BCom (Actuarial) (Melb) v BCom/BSc (scholarship - Monash)

[rhcpfox1]

Firstly, well done to everyone on this forum, the vast majority of you seem to be happy with your scores, some of which are amazing efforts.

I'm in a bit of a situation, I've received my ENTER and its just above what I was expecting, and it is good enough for me to go with my first preference of Commerce at Melbourne.
This was an easy decision to make as I intend on majoring in Actuarial, a major which is only offered in Victoria by UoM.

However I got a phone call today from Monash Uni saying I had been awarded a Merit and Access scholarship which upon enrollment into a course at Monash Uni (of which I must satisfy all the prerequisites as per usual) I will be eligible for $6000 per annum for the duration of the course (excluding Honours year, I believe).
The details about the Scholarship can be found here:
http://www.adm.monash.edu/scholarships/opportunities/excellence-equity.html

With this scholarship and my ENTER I can do a double degree in Commerce and Science which will allow me to major in Maths/Finance but it means I can't do Actuarial.

But the money seems like it is too good to turn down, as it basically pays for my HECS fees.

Also, Monash is much closer for me in terms of travel, if that helps.

Any suggestions?

/Rant

[vce_2007]

may i just ask wat ur enter was?

[brendan]

do a financial/economic cost benefit analysis of each.

[Eriny]

Yeah, it depends. Which is better, the lure of a scholarship or the lure of Acturial? How committed are you to becoming an Actuary?

[Fyrefly]

I'm in a similar position... guaranteed place @ Melbourne for commerce, $6000 pa scholarship @ Monash if I want it. Monash is much further for me though (other side of the city). I haven't made my mind up either, though I'm leaning strongly towards turning Monash down considering the extra time and travel expenses. You can discuss any actuarial ambitions with applexy; he certainly knows what he's talking about. I know being an actuary is quite a hard goal to achieve, so perhaps if you're not single-mindedly driven in your ambition to become an actuary, you may want to reconsider.

[AppleXY]

rhcpfox1, well done with your ENTER

Well, since i'm biased, I say go with actuarial. We need more actuarial students in FSN

[Ninox]

Well done!
now i'm really concerned!
i said this on the 'scholarship offers' thread, but i got a mysterious home phone call yesterday while i was at school talking to friends and teachers, and my mum couldn't note much about the call, but I'm left with the impression it was a monash selection/scholarship officer.
fox, could you tell me anything about the person who called? was his name david, or davie, or something like that?

[Fyrefly]

It was a woman who called me... She called my mobile, didn't even try the home number.

[rhcpfox1]

It was a woman who called me... She called my mobile, didn't even try the home number.

Yeah I had a woman call my mobile, but they may have a few people ringing around as they offer 100 of those particular scholarships and probably a lot of other different ones.
In response to some other questions:
-> ENTER of 95.85
Commitment to become an Actuary: The idea really appeals to me but then again I think I could be just as happy doing a Science degree with a Maths major while doing something in Commerce like Finance.

Another problem with UoM is that I can do a three year undergrad degree but may not get into Honours year actuarial, which is a serious problem in terms of becoming a FIAA down the track.

I like that I can do a double degree at monash and do a similar course to that at Melbourne but not me locked into a speciality as soon as the second year, and I like the security that if I don't get into honours I may still end up with majors in two different yet complementary areas.

As you can probably tell I'm leaning heavily towards Monash.
I think the lure of the scholarship gives me a security blanket too warm and fluffy to turn down.

To ninox: If you are being offered a Monash scholarship a letter will arrive in the mail (or already will have). Good luck!

[Kopite]

Firstly, well done to everyone on this forum, the vast majority of you seem to be happy with your scores, some of which are amazing efforts.

I'm in a bit of a situation, I've received my ENTER and its just above what I was expecting, and it is good enough for me to go with my first preference of Commerce at Melbourne.
This was an easy decision to make as I intend on majoring in Actuarial, a major which is only offered in Victoria by UoM.

However I got a phone call today from Monash Uni saying I had been awarded a Merit and Access scholarship which upon enrollment into a course at Monash Uni (of which I must satisfy all the prerequisites as per usual) I will be eligible for $6000 per annum for the duration of the course (excluding Honours year, I believe).
The details about the Scholarship can be found here:
http://www.adm.monash.edu/scholarships/opportunities/excellence-equity.html

With this scholarship and my ENTER I can do a double degree in Commerce and Science which will allow me to major in Maths/Finance but it means I can't do Actuarial.

But the money seems like it is too good to turn down, as it basically pays for my HECS fees.

Also, Monash is much closer for me in terms of travel, if that helps.

Any suggestions?

/Rant

how do you know a 95.85 will get you into commerce @ melbourne??? i thought they didn't know what the cut-off is, cos its a new degree??

[Pencil]

Reallly sorry to hijack your thread but I have a similar problem and didn't want to start a new one.

I've always been interested in doing something in the areas of arts/international studies/law. Before results came out, my top pref was int. studies at RMIT. Arts/law had always been like a dreeaam course which i never thought i'd get into, and so when i got my enter and realised i could get into arts/law at monash, I was going to make this my top preference. However the next day i received a scholarship offer for melb uni ($4000 towards HECs each year plus $2000 yearly allowance. This would be on top of my KLD scholarship which gives me $2500 to relocate plus $2500 to study abroad). Thing is, although I had the KLD scholarship, I had decided against going to melb uni because the melb model realllly doesn't suit me. Buuut i really don't think I can turn down this scholarship.
Anyway, I rang monash today, and the lady said I was eligible for a scholarship there because I had arts (global) at monash in my preferences, but the arts faculty doesn't release these until january. Doing arts (global) at monash would suit me muuuch better than arts at melb. But I don't understand why they don't offer them until january!!?? I accepted the melb scholarship, and put melb uni top of my prefs.... so if i get an offer from melb uni does this mean monash won't consider me for a scholarship anymore? and even if they do, won't it be too late, because monash won't be my top pref??
I have no idea what to do! Do i just do arts at melb with the scholarship, deal with AWFUL breadth, and hope it leads to a career. OR put arts (global) as top pref in the hope that i'll be offered a scholarship in jan. OR put arts/law at monash, which would mean no scholarship.

or stick with my initial choice of int. studies at rmit.  gahh help needed!

[Ninox]

It was a woman who called me... She called my mobile, didn't even try the home number.

As you can probably tell I'm leaning heavily towards Monash.
I think the lure of the scholarship gives me a security blanket too warm and fluffy to turn down.

To ninox: If you are being offered a Monash scholarship a letter will arrive in the mail (or already will have). Good luck!

Thanks fox - my favourite chem teacher's name was ms. fox 
monash had me by year 10   :smitten: ...
YES!!! I finally got a scholarship offer from monash. During the damn delay I was nervous as hell seeing everyone else get their scholarship offers.
An Engineering Excellence Award no less. So I'll be doing Science/Eng, with the eng bit either Chemical or Materials. Any thoughts on the two disciplines? coblin?

[Eriny]

Reallly sorry to hijack your thread but I have a similar problem and didn't want to start a new one.

I've always been interested in doing something in the areas of arts/international studies/law. Before results came out, my top pref was int. studies at RMIT. Arts/law had always been like a dreeaam course which i never thought i'd get into, and so when i got my enter and realised i could get into arts/law at monash, I was going to make this my top preference. However the next day i received a scholarship offer for melb uni ($4000 towards HECs each year plus $2000 yearly allowance. This would be on top of my KLD scholarship which gives me $2500 to relocate plus $2500 to study abroad). Thing is, although I had the KLD scholarship, I had decided against going to melb uni because the melb model realllly doesn't suit me. Buuut i really don't think I can turn down this scholarship.
Anyway, I rang monash today, and the lady said I was eligible for a scholarship there because I had arts (global) at monash in my preferences, but the arts faculty doesn't release these until january. Doing arts (global) at monash would suit me muuuch better than arts at melb. But I don't understand why they don't offer them until january!!?? I accepted the melb scholarship, and put melb uni top of my prefs.... so if i get an offer from melb uni does this mean monash won't consider me for a scholarship anymore? and even if they do, won't it be too late, because monash won't be my top pref??
I have no idea what to do! Do i just do arts at melb with the scholarship, deal with AWFUL breadth, and hope it leads to a career. OR put arts (global) as top pref in the hope that i'll be offered a scholarship in jan. OR put arts/law at monash, which would mean no scholarship.

or stick with my initial choice of int. studies at rmit.  gahh help needed!

Wow. That is quite a challenging decision.
If you take up Melbourne's offer (or Arts Global at Monash), chances are that you will be able to do a law degree of some sort afterwards because you seem to be a very smart individual. But I suppose that being in the security of Arts/Law could appeal also, as well as that being your dream course. You have to consider you financial security also though?
I don't know what you should choose, obviously. But I don't think the question should be whether or not you want to do Law, because you'll probably be able to do Law at any point down the track if you want to, it's just a matter of what you'd be best off doing for the next 3-5 years. At least, that's the way I see it. That's a very hard predicament there!

Also, would you be able to enroll in Arts (Global) and then transfer into Arts/Law whilst retaining your scholarship?

[Pencil]

Also, would you be able to enroll in Arts (Global) and then transfer into Arts/Law whilst retaining your scholarship?

Thanks for the reply!
I'm not sure but if i get a scholarship at monash it will be through the arts faculty, so i don't think it is transferable because the lady i was talking to today said arts/law scholarships come under the law faculty (and it is impossible to get law scholarships! haha) I've ruled out doing arts/law now, i just need to decide out of arts (global) at monash or arts at melb. I don't want to reject the melb scholarship just in case I'm not offered one at monash, and so I have accepted it and put it as no. 1 pref. If I find out in jan that i have been offered a monash one, I won't be able to change my preferences and so I won't get an offer from monash.... I don't suppose there is any way around this? I can't request to get 2 offers or something lol?? gahh why the hell do they wait until jan!! Then I was thinking if they don't offer scholarships until jan, maybe they wait and only give them to people who have monash as no1 pref?? I have no idea!

[Fyrefly]

Goose, that's a challenging conundrum you've got there.

I really have to make up my mind when preferences close on Dec. 24th as well, coz of the whole 'gonna get 1st preference closes everything else off' thing. I can't decide, and all I have to do is decide between a scholarship @ Monash or my preferred course @ Melbourne -.- I feel for you, it's a tough decision. I think I might ring the school careers counsellor and see if he can offer me any advice. I'll pass on anything helpful...