The greatest experience of my life. Completely unforgettable. Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

My home institution is a small school with easy access to professors, so going to a huge 50K + school was a different experience and took some getting used too. Not to say that my professors and demonstrators werent available, because they were, but it was a difference in access and learning the ways of a large school. Also, learning in large 300 people lectures has a learning curve associated with it. It was a completely new academic experience for me.

On-site administration of your program

i LOVED the IES Sydney staff. They were so helpful, knowledgeable, and genuinely cared about its students. They were accessible, non-judgmental, and most of all were always there when you needed. not to mention of FUN and FUNNY Thais and B were.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

UNSW non-residential college housing is awesome. It varies greatly but they are all great in different respects. I lived in a dorm style house/converted hostile with 29 other study abroad students, had communal bathrooms (girls on one floor boys on another) and a shared kitchen and it was A BLAST ! all 29 of us were really close and were able to get along and live well together. I knew other students that lived in apartments with 3-5 other study abroad students and loved that. You can choose to live in Coogee, Randwick or Bondi. randwick is the closest to school (10 ish minutes) but the farthest from the beach (20-30 mintues). Coogee, where i lived, was 20-30 minutes from schoool, but ON the beach. And bondi is 2 bus rides away from the school (i personally wouldnt recommend that). You can take a bus from coogee also if you didnt want to walk or were late. Also keep in mind that you dont live with everyone from your program. Its all mixed up! which is great!

Had a communal kitchen and was able to cook for myself. We often cooked group meals. there was tons of food places around and there was usually a few places each week that had different deals on different days.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

All my classes allowed me to directly interact with australians and make australian friends. I did live in a house with 29 american, canadian, and european students so when we'd all go out that was difficult. But me and one of my flatmates had mutual autralian friends that we did stuff with and still keep in contact with !

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

UNSW has a great health center, the doctor provided some of the best care for my ankle condition that i'd had. My programs health insurance covered anything that i needed when i was there. There were no prevalent heath issues in sydney although i did have to get my meningitis vaccination before i left.

There was very few saftey issues with my house and other study abroad students I knew. There were a few break ins but if taken the proper precautions there were minimal issues.

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

I lived just fine cooking for myself. If you eat out alot it gets pretty expensive. But i spent the money to do fun activities and was more conservative on the extravagent dining and clubbing.

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• Dorm
• Other

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• International Students
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• Local Students

• Program people/friends
• Australia itself (place + people)
• UNSW was a great school

• nada. I have nothing but positive things to say about my program and experience.

The Academic or Linguist