So, you pretty much know all the details and info on studying a Bachelor of Health Science at UTS — take a quick look here if you need a refresher!
But you want to know how people really feel about this degree?
Well, we’ve got you covered! Meet Alice, a UTS Health Science student. We ask her all those questions you really want to know the answers to.
So, let’s get started!
Why should you study a Health Science degree at UTS?
Top 3 Pros of a Health Science Degree
Top 3 Cons of a Health Science Degree
Mistakes You Shouldn’t Make
Things to Know Before Starting UTS Health Science
What Makes this Degree Different
Motivations for Studying UTS Health Science
Potential Career Paths
Why should you study a Health Science degree at UTS?
A Bachelor of Health Science at UTS is a broad and versatile degree which gives you strong foundations in health-related topics and focuses on improving health on a global scale!
It will give you the knowledge and skills you need for a career in the health industry or alternatively, is a great pathway for postgraduate studying.
Top 3 Pros of a Health Science degree
#1: Broad understanding of health!
“My favourite thing about the degree is how broad it is,” Alice told us.
“You learn a lot about public health, in terms of preventative measures and health promotion techniques. It’s all about really preventing the burden of disease rather than treating it,” she said.
“You can focus on different types of priority populations like Indigenous populations, homeless people, women and children, and sort of look at it at a global level as well — so it’s not just focused on improving health within Australia, it’s improving global health entirely,” she added.
The degree is also pretty flexible with room for you to choose what you’re most interested in and make what you want out of the degree! That’s why Alice decided to choose the no major option — we’ll cover this a little later on.
#2: Professional placement
In the third year, all Health Science students (regardless of which major) will complete a subject called Professional Placement. It’s basically like an internship but it counts towards your degree (and there’s a few assignments you have to do along the way).
It’s the chance for you to put the knowledge and skills you’ve learnt into practice! So, you have to complete at least 140 hours with some sort of health-related organisation — this can be domestic or international!
Alice travelled to Thailand for her placement with a group of UTS students from her degree. She learnt about Thai culture and travelled to a local community where her group worked on projects to help benefit the community.
“It taught me a lot of people skills and, you know, interacting with people of other cultures and learning of a different culture. Also, just getting to see another part of the world and we met a lot of people from other universities in all different degrees as well, which was really great,” Alice said.
#3: Variety of majors
“They’ve got a whole range of different majors now to suit all different interests. If you don’t have a particular interest, you can select no major — so it’s very flexible,” Alice said.
There are five different majors to choose from including Global Health, Health Promotion, Health Structure and Function, Indigenous Health and Public Health.
Alternatively you can select the no major option which means you get to choose lots of different health-related electives (for example, Global Sexual Health, First Nations Health and Wellbeing, Diversity and Culture plus more!) So, there’s lots of options that allow you to tailor the degree to your interests!
Top 3 Cons of a Health Science degree
#1: Assessment overload
Alice told us that her least favourite part about the degree is “just trying to balance all the assessments”.
“There’s a lack of communication between different subjects so you know, a lot of assignments will be scheduled during the same week and it gets a little bit challenging to balance that out,” Alice said.
When you have multiple assignments due in the same week, it can get pretty hectic and you really have to know how to organise and manage your time well. That might mean starting your assignments a little bit earlier if you know they’re due all around the same time (way less stress then!)
Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it!
#2: Timetabling for ‘no major’ students
Alice isn’t doing a specific major, so instead she got to choose health related electives.
She told us, “If you’re doing no major, because you’re doing all these random electives — like they’re all health related, but you will be with students from other degrees.”
“That means your timetable is kind of all out of whack — like it’s not very consistent so you might have an hour class on one day at 5pm and then you might not have another class for two days,” she added.
Alice explained that the timetabling can be a little bit frustrating.
It’s always good to plan which class times you want before you actually have to allocate them — the best class times always go first!
#3: That’s it!
Guess what?! So, there isn’t really another con! Since it’s such a broad and versatile degree, the skills and knowledge you learn can be applied to many different health-related careers.
Whether you go into the public health sector, health promotion, health education or perhaps even decide to continue studying and do a Masters, this really is a great course that prepares you well!
Any regrets?
“Not about the degree in particular,” Alice said.
Her only regret was that she deferred for one semester to start a different degree at another university.
“I ended up coming back to Health Science because I missed it. I thought it was more targeted to the kind of career I wanted,” she said.
By deferring, she just finishes the degree a semester later.
What do you wish you had known before starting Health Science at UTS?
Alice told us that she wishes she had known about the UTS Health Science degree earlier!
“I didn’t come across this degree until a few years after I finished high school — so I wish I knew about it sooner because it’s just so interesting,” she said.
“I’ve learnt so much and I have so much knowledge that I can use, like not only at work, but just in everyday life,” she added.
Something else to know is that you don’t need to stress if you fail a subject!
“If you fail one subject, you don’t have to stress about prolonging your degree a whole year because not a lot of the subjects have prerequisites (i.e. must be completed in order to progress). You just have to add it in at the end of your degree for one extra semester, or UTS could potentially offer it during summer or winter school,” she said.
What makes this degree different from the ones offered at other universities?
#1: The learning environment
Alice has studied at two other universities so she knows what she’s talking about!
“My experience at UTS has just been a lot more relaxed. Even though it can get quite chaotic with study, I still find most of the tutors and staff are really supportive and it’s just a really relaxed study environment.”
#2: Practical experience
The internship is built into the degree which means students get real world experience in the work environment before they even graduate!
Alice told us that the Professional Placement and “the opportunities you can have with that” is definitely a highlight of Health Science at UTS.
What inspired you to choose Health Science at UTS?
As Alice was working at a pharmacy, she developed a passion for it which is why she decided to study a Bachelor of Health Science because it was a great pathway into Pharmacy.
“I didn’t get the marks to go straight into a Bachelor of Pharmacy and also, I didn’t have the knowledge, you know, like chemistry, biology,” she said.
“A Bachelor of Health Science, if you choose that particular major, it teaches you all of those concepts from scratch — it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the knowledge from high school so it’s a great pathway into postgraduate study,” Alice explained.
Although the pharmacology major no longer exists, the degree still can be a pathway for postgraduate studies including physiotherapy, speech pathology, psychology or other health research related studies.
What are the possible career paths?
Well, it really depends on your major and what you’re most interested in but a Bachelor of Health Science opens up a variety of non-clinical health jobs! You could find yourself working in both the private and public healthcare sectors!
Below are some of the possible areas you could end up working in:
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- Public health
- Health promotion
- Health education
- Community health
- Epidemiology
- Policy development
- Research
Tanna Nankivell is a Senior Content Writer at Art of Smart Education and is currently in Germany completing a year of study for her double degree in Communications (Journalism) and Bachelor of Arts (International Studies). She has had articles published on Central News – the UTS Journalism Lab and wrote a feature piece for Time Out Sydney during her internship. Tanna has a love for travel and the great outdoors, you’ll either find her on the snowfields or in the ocean, teaching aqua aerobics or creating short films.
