I have no life. Period.

I dont think any Australian flies to KL for a PC fair.

Disclaimer: I did NOT do Year 12. Ever.


Personally, I have my reservations on all these university foundation programs. While some are quite good (UQ and Adelaide U come to mind, and AFAIK they are recognised by most Australian universities), even then I feel that nothing beats a true proper Year 12 before university. The thing is, there is no peer review of these "foundation programs", which are supposed to put you on the narrow path to channel you to the university.

What scares me however, is that in some cases, universities take what you have done in foundation, and give credit for it in your 1st year. Whats so special about foundation program students that Year 12 students dont have? And how can we be sure that they know their stuff?

Year 12 is IMO a more rounded program, which prepares people for both the real world and university.

Better early than late I say. Come in Feb and you'll have some problems finding a place to live.

Yeah, its all hot until March. Expect 38C days.

How much is RBA now from BSB to, say, BNE?

Both are good, to be honest. As I've said a few posts back, I'm not a big fan of foundation programs, but both Bradford and IES is recognised by most Australian universities.

But if someone gives you a scholarship, take it! Some more it's from Adelaide!

Wow. Post Christmas and we're filled with people here. I'll take them one at a time.
ooooooooooooo, lucky you. You can wake up 10 mins before your classes and still make in on time. How much is it nowadays?

AFAIK, there is no internet access into the room. The rent includes a phone line, but I think if you want ADSL you'll have to get it yourself. There is no wifi. While there is a "business" centre, the line is provided by Telstra. Fast, but not cheap. Keep in mind that CQU is in the same building as Unilodge, so you could nick down to the CQU "university" and use their computer labs.

Both are good really. There is very little to distinguish between the 2. I'd say the degree's are more or less the same (but not same course structure, but thats a completely different matter altogether). If I were you, I'd concentrate on other things like cost of living, facilities, friends and family etc on making a choice, rather than the qualification.


If I had the chance to turn back the clock, I would have stayed in a residential college. Really.

If this is the first time you're going to....wherever you're going, staying in a residential college will make life so much easier. The problem is, when you arrive, you will have very little knowledge of the place. You can't tell if a place for $200/week is cheap or overpriced. And if you're unlucky, you might pay that money for a bad place.

What I always recommend fresh students, is stay in a residential college. Yes, it is much more expensive, but at least you are guranteed of a clean place to stay, sometimes your meals are taken care off (important when you don't know WTH to buy when you come here), usually people are civilised (unlike staying in a share house with 9 other india indians who don't know how to shut up and smell) and it's a more academic environment.

You don't have to stay there for the rest of your life. Most people move out after the 1st year, having found friends to go flatting or once more settled, found a better (and cheaper) place. I STRONGLY recommend anyone going to Australia and NZ to stay in a residential college for at least 1 semester, so you don't have to run around finding accommodation once you've arrived, while juggling enroling in uni, homesickness, getting used to the place, finding how things work etc etc. Believe me, that is not how you want to start your uni life.

Just a question: is upload data counted towards the cap also?

If there is one ISP I would like to recommend to people heading down south, it's be Internode and TPG. All the people I've met (n=4) using Internode are very happy people. I'm with TPG, and their annoying transparent proxy aside, is a excellent ISP. Optus is also interesting if you are happy to be Optus all the way (landline, ISP, mobile), through I'm not a fan of split caps.

Telstra is not cheap, but damn, their network is damn stable and fast (as long as you're under your cap!).


Thats a back door entry. You're treating the symptom, not the problem.

I suggest you retake your IELTS. 6.0 is the bare minimum. I can tell you, even as a 8.5'er, I still have problem understanding them Ozzy blokes at times.

I don't think there are any twinning programs to Melb U, and if there are, this will be the last intake. I strongly suggest anyone going to Australia (Melb U or not) take a close look at the Melbourne Model. Good or bad, it may be the future.

As I've said, I'm not a big fan of agents. Email is one thing, but you really have to nag them. Call them. Get the SMS number of the person assigned to you. Stand your ground, do your own research, and question them. Remember, they need you more than you need them.

Heh. I'm behind TPG. And have used Internode, so I'd say a few words.

I'm behind TPG's old plan, $60 bucks a month (not including line rental, where I have to pay telstra for it) and you get 30GB. It has now changed to a very weird plan where you get 30GB peak and 20GB off peak (50GB in all). While it's ADSL2+, the distance to the exchange means I only get about 9Mbits downstream sync with the DSLAM. The fastest I've for from BT is about 400KB/s only through. Still, by and large I'm happy with TPG.

As I said, the only problem I have sometimes is the transparent proxy, where your connections are routed through it. If you use sites like rapidshare often (which I don't), you will hit problems when Rapdishare thinks you've use your free download quota when you haven't used a single byte. HTTPS is unaffected (like under the HTTPS specs).

By and large, TPG's network is stable for me. Even BT'ing at 2pm I still can get full speeds (300KB/s). However, it does have its down times, and occationally you do loose the connection for about a minute or so. Not a problem when surfing, but VOIP and online gaming will be affected.

If you can't live without online gaming however, consider Internode. The data allowance may be slightly less, but damn, their network is damn stable and fast. One of my friends even runs a server behind it! For online gaming, Internode's latency is much much less than TPG for australian servers. Internode is always known as the gamers ISP.

All in all, I'd say go for TPG. Besides, its the only ISP giving 150GB allowance for just $70/month! Many other ISP's charge the same for less data allowance!


Pretty much any ISP worth their salt (dodo not included) will do that. MSN and skype takes very little bandwidth. I call back home all the time, and even with video confrencing my dowstream only takes about 9KB/s on average. That's about 30MB for a hours video conversation. 1GB will get you 32 hrs to talktime with home, which should be more than enough for most people.

$29/month only gets you 1GB, and remember that 3's 3G network (of all names, why did hutchison choose 3?!) barely covers most metropolitan areas. In Brisbane, some people living in Zone 4 already can't get a 3G signal.

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Added on January 6, 2008, 5:01 pmDepends on what course you want to get into. Law, for instance, calls for 7.5 MINIMUM. Some uni's call for much higher than that. Other courses and/or uni's will ask for less. Again, see what course do you want to go into, then analyse if you REALLY need to retake IELTS of not.

Band 6 should be around the Malayisan average.

Online banking is the best thing since sliced bread. Yeah, under 18's should be fine.

A$1200/month in Adelaide? I do quite well with A$1100/month in Brisbane, including rent and all. Adelaide should be cheaper than Brisbane.


How about someone already there?

This post has been edited by haya: Jan 6 2008, 05:01 PM

Monash College? As in the foundation year? Which campus are you going to?

I don't think there is an online application for Monash. You'll probably have to pop it in the post or fax the details over.

Believe it or not, I do know someone who has just done so. It isn't as daft as it sounds. Local calls are free in NZ (but expensive line rental) and he was on one of these $9.99/month plans where it's unlimited dial-up. Just do it before you go to bed, and when you wake up you are almost done, depending on what you download. Yeah, you kinda hover between 4-5KB/s. So no, its not faster than screamyx.

No, they wouldn't. There more worried about you bringing your food into Australia than pirated software on your notebook. However, don't bring the whole CD shop over! Just bring one or 2 DVD's containing the software you need.
Simple. Don't spend beyond your means. Be a foochow.

But seriously, StarGhazzer has already said quite a few things. I'll add in a bit:

1)Get a high interest bank account. Most banks will have something like a sub-account where you can earn high interest on your money (up to 7% pa), and there is no minimum. Your money will be in a separate account, so to use the money in it you have to transfer from the sub-account to your main account. It gives me an incentive to save, and it also ensures that I don't use too much money in one shot, as most of my money is parked in a sub-account.

2)Learn how to buy. Avoid the chopped meats. Chicken breast meat will go for about $10/kg, but if you want them chopped up they go for something like $16/kg. This is where my mental maths comes in handy. Or just bring along a calculator to see which is more value for money. Who cares if you look weird?

Look down. Most of the pricey stuff is at eye level. Look at the bottom shelves, where usually the same thing goes for less. For instance, normal pasta wheat goes for $2, but if you do buy Homebrand, its only 60cents for the same thing, and it tastes the same (to me, at least). However, Homebrand is NOT always the cheapest, nor always value for money, and heres a free tip: avoid Homebrand meats.

3)Have a budget. For me, I get by with $220/wk. That includes rent and all. If your grocery bill comes up to more than $40 for one person, seriously consider a change of lifestyle. I never use a supermarket trolley, always a basket. If it starts being too heavy to carry, it means I'm buying too much.

4)Remember, you're there to study, not have (too much) fun. I never buy DVD's. As a matter of fact, I borrow them from the public library or even the uni library. Most of the stuff is boring and weird, but there are a few gems now and then. I got "Apollo 13" from my library. Its a good movie.

5)Get a bike. It gives you freedom, and if you live close enough to uni and/or the shops, thats less bus tickets. A 2nd hand bike is usually good value for money. I got mine for $90. Gears are a bit dodgy, but on the whole it works fine. Unless you live in a area which is like the Himalayas (*coughindooroopillycough*).

These are just some of the ways I do things. But the rule of thumb is simple: do research.

I don''t need belief. I believe that is very possible.

Here's a rough estimate of where my $220/wk goes to:
rent:$130
utilities$10-20
Groceries:$30
Bus fare:$12
Eating out:$10-20

I don't need a iphone. I dont need external speakers for it. I dont even look at a K810. I loose weight by cycling and eating 3 (relatively) square meals a day. I dont get a cap plan. My 3220 does the job well, and with Optus' "bigger and better", $30 gets me through 2 months.

So. Damn. True. But damn, I'm a guy who can't face reality well.

I think we have some issues with the [quote] tags.

I'm in QUT now. Whatcha you doing?

I'd say. Streaming from video sites without having to pause. Full speed on all p2p file sharing systems. I'm on TPG, and I'm on the $60/month plan which gives me 30GB. Split between 4 people, that is just slightly above 7GB per person. Seriously, if you do download more than that A MONTH, consider getting a life.

The only problem I have with TPG is their transparent proxy, which can be a bugger if you are a rapidshare person. On the plus side, your IP is static, so no such rubbish as disconnecting/reconnecting to get a good IP, and if you do get banned, its only you. I'm sick and tired of stupid Malaysians who get the whole 60.48.x.x-60.52.x.x range banned. And i ever find who got the whole *.tm.net.my DNS range banned in a certain channel, I'll hunt him/her/it down and kill it.
Price wise, there is very little difference once you take the currency exchange into consideration. Australia is not the pendalaman okay?! You don't have to take all your sundry goods with you. Remember, unless you're flying Business/First, all we have is 20KG.

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Added on January 15, 2008, 10:57 amAre you out of your mind? Honestly, toothpaste is NOT that expensive in Australia, and as discussed a few pages back, it is the basic stuff that is normal in price. I once knew someone who brought 3 packs if Double A paper over to down under. WHY?! Its not like you can't get paper there!

I'll just end with this: penny wise, pound foolish. Think about it.

This post has been edited by haya: Jan 15 2008, 10:57 AM

Whoa. Didn't see that coming. Wish my lectures were Ghandi also through.

Maybe I'm in the uni (library) for far too long, but what I do is I download them lecture notes IN uni. Shouldn't use your uni account data allowance, no? And with 2GB flash drives being so cheap, I usually download all the video lectures, notes, PDF's, PPT slides etc in uni, and bring them home to digest at my own time.

100GB premium!? Thats $130/month! No wonder you've got to save on every cent from toothpaste.

Still, I find it very hard to imagine 7GB of PPT slides, DOC notes, PDF files, coming down for a single computer science student (even with 5 subjects, which I'm taking) A MONTH. But I digress, and apologise for any offence I may have caused.

1 tube of toothpaste is okay. 2 tubes are acceptable. 10? Seriously, I don't think we are that poor to need to skimp on basic hygene. Assuming we're talking about the usual 160g tube of toothpaste, 10 boxes will be 1.6KG of toothpaste! If you use that much in a year, you might like to seriously consider how much toothpaste you are using.

Books wise, I agree. The prices in the uni bookshop are murder. I got some of my books from Amazon.com and even with shipping (from Malaysia interestingly), still saved $30 on one book. Do yourselves a favor and get a Visa Debit card (most banks should have one). It really helps.

UQ is a nice university. I can't say about the Bachelor of Commerce course in UQ, but overall UQ is a nice university. Great lakes, gardens etc and all. Facilities wise its also very good, and to be honest, I can't find much fault with UQ.

International house (http://www.internationalhouse.uq.edu.au/) is a great place to stay there. It really opens your eyes. I strongly recommend 1st time, 1st year students at least try to find university managed accomodation. Trying to fight with the Brisbane rental market will be murder. At least stay there for 6 moths, get used to the place and environment, and after sem 1 you might consider moving out.

At this late stage through, I'm not sure if there are still any places in the residential colleges. You better start making arrangements quickly. http://www.accommodation.uq.edu.au/ is a good place to start.

Good luck and welcome to Brisbane!


On another note, okay, okay, 7GB is not enough for CS students. So I do spend too much time in the library.

Thats the reality of studying overseas, really. Even the KCH-SIN tickets aren't that great these days. Can't wait for AK to do the KCH-SIN sector.