LUKE SWETMAN: My name is Luke Swetman and I’m in my second year of business and law at QUT.

My experience at QUT has been pretty postive so far, mainly just because all the expectations that QUT set up in my mind before I came were far exceeded when I arrived. Mainly just the practical teaching methods, just everything that QUT sells, it’s just so much better when you actually get here, its just amazing.

It’s a common misconception with students that doing a dual degree means you do double to workload. And for me, especially doing a law degree, doing a dual degree was really, it’s been a positive experience for me just because it meant that even though I am doing the law degree you get the break now and then of being able to go and do other subjects.

It feels like when you do a dual degree you get a more broader experience and QUT as well. Just because you know that when you graduate employers are going to see that you’re not just a specialist in one field but you also have this whole other area of expertise and I think when you are going for a job, showing that you have an edge over your competitors and other student out there can really make the difference.

At QUT you can study nine dual degree options so that means there’s a very broad range available, so whether it’s the business realm that you want to go into, whether it’s justice, there’s always something for someone.

I think for me that was, it was a really good sign for me because knowing there are so many options to take and that the law degree can be applied in so many different areas made me feel a lot better about choosing to do it with business and law, just because if it can be attached to all those completely different degrees then imagine how good it would be with the business and law together.

MELINDA SHIRLEY: Hi, I’m Melinda Shirley. I’m the Assistant Dean for teaching and learning in the Faculty of Law at QUT.

More and more students are choosing to study double degrees. I think because they are resisting a pressure to specialise to early. And I think there is a lot of research to suggest that pushing student into a specialist area to early can lead to frustration and anxiety later on.

For any young person I would recommend keep it broad for as long as you possibly can before you start to narrow down into specialties, because I think the research says young people now will pursue at least nine, maybe ten different careers. And the job they are going to end up in probably doesn’t exist today, so approaching your education from that perspective is very important to keep that bigger picture.

VINH HO: My name is Vinh Ho. I am currently studying towards a bachelor of business and a bachelor of laws.

My current degree is a five and a half year degree, I’m currently in my forth year. Doing a double degree I’m able to fast-track and shorten it to five and a half years. It’s actually a lot more beneficial to do it that way and a lot more efficient to undertake a double degree.

I guess with the double degree you are able to either look at both sides of the degree. So you can either choose to go on the law sides of things or the business side of things. But you are also able to incorporate both of them into your workplace. So for example if you are looking at being a business consultant of some sort, or consider taking up business ventures you are able to incorporate you law side of things to look at contracts, and commercial contracts and leases, and property related areas of study into that business side of things which is mydrontageous as you know, you’ve got that actual general knowledge and it makes your decision making a lot easier.

EMMELENE GRAY: My name is Emmelene Gray, I’m a solicitor working at Blake Dawson Lawyers, I graduated in 2006 from a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Justice.

I think that the job market is becoming increasingly competitive and I think that even when I was going though the majority of people were doing a double degree, so I think from a competitive edge perspective I think it’s definitely good to do a double degree, and obviously it broadens your options if after you’ve finished you think that you’d like to take a different direction with your career, or for example, in Law you don’t want to take a strictly, sort of, private practice type job then you’ve obviously got, you know, another practice area which you can legitimately get different employment in.

So I think to keep your options open as well, that’s a really good thing to have.