Maths with or without arts? (1 Viewer)

[Zen2613]

Hey all,
I'm applying for next year uni, but I'm not exactly sure what to do.
I'm juggling between doing a bachelor of advanced math/science (same thing apperently) at UNSW or USYD cause I really like maths, but I also have some interest in philosophy and music, and since I have no idea what I want to do with my life, maybe it'd be better to keep my options open by doing UNSW's double degree of advanced maths and arts. Problem is fees are expensive, and I don't want to waste my time in a course I'm not sure about. I'm also not all that keen on music at uni (assuming it is more or less like music 2 at highschool with more stuff), it's more of a hobby. For music, I'm particuarly interested in the theoretical (composition, history etc) side than the practical side (i.e I dislike performance). Maths and philosophy - both applied and pure, on the other hand, absolutely want to do them. There is also the possibility of doing studying french instead of music in the B.c arts, but I'm even less keen on that. It would probably be more useful though career wise. In any case, all this depends on what atar I get and if I get into the courses in the first place. But anyway what do you guys think, what should I do ? My HSC subjects are MX2 english french and music. Cheers

 

[sida1049]

Something like philosophy (which I, too, am interested in) is probably best left to personal reading in one's spare time. I don't know very much about doing music at university, but if you're interesting in composing (which I'm also quite interested in), it's probably something you should pursue without paying university fees for. I'm planning on pursuing B Science (Advanced Mathematics)/Arts at USYD, and majoring in economics (as economics is under Arts at USYD) and either mathematics or statistics. If you want more flexibility in your employment, you could consider majoring in mathematics and something else under a science degree, which would still count as a single degree (and thus saving time and money). However, if you are looking at combined degrees, considering Commerce or Engineering, unless of course if you harbour no interest in either areas.

If you combine Science and Arts, you have to take units which are a part of science or arts, but outside of your major. This may be perceived as a deterrence or a benefit, really depends on you.

This is gonna be a giant leap, but have you considered economics? Economics is fundamentally regarding the problem of resource allocation: we have infinite wants, but limited resources, thus we must formulate a system which uses resources in an efficient manner, such that we satiate as many wants as possible. It almost sounds like a maths problem, and economics does use many mathematical concepts (i.e. in HSC economics, the concept of a convergent series is used to determine the larger proportional increase in national income [total income to individuals for their contributions to the production process e.g. wages] from an initial injection into the economy [e.g. an investment of a million dollars]). Many economics are philosophers as well as mathematicians (John M. Keynes and John F. Nash are good examples), as economics deals with the elusive concept of individual decision making, which is chaotic and understood differently from different schools of philosophy, as well as needing to formulate mathematical models to work with. If you think you might be interested in economics, apply for B Science (Advanced Mathematics)/Arts anyway, which is great because then you'd have the freedom to try philosophy, french, music and economics. UNSW and USYD are both great choices (and yes, economics can be majored under Arts in both of them).