Dual Degrees

[mrsconradfisher]

Following on from yesterdays huge disappointment about being rejected from Sports Science at Loughborough, he has spent all day searching UCAS for courses still available through extra and has come across one which he is very interested in (in fact it’s the most excited I’ve seen him since the Loughborough open day!). It’s a Dual Sports Science degree with Portsmouth and a University in Perth in Australia, 4 years in total. Year 1/2 here, Year 3 in Australia then 6 months in Australia at the end of Year 4.
Apart from the fact that we have no idea about Portsmouth so would need a trip to see what it’s like…any other downsides? You apparently get 2 actual degrees, a U.K. sports science one then an Australian Equivalent.

Portsmouth is a naval area. Uni is a former poly. Very good in many ways.

Posted too soon. I would look into finances. Who pays for Perth? Is it covered by uk loans? Has he been rejected from all his choices? I assume each university validates enough of the course to award two degrees. There is presumably a cross over in syllabus and it’s location only that changes as it’s not much beyond 3 years. Also what about masters funding? Is this a 4 year undergrad degree(s) and would he want a masters? If so, what about funding?

Ooooh that does sound good.

I used to recruit a lot from Portsmouth uni. Seemed nice every time I went down there.

Don't know about the degree but Perth is lovely and it would surely open up options for living there after if desired

That’s a very good point, will investigate finances. Yes it’s 4 years (but then so are degrees with placement years in U.K.).

No he has just been rejected from Loughborough, has 4 other offers.
UEA-a definite no
Surrey-possible
Birmingham-possible but no placement year which is why he isn’t keen
And another course at Loughborough but he’s not considering it as it’s not at all the route he wants to take (it was a desperate bid to get to Loughborough).
Options are Firm Birmingham and Surrey as Insurance.
Decline all and go for extra. He has been offered a place in principle via extra at Newcastle but needs to decide now and we haven’t got any chance to visit before next week. It’s similar grades to Birmingham but does a placement year.
Or decline and do something completely different on Extra like this dual degree.
Or have a gap year and try again at Loughborough if he gets the grades he expects to get (he was predicted AAA on UCAS) but now predicted A star AA.
Feel like I’m going round in circles tbh. He has had an awful 2 years and he had everything focused on Loughborough so nothing else is even coming close. Having said that, Newcastle looks amazing. Beautiful campus and course modules look more suited to DS than Birmingham.

What this really comes down to is: is Australia is the big draw? If he’s self sufficient and up for it, it’s interesting. It’s a big move studying abroad so you must want it.

I am not familiar with the ins and outs of UCAS but it’s important he’s happy. Have you evaluated what Dc do after the Portsmouth course? Does it lead to opportunities in both countries? What do employers think of the various courses? After all, that’s what they all should lead to.

All good points, tbh I don’t know. He’d be fine in Australia on his own, he is very independent but it’s maybe just a knee jerk reaction to not getting the offer he really wanted. I don’t think there is a particular draw to Australia, I think he is just looking at different options.

Hi mrsc. I suppose with Birmingham (world ranked for sports science) in the locket, I'd be asking why a course tat sounds so amazing still has places?

Costs would concern me too.

Sorry to hear about Loughborough. I remember how keen your DS was. It's so so hard to get a place.

That was meant to say locker!!

Which university in Perth? There's the University of Western Australia - very much part of the Australian "sandstone" university group, akin to Russell Group standard. There are then former Colleges of Advanced Education (CAEs) which were converted to universities, sort of, like the post-92 universities here.

Double degrees in Australia are quite common, although usually for high-flyers. The Australian university system is an amalgamation of the US ad the Scottish system: you do a broad range of subjects in your first year, and gradually specialise. So that's why you can do a double degree - you pick subjects from 1st year onwards which satisfy requirements of both single degree programmes eg Arts/Law or Arts/Science.

An Australian Honours degree is 4 years, although the final Honours qualification is much more like a taught MA in English/Welsh terms.

Thank you. It’s been a tough couple of days. Think I underestimated how draining this whole process has been tbh. My Mum passed away at Christmas so these last few months have been very hard waiting to hear whilst also dealing with that.
That’s what concerns me, it’s such a good offer from Birmingham that it seems crazy to decline it but there was so much he didn’t like about it (he was so focused on Loughborough though that I don’t think anything would have come close). I’m also surprised that Newcastle has spaces too, given that it’s also a RG.

https://digital.ucas.com/coursedisplay/courses/b1f11a7b-59cb-418b-98c6-f8500650b7bc?academicYearId=2023

Its this, the Australian University is Edith Cowan University in Perth.

@mrsconradfisher
Wasn't it DS who didn’t like the lack of contact with professional sport at Birmingham? I think we noted at the time it was highly ranked. I thought he liked Surrey too?

If it helps, my DS really likes Birmingham . It probably doesn't!

Id he does that degree I bet he ends up living in Australia. He’d have a qualification there, friends there… And it’s quality of life is way better.

So it sounds cool but as the mum I would be a bit 😱😱😱

Yes it was him. The open day had a really odd feel about it with lecturers who seemed very disinterested. But again that he could be his impression due to how much he wanted Loughborough. He loved Surrey but seems crazy to put that as Firm when he had a great offer from a Highly Ranking RG.

Is there a particular sport he wants to play? My son did quite a lot of scrutinising which leagues the various uni teams were in.

(Appreciate this possibly shouldn't have been a key focus of his research, nor which premiership rugby and cricket clubs were nearby to watch).

@mrsconradfisher
I would suggest Birmingham too but not if he wouldn’t be happy there and the nature of the course. I truly see he is disappointed but he has some great options. Prem league football might soon be a thing of the past in Hampshire though!

It’s not unusual to choose a university in the city of the football club you support. I think it’s a bit odd but family member did exactly that.

Hampshire?

Oh, Portsmouth...

I've noticed the Australian double degree thing too. Are they really worth 2 UK degrees or is it completely different?!

A friend says it's more common to graduate a degree that hasn't got honours whereas I thought UK degrees had honours?

Lol!! He is a Norwich fan so that part wouldn’t bother him, he’s very used to not Premiership football!!

Truthfully I agree that Birmingham is the best option, many people would be thrilled to get that offer from a RG. I think he possibly needs to get his head around it.

Any thoughts on Newcastle? The modules on the course look slightly better and more appealing to him but that’s just being very picky now. It would mean declining Birmingham though as he didn’t apply initially (for no other reason than distance)

Good God how I loath the whole RG nonsense. The universities PAY to join. It is a marketing club. There are lots of so-so unis that are RG and lists of excellent top ranking unis that are not RG. To pay ti join RG you need to be a large research uni. Research has next to no impact on UG teaching or experience. Top unis that are smaller are not RG partly because they are smaller research like Bath and St Andrews. It's all bollocks.

Are they really worth 2 UK degrees or is it completely different?!

Yes, they are. (I taught in one of the major Australian universities for a few years).

The Australian Honours degree: A straightforward BSc or BA in Australia is 3 years, and is not an Honours degree. Where I taught (research-intensive university) an Honours degree required a 4th year of study, a high average mark from 1s year onwards (top half of a 2,i basically) to be accepted into in the first place, and generally a research thesis of around 12,000-20,000 words.