Australia: An Amazing Experience Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The workload is average, but assignments tend to count for a significant portion of your grade. Participation is not usually considered (unless it is required in tutorials), so the entirety of your grade comes from your essays and exams. Final exams are often at least 50% of your final grade, and there is not much opportunity to discuss grading with professors. The teachers are typically very well-versed in their fields, and lectures are generally interesting and informative. Attendance is not required and is at times discouraged for lectures because of the high amount of enrolled students, but all lectures are recorded online so that students can listen to them at home. The grading system is much different. Instead of A-F, the grades are High Distinction, Distinction, Credit, Pass, and Fail. It is common for students to get a Pass, and very rare for students to get HD's, so it can come as a shock for students coming from PC not to get the higher grades.

On-site administration of your program

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I lived in the Macquarie University Village, which is located directly across from the campus itself. The housing was coordinated all through my host program, and all I had to do was request which place I wanted to live. The village was great for meeting international students as well as Australian students, but a majority of the Australian students live at home and commute to university. We were provided with bedding and kitchen supplies upon arrival. The kitchen was initially very messy due to the 2 Australian housemates that had been living here already. We had a few issues with our local roommates due to their lack of cleanliness, but our host program somewhat helped to sort out our problems.

The campus hub has a good amount of fast-food type places, and there are multiple coffee shops and carts located throughout campus. There is a mall with a grocery store and lots of restaurants across campus that takes about 20 minutes to walk to. It's definitely nice to have a full kitchen, and I recommend buying groceries and sharing with roommates to save money.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Our program's orientation started in Melbourne, so we were able to see an entirely new city right off the bat. We were immediately brought to a place where we could get up close to wild kangaroos, which was a great introduction to Australia. Sydney is only half an hour away by train or bus, and our program offers harbor cruises and trips to the opera house that students can go on. We also had the opportunity to do a walking tour of the city when we first got here to get acclimated.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

So far I have not needed to use my OSHC or HTH healthcare, but there is a wellbeing clinic located right on campus and all healthcare is free to students who have these healthcare cards. It is required that these be purchased, which was a little unclear through the program, but if anything were to happen it is nice that you don't need to pay for your doctor's visit. No serious health issues were prevalent in Australia.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

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• Apartment

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• Americans
• Local Students

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