : )

This post has been edited by aaron4d: Apr 22 2008, 12:26 PM

i got part time... do u guys do part time here???

even though the pay not that much.. but still.. it's better than if part time in malaysia

but damn.. for the whole 7 days.. i must wake up early

Nope, I didn't say there's little or no difference if you don't want to practice. I actually have little idea about the job prospects of a law grad who doesn't want to practice. I do know it's hard for a law grad who wants to practice to find a job. My friends at the acctg firms - they might not actually be practicing law, but it's a requirement that they pass the bar and get a practicing cert. Apart from that, I have no idea what they're doing.

Since you're more inclined towards politics, by all means go for it.

Sorry, I've got no idea if you can get into an acctg firm with econs only. I'd always assumed that you'll generally need a acctg degree.

what did you do for your part time job??

oww okay. coz i just checked out the careers site of the big 4. dont hav to have a degree in acctg for certain business groups suchs as corporate finance and consulting. degrees in economics, finance, are acepted .

(wic seem to be the oni two things that im interested in an acctg firm)

hey aaron, you from inti? Do they have transfer programme for University of Auckland now?

nope they dont. im actually an adelaide twinning programme student. the aus/nz degree transfer programme does not hav arrangements with auckland uni.

---

Added on April 23, 2008, 10:33 amanyone from auckland uni here? emperormeng ur from auckland rite? mind sharing how the conjoint degree in auckland works? izzit as flexible as otago?
will i lose time if i start in the 2nd year? like wad wornbook says.....

need info dudes....
thx

This post has been edited by aaron4d: Apr 23 2008, 10:34 AM

Perhaps you should email the University to seek for more details.

its conjoint at auckland
http://www.business.auckland.ac.nz/comwebC...=13677&pD=13653
http://www.business.auckland.ac.nz/comwebC...13677&ppd=13653

gennerally conjoint students grad 1 yr later.
eg. normal bcom = 3yrs
so ur bcom+BA = 4 yrs

law = 4yr
law+bcom = 5yr

eng = 4yr
eng+bcom = 5yr

hey guys, i have a few questions here..hope you all will be patient when reading them..

First of all, usually NZ unis when are their intakes? Is it the same as Australia around January and July? Also, how is the engineering courses there? Is Uni of Auckland good for engineering? Thanks..

Intakes are in late February/early March and July.

My friends tell me that Uni of Auckland engineering lecturers say they have the best eng department in Australasia.
As for what the degree is actually like, I'll let EmperorMeng take over.

---

Added on April 24, 2008, 7:53 amAh right, that makes sense.

Btw Aaron, while you're still deciding where to go, what are your needs/wants on accommodation?

Cos Otago is (in)famous for the really crap student flats around. Run-down, mouldy, leaky and freezing - you get the picture. Of course there're nice ones out there (I never stayed in those dumps) but it does take a little searching and more money. Another thing to watch out for is that in the student area, landlords charge rent for 52 weeks (ie one year) - you'll have to pay for summer holidays whether you're staying there or not. Most flats house 4-6 people (landlords want max income).

In Auckland, accommodation is more standard and of higher quality. Those from out of town generally stay in one of the city apartments. They're pretty cramped and have 2-3 bedrooms (2 is more common). But at least you won't have to hunt for one that isn't leaking etc. Rental is quite a bit higher than Dunedin though.

Just trying to give info you won't find in brochures and prospectuses.


This post has been edited by wornbook: Apr 24 2008, 07:53 AM

However, Law is still limited entry, and UoA is notorious for filtering out law students after your first year. The good thing is that if you don't make the cut for the Law component, you'd still get credit for the electives in your BCom degree. I strongly do not recommend studying law in NZ in general if you are a international student.

And in Auckland, try not to end up with a Chinese landlord. I'm not saying all pakeha landlords are good (I had my share of issues with one), but generally as I see it, Chinese landlords will squeeze 10 people into one house, and it can be a dump of a place.