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Joint? Single? I don't know?

RaBind

sparta? THIS IS MADNESS!!!
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I'll hopefully, or maybe not so hopefully, be going to university next year. I've applied for a joint degree with computing and psychology. I've got a conditional offer and I accepted it (I can probably defer it or change the course).

However today my teacher in ICT told me that joint degrees aren't usually that good. One of the things he said was that joint degrees don't usually go into as much depth as single degrees, so at the end of the course you have a dilemma where you won't be knowledgeable enough to get a good job in either field.
Looking up opinions on the internet seems to suggest that joint degrees have fixed schedules and are more of a pain to work with, there also doesn't seem to be any difference in the recognition either types of degrees get.

I should add that I don't know what I want to do, or what job I'll land on by taking the joint computing and psychology degree that I've accepted. Psychology seems as interesting as interesting the next subject. After graduating from high school (this is GCSE level in the UK) I've grown to like maths, technology and science. But I didn't take any related courses in my A levels (SATII equivalent for university entrance in the us). My A levels consisted of psychology, sociology and ICT.

What do you guys think I should do? single psychology? single (not so sure about this as I don't have any experience coding and I'm not knowledgeable in computing) computing? take the joint that I've applied to? or do a completely different subject?
 

walfin

Democrazy
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I'll hopefully, or maybe not so hopefully, be going to university next year. I've applied for a joint degree with computing and psychology. I've got a conditional offer and I accepted it (I can probably defer it or change the course).

However today my teacher in ICT told me that joint degrees aren't usually that good. One of the things he said was that joint degrees don't usually go into as much depth as single degrees, so at the end of the course you have a dilemma where you won't be knowledgeable enough to get a good job in either field.
Looking up opinions on the internet seems to suggest that joint degrees have fixed schedules and are more of a pain to work with, there also doesn't seem to be any difference in the recognition either types of degrees get.

I should add that I don't know what I want to do, or what job I'll land on by taking the joint computing and psychology degree that I've accepted. Psychology seems as interesting as interesting the next subject. After graduating from high school (this is GCSE level in the UK) I've grown to like maths, technology and science. But I didn't take any related courses in my A levels (SATII equivalent for university entrance in the us). My A levels consisted of psychology, sociology and ICT.

What do you guys think I should do? single psychology? single (not so sure about this as I don't have any experience coding and I'm not knowledgeable in computing) computing? take the joint that I've applied to? or do a completely different subject?

I did two degrees too, I believe there wasn't less depth because I still had to fulfill all the prerequisites for graduation for both degrees (it was primarily the rubbish general modules that got double-counted). You might want to check the number of modules for your joint degree; it should be at least about 1.5x the number of modules for a single degree.
 

Happy

sorry for english
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today my teacher in ICT told me that joint degrees aren't usually that good. One of the things he said was that joint degrees don't usually go into as much depth as single degrees, so at the end of the course you have a dilemma where you won't be knowledgeable enough to get a good job in either field.

Hogwash. Codswallop.

Double degrees are amazing. I'm in my fourth year of a double and I've obtained far more practical knowledge than I would in either of the single versions of the degrees. In saying that though, the two are extremely closely related, which probably makes a huge difference...
 

Magus

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I shouldn't be one to be giving university advice given my history at uni and indecision.... but...

If I could re-do the last 2 years I would have picked a single degree in a given field and only picked subjects that centrally relate to that skill base. I like finance so I would have been doing economics/stats/modelling subjects only and then diversify my knowledge massively in my own time.

E.g. write a weekly blog on philosophy or history, read classics, go to public lectures, follow whatever shiny thing appears etc.

Benefits of this is that you have a highly developed core area of expertise, and are hopefully able to balance your intellectual curiosities as well. The mistake I made was mixing up my transcript with a whole bunch of different crap and now I spend most of my time thinking about stuff outside my degree (although its university level stuff anyway). Its getting me nowhere and I seriously have to start getting some direction. If I had stuck to one area I would be 3/4 finished my degree by now, now I nearly have to start over. Oh well lessons learnt I guess.

University seems to be a mixed bag for INTPs. Best of luck.
 
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