Scholarship and lesser known course VS no scholarship and broader course.

[walkec]

Okay, so I want to study health promotion and I'm really keen on Health Science/Arts at Deakin, because of the flexibility it offers and the subject choices that I could have with a double degree. I went to the Deakin Burwood Open Day last year and I really liked everything I saw.

But then, I became aware that Swinburne was increasing the courses within their health science department, adding a Health Science degree, which would be a bit a bit more generalised than their Bachelor of Social Science (Community Health) degree. I was on the Swinburne website last week and saw that they offer scholarships for both, with the two scholarships available to those who score either 89 or more, or 95+ for the Vice Chancellors Program.

I think I'm more than capable of getting 89+, and I could probably push for a 95+, meaning that it would be more than likely I'd be eligible for a Swinburne scholarship. But I feel that their Health Science and Community Health degrees are more specialised than a Health Science with Health Promotion major at Deakin, and don't allow for the flexibility that Deakin offers with Health Sciences/Arts. But, not having to pay student contributions for Swinburne makes it a more appealing option when comparing the two based on money.

So I guess my question is, would you choose to do a degree with a scholarship that is pretty much your dream course, but not quite just to save like $20,000 or so?

[ps]

It comes down to how much you need the money. If you'll be living comfortably at home and you won't really have any use for the scholarship money, you'll probably chuck it in a term deposit or like buy a car or something with it anyway. In terms of "later-on" benefits, there's not that much, you have to consider that within your first year of working you're likely to be able to save more than your entire scholarship anyway.

If you're desperate, however, i.e. you have to live away from home or you need the financial support then I think you should go for the scholarship. Look at it this way, it's your future, you'll be working for at least quite a while, if you divide it up, $20,000, even though it sounds like a massive amount at this stage, isn't that much in the scheme of things. Do what you enjoy unless you NEED the money.