A good experience that expanded my global horizons Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I found Usyd to be very academically rigorous. Classes are quite large and you don't get much personal attention from lecturers or tutors- they respond to emails but don't seem willing to help you in the way that they are in America (with having office hours, taking questions during lectures etc.) Grading is very harsh and lots of points are taken off for small mistakes. Grading starts at 0 and you build to 100 rather than starting at 100 points and losing for doing stuff wrong. Its annoying because you feel like professors can arbitrarily give you grades and not tell you what you did wrong. Its hard to pass much less do well. Finals are worth like 50-60% of your final grade and you are tested on material that you were never tested on before. The study abroad academic advisors at Usyd didn't seem that helpful and didn't seem like they knew what they were doing.

On-site administration of your program

Ifsa Butler was helpful when i needed them. i didnt live with the other Ifsa people and so I although Ifsa would constantly show up to hang out and check in with people living in the village (where most ifsa people lived) they rarely reached out to me

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I lived at Mandelbaum House- the Jewish Residential college with kosher food. I absolutely loved it. It was a great opportunity to live with and meet Australians and other international students

tasted fine and was kosher which was good but not that healthy (lots of carbs)

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I was living with Australians, working with them for group projects, and going to stay with families for Sabbat every weekend

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I didnt have any issues so I don't really know about it

I felt pretty safe. Sydney isn't so well lit at night though. Also, we were cautioned not to take the train to the nearest stop at night (because it was sketchy at night) and to take the bus instead even though the train was more convenient.

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

it was easy. sydney is super expensive but since food was included in the cost of my dorm i really didn't spend much during the week. I'd buy a soda maybe once a week, the occasional bus pass and if I ever did touristy stuff that was expensive but I only did stuff once every few weeks.

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• Dorm

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

• Mandelbaum House- my dorm
• the people I was living with
• Sydney is a beautiful city- beaches etc.

• more prep for how hard (and different) classes would be and support for students like me who are used to going to Tas for everything and not having that resource there
• ifsa-butler could work more on their communication to us before we leave- sometimes it took a long time to get responses back
• maybe have a check in from Brandeis half way to see how you are doing

The Academic or Linguist