Commerce or Law? (With Engineering)

[HarveyD]

Hey guys

Currently planning to do an engineering double degree next year at Monash. Having got an ATAR of 98+, I have to make the decision of whether to pick either commerce or law to go with it.

I havent done anything related to commerce or law in the past, so I can't quite make a decision since I have no idea if I will enjoy it or not. This is particularly worrying for Law as I know that you would need to be quite motivated to complete such an intense course. However becoming a solicitor/barrister seems more appealing than a desk job after doing Commerce....

I am a more science/maths person, but I feel that I should do a double degree to increase my career options.  Also not quite sure which is more compatible with Engineering.

Any help would really be appreciated.

[aes_999]

I would presume a commerce / engineering would be a broader choice, given that you haven't really decided what you want to do, law or commerce. Doing a double degree in comm. / engineering, you could potentially get management positions in big engineering firms. Then again, I suppose doing law / eng, u could always work for a lawyer in engineering firms too.

U'd better ask taiga in depth about comm / eng, since he's doing it @ Monash. Another thing to remember is that you would most definitely be putting a lot more hours in eng. / law compared to comm. / eng.

[pi]

I have a friend doing law/engineering, and apparently the workload is VERY heavy (and is also 7yrs?). So keep that in mind if you choose law/engineering.

[ninwa]

I have a friend doing law/engineering, and apparently the workload is VERY heavy (and is also 7yrs?). So keep that in mind if you choose law/engineering.

Yep, have a friend doing it, last semester she was at uni 5 days a week, 9am-5 or 6pm. Still failed a subject
24 contact hours a week

[Hamdog17]

Sorry to go off topic but are other law double degrees that brutal? Eg. BSc/LLB or BBMS/LLB

[HarveyD]

Is there any way to do go from commerce to law if I change my mind/find its not my thing?
or vice-versa

[aes_999]

If you enrol in a double degree Monash Law / Commerce, u could drop either degree if you found it was not into your liking. That being said, the course is structured so that u finish B. Comm in ur first 3 years with some law subjects learned. Ur last 2 years is solely focused on law.

[HarveyD]

nah i mean if was doing Eng/Comm
could i at some point change to Eng/Law

[aes_999]

Not so sure, since im in the same boat as u, being a year 12.
But this might partially answer your question.

Internal and External Transfers - Monash University

[dc302]

24 contact hours is as much as a first year science student. Of course, comparing to a 12hour commerce/arts course, it is very long, but compared to science in general, which averages around 20 hours, it's not tooo bad.

[ninwa]

24 contact hours is as much as a first year science student. Of course, comparing to a 12hour commerce/arts course, it is very long, but compared to science in general, which averages around 20 hours, it's not tooo bad.

yes but I'd argue that the course content is a fair bit more difficult

[taiga]

You seem to be in a very similar position to me last year.

I was super keen on Eng/Law right up until the Change of Preference expo at Monash.

Hours for Eng/Law in the first year are nowhere near 24 hours. An engineering first year subject is 4-6 hours, and a law subject is about 3-4 hours per week as I understand. So you end up with 14-20 hours/week depending on what subject you do.

The reason I chose commerce/engineering over engineering/law, is because I talked to quite a few people + did some research/went to change of pref expo. There was an overwhelming response to how useful a commerce degree is in an Engineering field (and vice versa), but when I asked about law it was always just something like 'it's always good to have a law degree'. There are some suspect jobs which use both, patent law, consulting (though more commerce related if anything), and the legal side of an engineering firm, but I don't personally think that doing an extra year of law, for the loss of the sheer broadness of a commerce degree and the gain of not too much is worth it.

Yes, Engineering/Law sounds really cool, and Comm/Eng is not something that will make people wow when they ask you what you're doing, but I really don't think Eng/Law is anywhere near as valuable as Law/Eng.

Additionally Law has significantly dragged down the GPA of some of my very clever colleagues, which does have an impact on their employability at the end of their degree.

In all honesty, I think if you get involved with the right things, you can be successful in either double, but in my opinion from the outset Commerce/Engineering is the way to go.

If you want to be a solicitor/barrister, I'd recommend ditching Engineering right now, there is no point wasting time with it if that's definitely what you want to do.

I personally never did any Commerce in school (nor did I do law), but I don't think it's very hard to pick up if you've done well in methods, maybe year 10 humanities (high school geography is the right way of thinking for some of the core subjects), and if you're decent at English. That said, I wouldn't say you'd be at a huge disadvantage having not done any comm subjects.

[HarveyD]

thanks for the all the help guys
really appreciate it

I think i may go with Commerce as I feel that my reasons for wanting to do Law are more for the prestige associated with it rather than passion.

I have one more question though
With any Double Degree, if you find what you're doing isn't suited for you, are you able to change that particular course to something else?
i.e. If I found Engineering or Commerce wasn't that great, would I be able to switch one of them to Law?

[taiga]

You'd have to get an average mark of 75+ most likely. Sometimes they will go based of your ATAR, but you'd still want to do well.

[ninwa]

I think i may go with Commerce as I feel that my reasons for wanting to do Law are more for the prestige associated with it rather than passion.

that's highly mature of you, kudos