Good BComm/LLB electives?

[SLR7]

Hi everyone, I was wondering if there is a set of "good" electives for BComm/LLB for a career in finance? I plan to major in finance for my BComm.

I'm thinking of learning computer (software) programming, but I don't want to potentially miss out on something.

I just finished first year and am now thinking about what to enrol for my second year. So far, this is what I got:

First semester:

BFC2140 – Corporate finance
MKC1200 – Principles of marketing
LAW3401 – Property A
LAW5152 – Taxation law 506
[Commerce Elective] (overloading following course map)

Second semester:

BFC3140 – Advanced orporate finance
BFC2000 – Financial institutions and markets
LAW3402 – Property B
[Commerce Elective]

Units that are relatively easier or have a good chance at pulling up my WAM is preferred.

All advice is deeply appreciated and thanks in advance!

[sam.utute]

Will reply in more detail later. A few quick thoughts:

- I don't think you should overload or follow the course map (unless you have a specific reason for doing so)
- Advanced Corp Fi is usually easier in Sem 1, so leave that for the year after
- Most people usually do Torts and Crim in second year
- Easy units: Property Investment, Equities and Investment Analysis, FAV (sort of easy, but huge group assignment, so you need a kick-ass group), First year Macroeconomics
- Do SUMMER or WINTER units!! They're usually marked easier and are more interactive (this is especially important for law)

[ninwa]

I wouldn't do tax law in a semester where you're overloading, it's not really "relatively easier"

Or at least swap out either tax or property for torts or crim which (IMO) are easier

[Rohmer]

I agree with the above^, the suggested com/law course structure isn't the best to follow. It has electives and overloading too early, + subjects in an order that isn't best imo. Crim/torts are easier than property, you may as well do them first. For finance it depends what you're good at. I'd do equities before advanced corp fi...with electives I thought a couple of the better subjects were International Finance and FAV, but if you're better at calculation type questions then you may like subjects like debt markets, options etc.

[SLR7]

sam.utute,

- I do not have a specific reason and am just following the course map. I thought I will be able to graduate on time if I followed the course map, is that correct?
- Noted. I'll need to find a replacement unit then.
- I am following the course map, which listed Property A/B. I know I will need to do both Crim and Tort, but which one is easier? I'm leaning towards Crim law at the moment (to replace Property).
- Noted.
- I might do Summer/Winter units if I cannot find relevant work experience. I think that would take the load off from overloading, yes? By the way, I would like to digress for a bit. Is getting casual summer work in a cinema or fast food chain worth it for the work experience? My alternative is to trade in the stock market and/or forex.

ninwa,

According to the course map, I had to select a law elective and tax law is the only one I am vaguely interested in. Hence, the choice. I will have another look at the list of law electives available. I will also replace Property law with Crim/Tort, thanks for the advice!

Rohmer,

I thought I would not mess up if I just follow the course map. I guess it is not the best way to finish my degrees. To be honest, I have not done any finance unit yet, except for one chapter lightly touching on the time value of money in AFC1000. I think I would be interested in practical material, though. Something I can apply to the real world immediately, for example advanced and/or properly structured fundamental analysis. That said, FAV seems to be very relevant to my interests.

The reason I wanted to do BFC2000 (Financial institutions and markets) first is to get a general view of all the areas. After that, I will hopefully know which areas I am most interested in and pursue units that are relevant.

Again, thanks all for the reply!

[SLR7]

My current unit enrolments looks like this:

Spoiler

First semester:

LAW2201 – Torts A
BFC2140 – Corporate finance
MKC1200 – Principles of marketing
BFC2000 – Financial institutions and markets
FIT1040* - Programming fundamentals OR ETC1010* - Data modelling and computing [pre-req for Actuarial statistics] (overloading following course map)

Second semester:

LAW2202 – Torts B
ECC1100 - Principles of macroeconomics
BFC2340 - Debt markets and fixed income securities OR if I did ETC1010 in Sem 1, then ETC2430 - Actuarial statistics
LAW5152** – Taxation law 506

* Commerce elective.
** Law elective.

How is it?

Also, how do I know what is the year of my unit? Is it determined with the first number of the code for the unit, i.e. LAW5152 is a 5th year unit? If so, is it too early for me to take LAW5152 - Taxation law 506 in my second year?

[Rohmer]

I don't think units starting with 2 are necessarily easier than units starting with 3 (e.g. Criminal law starts with 3 but is arguably easier/ of the same difficulty as Torts/Contracts), but it's kind of a general guide. There's nothing to stop you doing tax law, but I suspect it would be reasonably difficult compared to the 2nd/3rd year law units as I think most students in an elective unit like that would be 4th or 5th years... then again I haven't done tax law though (I'm starting on electives next sem., 4th year) so somebody else is probably better placed to say how it compares to compulsory units in terms of difficulty.

The other units look fine...debt markets will be a mostly calculations type unit; imo those units are harder than ones like equities/institutions and markets, but if you're good at maths you can get very high marks in a unit like that.

[mystikal]

have u done macro 1 yet? because if not you should do corp fi, macro 1 and financial markets in the same semester because they have a ton of overlap like 20% overlap each so it would be like studying for 2 subjects instead of 3.

agreed with the advance corp fi comment where its harder in 2nd semester. probably do advance corp fi with equities which has like 15% overlap or modelling in finance which has like 30% overlap with the concepts however modelling in finance is more practical and uses the concepts you learn in advance corp fi and applies to situations using excel spreadsheets.

[lynt.br]

Law unit codes are arbitrary and can mostly be ignored (for example the unit code for crim suggests it is a third year subject when most people take it in their first or second year).

Likewise the course maps are very random and for some reason are completely different between different double degrees (so the arts/law course map is different from the com/law one for no apparent reason).

If you are doing com/law most people will do the following:
2nd year: Crim + Torts + 2 commerce subjects
3rd year: Property + Consti (1st sem) + Admin (2nd sem) + 2 commerce units

Most people then start to diverge from 4th year onwards (make sure to do equity early-ish though as it transitions well into corps and trusts).

I wouldn't recommend doing electives until you are at least in 3rd year, unless there is one you particularly want to do. I would say most people start taking law electives in 3rd/4th year.

Following the above is the best way to make sure you stay with your friends as you go through the first few years.

[mystikal]

My current unit enrolments looks like this:

Spoiler

First semester:

LAW2201 – Torts A
BFC2140 – Corporate finance
MKC1200 – Principles of marketing
BFC2000 – Financial institutions and markets
FIT1040* - Programming fundamentals OR ETC1010* - Data modelling and computing [pre-req for Actuarial statistics] (overloading following course map)

Second semester:

LAW2202 – Torts B
ECC1100 - Principles of macroeconomics
BFC2340 - Debt markets and fixed income securities OR if I did ETC1010 in Sem 1, then ETC2430 - Actuarial statistics
LAW5152** – Taxation law 506

* Commerce elective.
** Law elective.

How is it?

Also, how do I know what is the year of my unit? Is it determined with the first number of the code for the unit, i.e. LAW5152 is a 5th year unit? If so, is it too early for me to take LAW5152 - Taxation law 506 in my second year?

swap the macro and marketing around and debt markets is pretty hard subject for finance one of the hardest actually right next to options and derivatives, alot of mathemetics its quite intense if you do not study for it properly, which is another reason why to do marketing in 2nd sem instead of macro.. ive already mentioned the overlap of corp fi, fin markets and macro so you should be ok with overloading with those 3, plus no hurdle for macro.

you also said you wanted to do programming, what type of programming do you wanna do? do you wanna do programming language used in a finance aspect or IT in general, this is because finance/business modelling majors have subjects that are orientated to programming and they go through the basics so you wont need prior knowledge for some of them. Most finance subject will utilise excel/VBA an example is Modelling in Finance great subject, taught me how to program in VBA (the basics) and i use it for my spreadsheets now (adapting from those skills). The cool thing about learning IT in an finance setting is you get to see how it is applied and the possibilities of it. I would recommend speaking with TrueTears as he tutors at monash and he has  studied alot of the finance/acturial subjects

[SLR7]

Rohmer,

I see. I'm just following the course map to ensure I'm not messing up. But I think I will now consider to change it so that it's more "logical".

mystikal,

Thank you. I will move my units around and possibly swap debt markets out for something else; I'll have to do more research on this.

The reason I kept marketing in first semester is because of the course map. I'll have to start disregarding the course map to get better units.

I wanted to do programming for fun, without any particular direction. However, I wouldn't mind doing programming for finance purposes. Alright, I might contact TrueTears if I'm going to learn some programming.

General reply: I do better at calculation/practical units. What's the easiest calc/prac unit I can start with? I don't really want to jump head-first into the second hardest unit.

[appianway]

Definitely do programming if you can... I was speaking to a FICC analyst at JPM recently, and he said one of the most useful classes he took was a data structures/algorithms class.

[ninwa]

I see. I'm just following the course map to ensure I'm not messing up. But I think I will now consider to change it so that it's more "logical".

I've found that the law double degree course maps are very much a suggestion only. Since law subjects don't really have pre-reqs (property/equity/trusts co-requisites is the only exception off the top of my head), you can honestly do them in any order you want. Obviously subjects like contracts, torts and crim are the easier ones which is why it's recommended you do them before tougher subjects like evidence or corps - but you don't have to do it like that if you don't want to! I'm in my final year and only just did property because it never fit into my work timetable.

I don't know about commerce but I didn't follow the sequence for my arts degree either (because I wanted to do a double major rather than major+minor+random electives). As long as you fulfil the pre-reqs for the subjects you want to do and the credit requirements you'll be fine.

[mystikal]

General reply: I do better at calculation/practical units. What's the easiest calc/prac unit I can start with? I don't really want to jump head-first into the second hardest unit.

the three i mentioned would give you a good foundation to finance (corp fi, fin markets, intro to macro) and you will see how they all interelate, corp fi 60% maths and  40% theory/concepts, fin markets is 50% maths and 50% theory and macro is 20% calc and 80% theory)

from there you can pick units such as equities which isnt really practical but is pretty easy maths. advance corp fi is compulsory for finance and it is pretty good maths not intense. FAV is a hands on unit which will show you first hand on how to analyse a company, not much calculations but the research skills you learn and how to interpret company financials will help later on when working.

Modelling in Finance is hands down the best unit, you learn so much and it forces you to work and also it easy to score well since you are working throughout the semester doing mini assessments.

option derivatives is a very useful unit to do but also one of the hardest as well maths wise.

easy units that are more theoretical based: property investment, international finance, pensions and planning,