Australia: A Home Away From Home Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

University of Melbourne is ectremely different from my home university, largely because of size. My home uni is about 2,600 undergraduates, while UniMelb has about 45,000. As a result, the lectures were very large and little contact with the head lecturer (the main professor). However, UniMelb gets around this issue pretty well with the tutorial sessions (discussion-based classes) you attend in combination with the lectures. The day to day workload was all reading since I was in history classes and most of my tutorial professors were great. The one I didn't care for was just a personal preference in teaching styles. Since the school is so large, the entire month of November was reserved for finals. These ranged from essays roughly the same length as what we deal with normally (10-18 pages range) and sitting an exam. The Australian university system has a different grading scale and expectations than the American one, but all of my professors were familiar with the American system and allowed me to write in the American style without penalty. That is something you have to clear with them in person, otherwise they hold you to the Australian standard, which is quite different. Role is always taken during tutorials, while it varies for lectures.

On-site administration of your program

Both of the program organizers were friendly, happy to be helping the students, and generally great to get to know. Both were Melbourne locals and as such were great with helping us settle into the city.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I lived in a residential college, which is basically a privately run dormitory separate from the university. There were roughly 128 students, a mix of Australians from all over the country and international students. Only 4 of us were American, all on study abroad. It was a very safe, welcoming community that let me live like any other Australian uni student, both in and outside of school. The college I lived in was about a 15 minute walk to campus and was right next to a tram stop for rainy days. Nightlife mostly consisted of pubs in the local neighborhood and the college organized a few big bar crawls into the city center throughout the semester, which were always awesome to go along with. We were about a 10 minute tram ride into the city center and 20 minute or less walk to various shopping streets. The colleges provide all meals, plus a student kitchen if you want to cook for yourself. All linens are provided, as is a laundry room (although you need your own soap). The most I had to do to settle in was decorate my room and get to know everyone.

The college was wonderful at providing for dietary restrictions and supplied three meals a day at specific time. The quality was usually really good, although a couple of dishes just weren't to my taste. The university's student union building has a full food court too and have a large array of really good options, plus there are cafes all around campus. Lygon Street is Melbourne's little Italy and is the best place for European food and gelato.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Living in a college provided a built-in social circle that was always great to hang out with and find someone to join you on an adventure. The university also hosts tons of events, from lectures to cultural fairs and a couple hundred clubs. The program spring break trip to Tasmania was awesome, as was the orientation trip out to Grampians National Forest for the first couple of days in-country.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Australia is the most welcoming and safe country I've ever visited. All cities have their bad areas, but they were far away from the areas around the university and city center. The program and university orientation are both very thorough with safety advice and getting to know the city in general. Healthcare is really good in Australia, although I never had to take advantage of it. No special vaccines were required, just being up to date and having the normal ones for general international travel. Healthcare is subsidized for students in Australia, so the people I knew who ended up needing it received really good service without draining their bank accounts.

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

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