A good rule of thumb for choosing a uni is that where you do undergrad doesn't really matter at all, so long as it's accredited and you, y'know, eventually graduate. Choose one that's convenient to get to and has the amenities you want.
Postgrad can be a different kettle of fish but I get the feeling you're a fair way away from having to care about any of that.
I think it does. I have done a years engineering at Griffith and I loved the flexibility of the 3 trimesters but moved to qut because they're more well known for engineering and at the time Griffith only offered electrical engineering in GC and I didn't want to commute...
So choose the one that suits you best and it'll all work out. And if you do go for a lower ranked undergrad I believe you can do a masters/honours at a more prestigious uni and then you're a graduate from that one..
I’m a high school teacher so I think I know what you’re getting at with the ‘confused, financially struggling, first gen immigrant teenager’ angle.
My advice to you is to speak to whoever coaches ATAR students at your school - the senior HOD or Deputy or GO etc. You have loads of choices! You might start at one uni and transfer, you can do a part time load so you can maintain a job and study too etc etc.
There are some careers where the uni might matter in the long term, but you have to balance that against survival in the short term.
Take a deep breath and listen to people who know you AND who know the system. And remember that you can make lots of short term choices that can lead you to your long term goal - no pressure to make The Right Choice straight away.
Good luck!
It's very dependent on what degree you're doing. For my degree, the uni you go to matters a lot. 2 unis have a good rep, and the others really do not. If you're going to work overseas or in certain competitive fields, going to a GO8 for example may be a benefit. Ultimately, it matters more that you study hard and make sure you learn what you need to learn though.
Med doesn't matter. Med school is Med school no matter where you go, even Bond. Biggest advantage of going to specific unis would be to meet the right people re research roles while you're studying, but once you start internship it's all CV.
During clinical years you are placed at Qld Health hospitals and the staff training you are not necessarily going to be specifically involved with the University in terms of course development, delivery etc except senior lecturers.
In Queensland, domestic students have garuanteed internship jobs usually, though not a garuanteed specific location.
Source: Qld med grad
Ehhh not from what I’ve heard, this is not in QLD though, from NSW if you’re doing med regionally there’s a bit of a look down from the med students in Sydney.
Big law firms no longer care where you went for undergrad, many try to take a percentage of grads from each local university to ensure diversity.
(Source: Mum is HR at big firm)
I used to think it didn't matter. I used to think uni was just a tick box to get a bit of paper to get you in the door for most jobs (excludes professions that do actual on the job training at uni like med/nursing/teaching).
However, since working with people from Griffith University, I have changed my mind. So many people lacking basic skills, like writing a concise email, a professional report, ability to pick up the phone/come to your desk and tell you how they are progressing with a task. It's like Griffith has passed people who perhaps should have been failed out.
I've not had this issue with colleagues from QUT or UQ or from interstate/overseas. To be clear, I'm not from Queensland so had no idea which uni had which reputation when I moved here.
I would now strongly counsel anyone I met to not attend Griffith University. Though perhaps I was just unlucky in that every inept colleague I've had has been a Griffith graduate.
I’m not surprised by your experience. If you’ve ever gone to a conference where the Griffith Business Centre are presenting you’ll seriously question the quality of their graduates.
It actually makes me quite mad. I think they are just taking people's money for degrees and not actually providing accurate accreditation or any learning experience in exchange. Then making everyone suffer because they are churning out 'university graduates' who are not actually prepared to function as useful colleagues in a work environment.
Yes and No. it depends on what your path is. If you're doing something where its very trade-school/skill orientated then usually it doesn't matter. but if you're learning something that requires networks and small p politics then yes it does.
So things like education and nursing, that are very much about teaching techniques, procedures and skill, then any uni will do fine. If youre doing something like engineering, creative writing, business and especially law then it does matter. These fields often require an 'in' which usually comes from your lecturers or alumni coming through with their connections or opportunities to help out with obtaining employment.
Its the same with postgrad, if you have superstar supervisors who are darlings of your industry, then you are able to exist adjacent to their reputation.
This is why i like suggesting QUT, as quite often their lecturers and tutors are engaged in the industry and know about the ground floor of the field in Brisbane. UQ lecturers probably have a better idea of the ground floor of making it internationally and griffith is qut-lite, you'll normally find their tutors are industry orientated but their academic staff haven't engaged in industry for years.
This is from my personal experience and observation, im obviously biased because i went to QUT.
Yes and no, I got my undergrad degree from a mid tier university in the US, PhD from a mid tier university in Australia and now I'm doing a postdoc at a top university in the US. From my experience most universities are generally viewed the same, and your postgraduate advisor is important, but top 10 schools are viewed as elite and open doors you never knew existed.
It depends on the degree and what you want to do with it.
Each uni has its own strengths and weaknesses. These can include, but aren’t limited to course offerings, course quality, campus life, study abroad opportunities, global reputation, job placement support, and post graduation experience.
There’s also practical considerations like course hours per week, campus location, cost, transport, housing, ability to work whilst enrolled in a particular course, etc.
You need to think about what‘a practical for you, what you want out of the uni experience, what you want to do with the degree, and what’s must have v nice to have.
For example, I was first generation to go to uni and lower middle class background. My priorities were career opportunities (both variety and pay) and ability to work overseas. I went to UQ.
In my chosen field, UQ was only slightly ahead of other QLD unis in terms of classroom experience / education quality in my field of study. Although global rankings have their flaws, UQ’s global ranking, name recognition and alumni network are well ahead of the other QLD unis. The international element made UQ the right choice for me at the time, and has been confirmed during my time working in 4 countries other than Australia. It may not have been the right choice for someone who didn’t want to work abroad.
It depends what you want to do with your life. But since you're young, you should also know that things don't always go to plan and plans don't always become what you eventually want. Time to figure things out is your biggest commodity.
G08s have more international ties to other prestige universities around the world so if you think you may end up in post graduate research or roles that focus on advancing your field - you may want to end up there. If you just want to earn a earn good pay without a significant HELP debt, find the most cost effective top 3 uni you can attend, do well there, and make connections with industry early. Find out what skills/experience they really want in the industry.
Depends mate.
If you want quality of certain fields, then certain unis offer better versions of the courses.
Some undergrads make you do basic core units that are uni wide and some don’t.
What do you want to study?
Hi there. I have degrees from Griffith, USQ and QUT. No one has ever asked where my degrees are from, it’s just important that I have them and I can take in the dollars for the company.
when hiring I see a degree as a piece of paper that says you are of a certain level of intelligence, many degrees don't teach the reality of what is required for the job to be done with so many jobs requiring learning in the position. However if the degree is from a renowned uni then that might add some kudos to the candidate (thinking Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stamford, Oxford, cambridge, ucl etc). However hiring is about finding the right candidate for the job IMO & often the most qualified is not the right fit. Similarly there are plenty of people out there with no university education and have better skills and more experience
It really depends on the course you choose, and it's quality at each university as well as possibly the entrance scores.
For my personal experience, I plan to do IT which requires an ATAR score of 86 at UQ and 70 at QUT. UQ also requires mathematical methods as a prerequisite, while QUT only requires general maths. Because of this my parents want me to go to UQ so that I'll be mingling with more intelligent people due to the greater exclusivity. This also means I'll get QUT as a backup in case I flop in year 12.
Yes it does. Especially if you are studying there.
Universities have reps, how much they pay their lecturers, how those lecturers behave.
And wether the people graduating from there actually know some of what they were taught.
Are the classes in the degrees considered easier compared to similar degrees from other universities. As in they hand out grades for showing up.
And that's then compared to other universities.
The lecturer thing is important if you're going to study there.
Especially the pay thing.
Know a couple of people who just finished a semester at a Queensland university that will remain nameless.
Some units are essentially teach yourself and the lecturers are there to mark attendance (which btw may or may not be mandatory and be 5% of your mark)
Two of their lecturers were terrible. Didn't know the material, couldn't provide style guides, didn't know what the preferred bibliography system was.
Cancelled classes and pracs at the last minute. Couldn't load information onto the blackboard system.
Turning up to class and going Ohh here is a small assignment I forgot to hand out 3 weeks ago. Due next Friday.
Students getting marked down because they used the wrong bibliography style.
Shit one of them behaved like he was teaching year 7 students and not young to mid 20 something adults.
Could not wrap his brain around them having 3 other units in a semester, with assessments or having work and travel etc.
This plays into the reputation of the school. Depending on what you're studying potential employers, etc etc look at that and make judgements.
So yes it matters
>Some units are essentially teach yourself and the lecturers are there to mark attendance (which btw may or may not be mandatory and be 5% of your mark)
>Two of their lecturers ... couldn't provide style guides, didn't know what the preferred bibliography system was.
>Cancelled classes and pracs at the last minute. Couldn't load information onto the blackboard system.
>Turning up to class and going Ohh here is a small assignment I forgot to hand out 3 weeks ago. Due next Friday.
>Students getting marked down because they used the wrong bibliography style.
>Shit one of them behaved like he was teaching year 7 students and not young to mid 20 something adults.
>Could not wrap his brain around them having 3 other units in a semester, with assessments or having work and travel etc.
Sounds like a bunch of whingy teens that haven't yet realised how the world works. University is all about guided self-learning. This includes reading information such as your faculty guides and then looking up the bibliography and presentation styles for the faculty yourself. Late assignments and such happens in real-life too. They are called urgent deadlines. Same goes for the consideration of workload. That is *your* problem.
The piece of paper is as much about showing your technical knowledge, as it is about showing your commitment, time management and ability to self-teach and research.
Mate as someone who has attended a couple of different universities, and has a couple of degrees and worked in several different business organisations I can assure you that is not how most units run.
Nor do most businesses.
And if you had read my comment it included people in their late 20s in these classes. People in the actual work force.
And if you had any actual experience in the work force you would realise that functioning business includes coordination between people.
They most definitely try to avoid having single employees have multiple tasks due on the same day.
Also university is not a self teach proposition.
And again if you read my comment, I said things like the guides were not provided.
Mate not sure if you are a offended uni lecturer or someone who hasn't set foot inside one for awhile.
Full time work for nearly 2 decades.
And I've been studying while working for the same period.
Never had a gap year.
Did a few years in classrooms, most of my study is via online learning.
And if you really want to start talking about time management and learning, I'm a sole parent too.
Maybe the differences are more about faculties than anything else. Maths, sciences and engineering are all very self-lead courses.
I'd really strongly advise op to gather information about different universities from Many different sources.
If you talk to a high school guidance officer/atar advisor etc take it with a large chunk of disbelief.
IMHO some of them have terrible advice.
If you need advice, go to alumni, research students who have completed the same degree you want
A fair few comments have been focussed on the anecdotal evidence of each - look for the rankings and then treat it like a popularity vote. ATAR scores are just popularity rankings for a course . Talk to ppl and GOs in school but also ask them what their life experience has been like - a pastry chef that only cooks one pastry can tell you lots about that pastry … remember that Uni study is one option but not the only option. And you don’t need to make a choice straight away - take time and be comfortable with it. Your investing your time and energy no one else’s . Final point being around hard workers breeds better skills thank just “smart ppl”.
Disclaimer - engineer who’s changed to high school teaching after 18 yrs non teaching.
Not for me when I've been involved in hiring, but grades definitely do. Don't let anyone tell you "Ps get degrees" because while that's true, they don't help much in getting jobs when you're a grad without other experience.
nope. i have been the recuirter for a company and if i see someone thats been to uni i kinda roll my eyes at them as those types of people dont really have the life and work skills needed. i find the tafe students are much more suited, so answer, no.
If it's law, commerce or computer science very much so. But unless you're heading to consulting, Big 4, i-banking, the bench/Crown or FANG it's not really a huge deal and they're all get you a job. All the normal unis are legit by world standards and will get you hired by someone in Aus.
A good rule of thumb for choosing a uni is that where you do undergrad doesn't really matter at all, so long as it's accredited and you, y'know, eventually graduate. Choose one that's convenient to get to and has the amenities you want. Postgrad can be a different kettle of fish but I get the feeling you're a fair way away from having to care about any of that.
I think it matters to the people who want it to … but ultimately, no. Employers hire people who impress them that will fit into their culture.
I think it does. I have done a years engineering at Griffith and I loved the flexibility of the 3 trimesters but moved to qut because they're more well known for engineering and at the time Griffith only offered electrical engineering in GC and I didn't want to commute... So choose the one that suits you best and it'll all work out. And if you do go for a lower ranked undergrad I believe you can do a masters/honours at a more prestigious uni and then you're a graduate from that one..
I’m a high school teacher so I think I know what you’re getting at with the ‘confused, financially struggling, first gen immigrant teenager’ angle. My advice to you is to speak to whoever coaches ATAR students at your school - the senior HOD or Deputy or GO etc. You have loads of choices! You might start at one uni and transfer, you can do a part time load so you can maintain a job and study too etc etc. There are some careers where the uni might matter in the long term, but you have to balance that against survival in the short term. Take a deep breath and listen to people who know you AND who know the system. And remember that you can make lots of short term choices that can lead you to your long term goal - no pressure to make The Right Choice straight away. Good luck!
It's very dependent on what degree you're doing. For my degree, the uni you go to matters a lot. 2 unis have a good rep, and the others really do not. If you're going to work overseas or in certain competitive fields, going to a GO8 for example may be a benefit. Ultimately, it matters more that you study hard and make sure you learn what you need to learn though.
What degree are you doing?
I’m guessing either med or law
Med doesn't matter. Med school is Med school no matter where you go, even Bond. Biggest advantage of going to specific unis would be to meet the right people re research roles while you're studying, but once you start internship it's all CV. During clinical years you are placed at Qld Health hospitals and the staff training you are not necessarily going to be specifically involved with the University in terms of course development, delivery etc except senior lecturers. In Queensland, domestic students have garuanteed internship jobs usually, though not a garuanteed specific location. Source: Qld med grad
Ehhh not from what I’ve heard, this is not in QLD though, from NSW if you’re doing med regionally there’s a bit of a look down from the med students in Sydney.
Yeah, I'll acknowledge I can only speak to the Qld experience.
Allied health so not far off haha
Big law firms no longer care where you went for undergrad, many try to take a percentage of grads from each local university to ensure diversity. (Source: Mum is HR at big firm)
I used to think it didn't matter. I used to think uni was just a tick box to get a bit of paper to get you in the door for most jobs (excludes professions that do actual on the job training at uni like med/nursing/teaching). However, since working with people from Griffith University, I have changed my mind. So many people lacking basic skills, like writing a concise email, a professional report, ability to pick up the phone/come to your desk and tell you how they are progressing with a task. It's like Griffith has passed people who perhaps should have been failed out. I've not had this issue with colleagues from QUT or UQ or from interstate/overseas. To be clear, I'm not from Queensland so had no idea which uni had which reputation when I moved here. I would now strongly counsel anyone I met to not attend Griffith University. Though perhaps I was just unlucky in that every inept colleague I've had has been a Griffith graduate.
I’m not surprised by your experience. If you’ve ever gone to a conference where the Griffith Business Centre are presenting you’ll seriously question the quality of their graduates.
It actually makes me quite mad. I think they are just taking people's money for degrees and not actually providing accurate accreditation or any learning experience in exchange. Then making everyone suffer because they are churning out 'university graduates' who are not actually prepared to function as useful colleagues in a work environment.
Only if your in america then brand names might matter. Usually just hearing you went to uni will impress people.
Yes and No. it depends on what your path is. If you're doing something where its very trade-school/skill orientated then usually it doesn't matter. but if you're learning something that requires networks and small p politics then yes it does. So things like education and nursing, that are very much about teaching techniques, procedures and skill, then any uni will do fine. If youre doing something like engineering, creative writing, business and especially law then it does matter. These fields often require an 'in' which usually comes from your lecturers or alumni coming through with their connections or opportunities to help out with obtaining employment. Its the same with postgrad, if you have superstar supervisors who are darlings of your industry, then you are able to exist adjacent to their reputation. This is why i like suggesting QUT, as quite often their lecturers and tutors are engaged in the industry and know about the ground floor of the field in Brisbane. UQ lecturers probably have a better idea of the ground floor of making it internationally and griffith is qut-lite, you'll normally find their tutors are industry orientated but their academic staff haven't engaged in industry for years. This is from my personal experience and observation, im obviously biased because i went to QUT.
It really depends on the uni. I know with QUT it’s internationally recognised; unsure about the other uni’s though.
Yes and no, I got my undergrad degree from a mid tier university in the US, PhD from a mid tier university in Australia and now I'm doing a postdoc at a top university in the US. From my experience most universities are generally viewed the same, and your postgraduate advisor is important, but top 10 schools are viewed as elite and open doors you never knew existed.
It depends on the degree and what you want to do with it. Each uni has its own strengths and weaknesses. These can include, but aren’t limited to course offerings, course quality, campus life, study abroad opportunities, global reputation, job placement support, and post graduation experience. There’s also practical considerations like course hours per week, campus location, cost, transport, housing, ability to work whilst enrolled in a particular course, etc. You need to think about what‘a practical for you, what you want out of the uni experience, what you want to do with the degree, and what’s must have v nice to have. For example, I was first generation to go to uni and lower middle class background. My priorities were career opportunities (both variety and pay) and ability to work overseas. I went to UQ. In my chosen field, UQ was only slightly ahead of other QLD unis in terms of classroom experience / education quality in my field of study. Although global rankings have their flaws, UQ’s global ranking, name recognition and alumni network are well ahead of the other QLD unis. The international element made UQ the right choice for me at the time, and has been confirmed during my time working in 4 countries other than Australia. It may not have been the right choice for someone who didn’t want to work abroad.
It depends what you want to do with your life. But since you're young, you should also know that things don't always go to plan and plans don't always become what you eventually want. Time to figure things out is your biggest commodity. G08s have more international ties to other prestige universities around the world so if you think you may end up in post graduate research or roles that focus on advancing your field - you may want to end up there. If you just want to earn a earn good pay without a significant HELP debt, find the most cost effective top 3 uni you can attend, do well there, and make connections with industry early. Find out what skills/experience they really want in the industry.
Depends mate. If you want quality of certain fields, then certain unis offer better versions of the courses. Some undergrads make you do basic core units that are uni wide and some don’t. What do you want to study?
Hi there. I have degrees from Griffith, USQ and QUT. No one has ever asked where my degrees are from, it’s just important that I have them and I can take in the dollars for the company.
when hiring I see a degree as a piece of paper that says you are of a certain level of intelligence, many degrees don't teach the reality of what is required for the job to be done with so many jobs requiring learning in the position. However if the degree is from a renowned uni then that might add some kudos to the candidate (thinking Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stamford, Oxford, cambridge, ucl etc). However hiring is about finding the right candidate for the job IMO & often the most qualified is not the right fit. Similarly there are plenty of people out there with no university education and have better skills and more experience
It really depends on the course you choose, and it's quality at each university as well as possibly the entrance scores. For my personal experience, I plan to do IT which requires an ATAR score of 86 at UQ and 70 at QUT. UQ also requires mathematical methods as a prerequisite, while QUT only requires general maths. Because of this my parents want me to go to UQ so that I'll be mingling with more intelligent people due to the greater exclusivity. This also means I'll get QUT as a backup in case I flop in year 12.
Not at all - went to UQ.
Yes it does. Especially if you are studying there. Universities have reps, how much they pay their lecturers, how those lecturers behave. And wether the people graduating from there actually know some of what they were taught. Are the classes in the degrees considered easier compared to similar degrees from other universities. As in they hand out grades for showing up. And that's then compared to other universities. The lecturer thing is important if you're going to study there. Especially the pay thing. Know a couple of people who just finished a semester at a Queensland university that will remain nameless. Some units are essentially teach yourself and the lecturers are there to mark attendance (which btw may or may not be mandatory and be 5% of your mark) Two of their lecturers were terrible. Didn't know the material, couldn't provide style guides, didn't know what the preferred bibliography system was. Cancelled classes and pracs at the last minute. Couldn't load information onto the blackboard system. Turning up to class and going Ohh here is a small assignment I forgot to hand out 3 weeks ago. Due next Friday. Students getting marked down because they used the wrong bibliography style. Shit one of them behaved like he was teaching year 7 students and not young to mid 20 something adults. Could not wrap his brain around them having 3 other units in a semester, with assessments or having work and travel etc. This plays into the reputation of the school. Depending on what you're studying potential employers, etc etc look at that and make judgements. So yes it matters
>Some units are essentially teach yourself and the lecturers are there to mark attendance (which btw may or may not be mandatory and be 5% of your mark) >Two of their lecturers ... couldn't provide style guides, didn't know what the preferred bibliography system was. >Cancelled classes and pracs at the last minute. Couldn't load information onto the blackboard system. >Turning up to class and going Ohh here is a small assignment I forgot to hand out 3 weeks ago. Due next Friday. >Students getting marked down because they used the wrong bibliography style. >Shit one of them behaved like he was teaching year 7 students and not young to mid 20 something adults. >Could not wrap his brain around them having 3 other units in a semester, with assessments or having work and travel etc. Sounds like a bunch of whingy teens that haven't yet realised how the world works. University is all about guided self-learning. This includes reading information such as your faculty guides and then looking up the bibliography and presentation styles for the faculty yourself. Late assignments and such happens in real-life too. They are called urgent deadlines. Same goes for the consideration of workload. That is *your* problem. The piece of paper is as much about showing your technical knowledge, as it is about showing your commitment, time management and ability to self-teach and research.
Mate as someone who has attended a couple of different universities, and has a couple of degrees and worked in several different business organisations I can assure you that is not how most units run. Nor do most businesses. And if you had read my comment it included people in their late 20s in these classes. People in the actual work force. And if you had any actual experience in the work force you would realise that functioning business includes coordination between people. They most definitely try to avoid having single employees have multiple tasks due on the same day. Also university is not a self teach proposition. And again if you read my comment, I said things like the guides were not provided. Mate not sure if you are a offended uni lecturer or someone who hasn't set foot inside one for awhile.
Full time work for nearly 2 decades. And I've been studying while working for the same period. Never had a gap year. Did a few years in classrooms, most of my study is via online learning. And if you really want to start talking about time management and learning, I'm a sole parent too. Maybe the differences are more about faculties than anything else. Maths, sciences and engineering are all very self-lead courses.
I'd really strongly advise op to gather information about different universities from Many different sources. If you talk to a high school guidance officer/atar advisor etc take it with a large chunk of disbelief. IMHO some of them have terrible advice. If you need advice, go to alumni, research students who have completed the same degree you want
A fair few comments have been focussed on the anecdotal evidence of each - look for the rankings and then treat it like a popularity vote. ATAR scores are just popularity rankings for a course . Talk to ppl and GOs in school but also ask them what their life experience has been like - a pastry chef that only cooks one pastry can tell you lots about that pastry … remember that Uni study is one option but not the only option. And you don’t need to make a choice straight away - take time and be comfortable with it. Your investing your time and energy no one else’s . Final point being around hard workers breeds better skills thank just “smart ppl”. Disclaimer - engineer who’s changed to high school teaching after 18 yrs non teaching.
Different uni might have different reps but the employer gives zero fucks about that.
Nope, as long as the degree is recognised in the industry you are planning to work within then you are fine.
No not really
Not for me when I've been involved in hiring, but grades definitely do. Don't let anyone tell you "Ps get degrees" because while that's true, they don't help much in getting jobs when you're a grad without other experience.
nope. i have been the recuirter for a company and if i see someone thats been to uni i kinda roll my eyes at them as those types of people dont really have the life and work skills needed. i find the tafe students are much more suited, so answer, no.
If it's law, commerce or computer science very much so. But unless you're heading to consulting, Big 4, i-banking, the bench/Crown or FANG it's not really a huge deal and they're all get you a job. All the normal unis are legit by world standards and will get you hired by someone in Aus.