Studying Abroad in Australia
 

Hello all,
I am currently a Junior and an Electrical and Computer Engineer / Computer Science major at Duke University here in the US. I am planning on studying abroad in Australia this upcoming spring (northern hemisphere, so that means around February). I have a few things to ask initially that I would like your opinions on, since you who live in Australia will be the best ones to answer it (no doubt even better than our Study Abroad office here). I may keep this thread active as I get closer to deciding exactly where I want to study and what to expect / do.
So, first I would just like to hear your opinions on these three schools: University of Melbourne, UNSW, and University of Sydney. I have decided on these three because I want to be in a large city (Durham, North Carolina is where Duke is located and is not a metropolis by any means), I want to go to a good school, I want to go to a larger school than Duke (Duke is about 6,500 undergrads), and I like being outdoors and traveling. Please don't be too harsh as I am still trying to learn a lot about Australia and may make some stupid sounding comments. Here's to a good discussion of Australia and its collegiate experiences (though I want my experience to be more than just a studying thing...I also want to explore some). Thanks so much in advance.

How did you choose these three unis? Do they have a good reputation for the courses you want to do?

Can't help you RE melbourne, but Sydney Uni and NSW both have good reputations. For a choice I would research which one has a better name for the classes you want to do. I would look at course (in the course section here - the entrance score should give you an understanding of how popular the course is.

For computer science, I think NSW would be better than Sydney.

Sydney, however, is (or at least is very close to being) Australia's oldest Uni, so it has quite a good history, if that is important/relevant.

Also, Sydney Uni is quite close to the city, whereas NSW is closer to the beach (if you are interested in geography)...

I didn't go to either school, I went to UTS, and I was part time, which has a good technical rep. I had friends at both - nobody complained about the social life :)

I'm an American (from Wisconsin) who came here to do uni full time (not exchange). Unfortunately, I didn't go to any of the schools you are looking at, so I can't say much. I went to Deakin University, which is in and around Melbourne. If you have any questions about moving over here or anything like that though, feel free to ask.

One bit of advice.. book a flight with Qantas if you can. They have the better service and have nicer planes (on a 12-13 hr flight, those little personal TVs are a godsend).

That said, I'm flying to the States and back these Christmas hols on United (who partner w/ Air NZ). I saved about $700-800 going with united, so it was hard to pass up. I haven't been on one of these trips on a united plane in a few years.. here's hoping they installed those little TVs too :)....

I'd probably pick Sydney or Melb uni for reputation.

Both are old. Both considered a bit snobbish I think. Good places IMHO for establishment subjects such as law, arts. Dunno about computing. Sydney (they city) at least is a well known location internationally - it's got nice geography and should be a good place for a tourist.

Yeah, look I like Melbourne, but would strongly consider Sydney for tourist potential. It'll be hot though. Melbourne is more a coffee/cafe culture IMHO. I'd guess that for young people ultimately - Sydney probably has got a better club scene.

im like spindles.. i went to UTS which is down the rd from USyd. but i spent most of my time at Usyd, and where i met my mrs.

id also agree with spindles on comp science or comp engineering subjects, UNSW has a better reputation. as for arts, law, and science and those sort of subjects, id have to say USyd has a lot of credentials behind it.

if your looking at engineering only subjects, maybe give UTS a look, they are the basically in the middle of the city. i spent most of my time at the movies or in the cafetrias though, and i hated my time in a big ugly concrete building. sydney has the architecture and grass patches.whereas UTS has jackshit.

summer is good in sydney..and beaches arent too far away from usyd or unsw, although from unsw beaches are a stone throw away.

try the usyd and unsw websites. from memory usyds' website is www.usyd.edu.au and unsw is www.unsw.edu.au.

good luck

Reputations:
Science and Engineering - UNSW
Arts, Law etc - Usyd

Not really sure about UMelb but 1st semester in Melbourne will be cold and it isn't good if you're looking to spend some time at the beaches.

If I was in your situation I'd go with UNSW. Good reputation in your subject area and Sydney is a good base for travelling around the country.

Sydney is a horrible place, Melbourne is so much nicer. ;)

Melbourne university is also ranked higher on the list of top universities in Australia than the usyd and unsw:

http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2005/ARWU2005_TopAsia.htm

according to who? it's not clear from that site who is ranking, and under what criteria.

Different unis are better for different courses...

Shanghai Jiao Tong University compiles the list. The ranking methodology is available on the website:
http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2005/ARWU2005Methodology.htm

You're right though, it does not specify which universities are better for different disciplines.

Any general questions in regard to melbourne uni I should be able to help you out with, however anything specific to engineering/CS I can't - I'm doing commerce @ Melb Uni.

90minutes away you've got Torquay (Bells Beach, Jan Juc etc..). Hows that not good?

And if he's coming in February - perfect time to be hittin the beaches. Its far from cold at the start of semester, it doesnt get cold generally til after the midsemester break in semester 1.

cold has different meanings when it comes to sydney-siders and melbournians.

as a sydney sider, i can say today was back to winter.. (21 degrees C approx 74 deg F?) but for a melbournian, 21 degrees would be quite warm and mild.

and travelling an hour and a half to go to the beach..us sydney siders take that for granted..UNSW is a 5 minute drive to sydneys best beaches on the east coast!

if i ever went back to uni, id definately go to UNSW.. at least i can throw a line in and fish when i have a spare hour or so. cant do that if i lived 90 mins from the coast.

Ok, I am also noticing now that many other students before me have gone to the University of Queensland. In fact, I don't see that many went to the University of Melbourne. Any idea why that may be, and how do the three cities (Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane) compare?

Best beaches on the east coast? What the hell are you smoking? The beaches in Newcastle are cleaner and nicer than Sydney beaches, let alone beaches along the northern coastal areas of NSW such as crescent heads.

Melbourne is the best, Brisbane is boring, and Sydney is aggressive, tacky and obsessed with making money.

so, there you go.
its settled.
our advice is... go to Melbourne.

Perfect! Thanks, I actually ended up choosing it as my first choice before I realized you all had responded. Thank you so much for all of the help and I'm sure I'll have a wonderful time. And with that, I'll mention when I'm over there because I bet some of us could meet up somehow. Any of you from Melbourne or studying at the university there?

I'm from Geelong, an hour outside of Melbourne.

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=91851 has a good representation of where most of us Aussie TFPers are.

cinnles....agreed that newcastle does have cleaner beaches than sydney..but who on earth would want to go to newcastle uni?!?!?! :P

and when i said east coast i meant IN sydney. but i guess where arguing over spilt milk here cos he's going to melbourne..bummer.

Yeah I wonder that every time I go there... :rolleyes:

Just make sure you eat vegemite and go to an Aussie Rules Football match--very important.