Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Computer Science Double Degree?

[WTFBBQCheesecake]

Hey guys,
Just wondering if anyone on here has done/doing the Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Computer Science Double Degree at Monash and what you thought/think of it? Would be great to get some advice and info about what this course is like and how you felt about doing it.
Thanks

[WTFBBQCheesecake]

Plz help lel even if you did a biology related major in science, any personal anecdotes about classes, teaching, social environment etc. would be great.
Thanks guys

[Floatzel98]

What are you interested in on the science side? You will have to do at least some math in either of the degrees. Discrete maths isn't too bad; its quite easy, and MTH1030 is really fun. It is quite common for people to do a math major with the degree choice unsurprisingly.

Teaching really depends on the lecturers themselves. Sometimes you will have good lecturers for a unit, sometimes you will have bad ones. I didn't have very good lecturers for FIT1045 when i did it. I haven't done them myself, but FIT1008 and FIT2004 are quite difficult and a step up from the other easier introductory IT units (friends still enjoyed these units though). Overall the environment in IT classes is probably what you would expect anywhere. Most computer labs are pretty nice around the campus.

Science has been good. People are always nice. I've never felt a class has had a (negative) competitive nature about it. Science facilities seem to be quite good overall. I can say so for physics. Even what I've seen of chem, bio, EAE has been good.

[WTFBBQCheesecake]

What are you interested in on the science side? You will have to do at least some math in either of the degrees. Discrete maths isn't too bad; its quite easy, and MTH1030 is really fun. It is quite common for people to do a math major with the degree choice unsurprisingly.

Teaching really depends on the lecturers themselves. Sometimes you will have good lecturers for a unit, sometimes you will have bad ones. I didn't have very good lecturers for FIT1045 when i did it. I haven't done them myself, but FIT1008 and FIT2004 are quite difficult and a step up from the other easier introductory IT units (friends still enjoyed these units though). Overall the environment in IT classes is probably what you would expect anywhere. Most computer labs are pretty nice around the campus.

Science has been good. People are always nice. I've never felt a class has had a (negative) competitive nature about it. Science facilities seem to be quite good overall. I can say so for physics. Even what I've seen of chem, bio, EAE has been good.

I’m mainly interested in life sciences and am most likely going to major in biochemistry or immunology. For comp science I’m going to major in data science. At the moment I’m having difficulty selecting whether to go to Melbourne or Monash as I have both the access and excellence scholarships, respectively for each uni. I’m interested in both biology related majors and data science and so i’ve been leaning towards Monash just because of the double degree, and due to Melbourne not offering IBL. Also on a side note, what were the ratio of males to females in your classes during your major, mainly in comp science related subjects?
Cheers man

[Floatzel98]

Unsurprisingly, the units I have done (Physics, Math, Astro, CompSci) have been male dominated, unfortunately.

What course choice would you be doing at Melbourne if you went there?

[WTFBBQCheesecake]

Unsurprisingly, the units I have done (Physics, Math, Astro, CompSci) have been male dominated, unfortunately.

What course choice would you be doing at Melbourne if you went there?

Either science or biomed, however, I'm not sure about the flexibility of the degrees. The uni says they're flexible but like they don't even allow people to double major and have a forceful attitude towards breadth subjects (something I am less interested about as it seems to be a quick money grab on the unis part). Idc about breadths as they just seem to be filler subjects that are a waste of my time imo and really stop me from doing both comp science related subjects and biology related ones at the same time. Thoughts?

[Floatzel98]

It seems like you are leaning away from Melbourne due to the breadths. If you already know what you want to do it can definitely be annoying / a waste of time, which seems to be your case. I think Melbourne has a diploma of informatics you can add on to your degree. I'd say you already know about it, but seems like a good way to merge your interests at Melbourne.

I think what you have said about the IBL component (and Aaron in the other thread) is quite relevant to your decision in the end. Looks like travel doesn't seem to be too big of a factor (?) and you have scholarships from both. I mean in the end you still have the chance to transfer degrees and even universities. Since you are already leaning towards the double degree, I would start with it since it gives you a full exposure to both fields and the most choice from the start.

[WTFBBQCheesecake]

It seems like you are leaning away from Melbourne due to the breadths. If you already know what you want to do it can definitely be annoying / a waste of time, which seems to be your case. I think Melbourne has a diploma of informatics you can add on to your degree. I'd say you already know about it, but seems like a good way to merge your interests at Melbourne.

I think what you have said about the IBL component (and Aaron in the other thread) is quite relevant to your decision in the end. Looks like travel doesn't seem to be too big of a factor (?) and you have scholarships from both. I mean in the end you still have the chance to transfer degrees and even universities. Since you are already leaning towards the double degree, I would start with it since it gives you a full exposure to both fields and the most choice from the start.

Thanks man, yeah I haven't looked at the diploma at all to be totally honest. Do you know much about it? I looked but didn't quite get how that part is structured, if it's a seperate year or if you take the subjects in the diploma alongside your degree. I feel like it could be a little overwhelming if you were to have more than 4 subjects per semester.

[AngelWings]

Can’t speak for the diploma, but I can speak for the biology majors; I’m a genetics major myself (with a hidden molecular biology minor) but I have connections to people who do all types of bio. Feel free to keep the questions rolling about biology at Monash and I’ll answer as much as I can.

Ratios in comp sci is mostly male oriented, but in biology it’s usually equal male-female ratios.

[WTFBBQCheesecake]

Can’t speak for the diploma, but I can speak for the biology majors; I’m a genetics major myself (with a hidden molecular biology minor) but I have connections to people who do all types of bio. Feel free to keep the questions rolling about biology at Monash and I’ll answer as much as I can.

Ratios in comp sci is mostly male oriented, but in biology it’s usually equal male-female ratios.

Yeah it'd be great if I could ask questions to you haha What are the biology first year/all other years like in difficulty/content? Also, in your situation, how was the step up from high school to uni in terms of workload for biology related classes? Did it feel harder or easier because of the independent learning that you take part in?

[zhenzhenzhen]

Monash has been pretty good to me and my career! I did a sem at Melbourne and didn't like it much.

[AngelWings]

Yeah it'd be great if I could ask questions to you haha What are the biology first year/all other years like in difficulty/content? Also, in your situation, how was the step up from high school to uni in terms of workload for biology related classes? Did it feel harder or easier because of the independent learning that you take part in?

In all honesty, I came into the degree having not done Biology since Year 9.

To many, Biology in first year at Monash feels somewhat like a rushed version of advanced VCE Biology, where some is new, some is revision. (If you want some reviews, please see BIO1011 and BIO1022 under the Science spoiler here.) If you didn’t do VCE Bio, you might find it a little more difficult. To me, the second year is even more rushed. Many people think this, regardless of background, and arguably the hardest year of the three. Fortunately third year is less, but arguably still hard to do so because it’s more conceptual. This is at least my opinion for genetics, which counts under Monash’s School of Biological Sciences. Immunology and biochemistry actually is under the Department of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences. The latter shares my molecular biology minor.

The step up was more whether you actually did the study in your own time and doable even with a part time job (for the record, I tutored and did another job for my second and third years). It’s also a very different mode of learning: most of it is independent. I actually wrote a little about this in my article. The lecturers and tutors are still supportive, but it’s really up to you to do the learning and revising. You’ll see once you begin how it all pans out and how you’ll fare.