DO employers care about breadth?

[liuetenant]

I know this may sound weird....but you would only come out with a single bachelor's degree, after all. If you were to sell yourself to an employer, would they care that you've done a breadth in a completely different field that may accompany your actual degree...or do they just like the bachelors?

having said that, what' better? bachelors and then move on to masters (5-6yrs) or double degree (4years?)

[mikee65]

I doubt doing a few semesters of breadth will carry much weight, it more about expanding your idea of varying disciplines and attracting you to explore them at Melbourne.....for a fee

[Kopite]

I know this may sound weird....but you would only come out with a single bachelor's degree, after all. If you were to sell yourself to an employer, would they care that you've done a breadth in a completely different field that may accompany your actual degree...or do they just like the bachelors?

having said that, what' better? bachelors and then move on to masters (5-6yrs) or double degree (4years?)

double degrees other than arts/commerce are 5 years.

employers don't expect you to have all the information you've been fed during uni to still be in your head when you graduate. it's more about your method/way of thinking or soft skills. in this way, i can see how breadth could be seemingly attractive to employers, because it exposes you to other ideas etc.

[WonderBunny]

Unless the breadth is something useful, like a language used in the job, I don't think employers really care. If the subjects aren't specifically relevant to the job, I don't think they would even be worth mentioning. A stream in basket weaving or African drumming won't impress many employers.

[mardat]

It would probably depend a lot on how you sold your breadth too - if you just listed your breadth I don't think it would really mean anything, but if you were to elaborate (especially if you did, for example, a breadth track, rather than just a single breadth subject) you could make it look more appealing. That being said most employers would be a lot more interested in the more important things you did - your degree, work experience, volunteering, and various other activities are probably better ways of demonstrating you're a suitable candidate than a few extra subjects at uni.

[Russ]

Breadth will be attractive to an employer, not so much because they want someone with knowledge of <historical period X> or <political field Y> but because they want the skills/methodologies those subjects taught

expanding your idea of varying disciplines and attracting you to explore them at Melbourne.....for a fee

You know you have to pay for all your subjects right, any in many cases breadth will be cheaper...

[mikee65]

Breadth will be attractive to an employer, not so much because they want someone with knowledge of <historical period X> or <political field Y> but because they want the skills/methodologies those subjects taught

expanding your idea of varying disciplines and attracting you to explore them at Melbourne.....for a fee

You know you have to pay for all your subjects right, any in many cases breadth will be cheaper...

Not sure about cheaper, my Microeconomics this semester costs ~twice as much as my sciences,

Technically, your only obliged to pay off your debt if you are earning taxable income in Australia

[Gloamglozer]

Breadth will be attractive to an employer, not so much because they want someone with knowledge of <historical period X> or <political field Y> but because they want the skills/methodologies those subjects taught

expanding your idea of varying disciplines and attracting you to explore them at Melbourne.....for a fee

You know you have to pay for all your subjects right, any in many cases breadth will be cheaper...

Not sure about cheaper, my Microeconomics this semester costs ~twice as much as my sciences,

Technically, your only obliged to pay off your debt if you are earning taxable income in Australia

That's because science subjects are deemed as a "National Priority" by the federal government and hence subsidised. 

[mikee65]

^ Well colour me embarrassed 

[mardat]

The HECS debt you incur won't be that significant when you actually get to the point where you start to pay it off - it's basically an extra 4-8% tax every year, and doesn't start until you have a salary of $45,000, which already attracts tax levels of up to 30%... Although it's not great, it's not something that you should really be considering when selecting breadth subjects - that subsidised subject might mean you pay off your debt a little bit earlier, but that doesn't guarantee you like it or that it will be useful.

[Russ]

I wasn't saying you should choose breadth based on price, I was saying that it's not fair to say that UoM are looking for dollars with the breadth program.

@Gloam, I know science is a priority area but i've always been too lazy to find out why my biomed core subjects aren't (and why I'm paying $1000 for the privilege of sleeping in them). Thoughts?

[mikee65]

Because Biomed is a luxury, I could probably offer a awful explanation as to why its not subsidised to the extent of science cores using my few weeks of intro micro knowledge 

[mardat]

Sorry I was actually referring to what Mikee said about science subjects being cheaper.

In terms of why Biomed costs more - http://cms.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/348103/Aus_Fees_2011.pdf
What I gathered from it was that Biomed subjects may be charged at the course rate, instead of the subject rate. So even though if you did those subjects through a science degree they might cost ~$500, through biomed they end up at ~$1000. Doing comm and I get charged ~$1000 for my core subjects, but ~$500 for my maths subjects (which I believe count as science subjects) - Is that how much you had to pay for calc/lin alg or whichever you did?

[Russ]

Nah, I paid the "normal" price for calc, but the core subjects for biomed are twice the price despite just being science

[mardat]

That sucks then... are the subjects specifically divided into the biomed version and the science version? Because I thought I saw science people in my friends' biomed lectures.

Other than that it's probably because biomed itself isn't considered a priority area... I'm sure Melbourne wouldn't be concerned with charging you more than science students, given they reject roughly half of the biomed applicants every year as is...