Go for a scholarship if you can. If you really want to be in the field of Medicine, you need to make sacrifices, like you would if were doing any other professional field. So, worrying that you'd be 30 by the time you graduate is not really critical at all if that is what it takes to make a good doctor.

Hang on, you must be confused. I'm at UNSW, not UWA.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Sep 18 2007, 12:34 AM

Just like to add that the international rankings for Australian universities are not very accurate in the sense that each university specialises in different fields. ANU, for example, is a research-only university because the primary reason for their establishment is for government-funded research projects. They offer few undergraduate programs and are not very well-known for that locally. The other Go8 universities are trying to move in that direction eventually, i.e. reducing their unvergraduate intakes to focus more on research and postgraduate programs. However, such a goal is not possible in the short term as universities still rely on full-fee paying students (inc. internationals) for their funding.

Students intending to study here should research their options depending on the degree they want to do, not on the rankings of the universities alone as the rankings do not reflect the quality of undergraduate education.

For ICT-related Engineering, i.e. those of the Computing and Electrical kinds, the unis which have consistently made an impact in Australia are Melbourne and UNSW. They both offer the most complete range of Engineering programs and have very strong industry recognition (from what I observed in the industry, graduates from these unis command better starting salaries compared to their peers, but the difference may be minimal since engineers are in high demand here anyway). Monash is also pretty strong in Computing afaik.

There's this Good Universities Guide thing in Australia that publishes the ratings of individual universities based on many factors, such as proportion of employed fresh graduates, average starting salary, student/staff satisfaction, student-staff ratio, etc. Ironically, some private universities such as Bond tend to outperform many Go8 universities for undergraduate education, so the Go8's size itself doesn't make them the best in all areas.

Melbourne uni was not that expensive a few years ago. It looks like they have just changed their fee structure, which I believe other Go8 unis will follow soon anyway. The difference isn't that huge anyway. If you can afford Monash or other unis in Melbourne, chances are you won't balk at Melbourne's fees.

Questions like these are extremely difficult to judge because Australian universities compete state wide, not nationwide. Their main incentive is to attract top students from their own state primarily because few students migrate interstate just to attend university. That is why there is a Go8 uni in every major city here.
In terms of all Engineering degrees, UNSW outperforms Sydney University and UTS by a considerable margin in the state of NSW. I think (I'm not too sure about this) that Melbourne University would be the equivalent in the state of Victoria, with Monash and RMIT a close competitor.

Depending on what you intend to do. I wouldn't recommend Adelaide for business or technology-related studies because they would have weaker industry and research links in those areas. The unis in major cities have stronger advantage in these areas because the biggest corporations are located in Sydney and Melbourne (to a certain extent Canberra), so naturally, they gain greater access to the resources available.

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Added on September 19, 2007, 5:28 pmThere is minimal impact in the job market and this is a first-hand experience. Employers here value degrees more than the university that you graduate from. The only time they "prefer" students from a certain university is when they have a strong relationship with the university, i.e. sponsors research work and scholarships, etc.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Sep 19 2007, 05:28 PM

That is correct. People should note that the entry scores into Australian universities do not reflect the difficulty of the courses nor any other factors. They are purely based on demand and supply. A course offering only 5 places with demand exceeding supply will push the scores up sigificantly. This is a very silly system which is why the universities are pushing for a change towards "bonus points" entry schemes.

Quoted for the absolute truth.
I'm not a fan of agents either. IDP didn't do me much of a favour in my university selection nor in arranging accomodation for me here, both services of which they claim to provide.

That is correct. We should take the trouble to seek information and make our own decisions wisely. It is, after all, our own education and future, so we should be the ones ultimately responsible for our decisions.

This forum needs a context-sensitive spelling and grammar checking tool.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Sep 26 2007, 02:12 PM

You're Malaysian and you don't know what's a tosai?

Oktoberfest is a cultural affair, but it's boring. Just beer and urm....more beer? German pork knuckles are delicious though.

Didn't they recently organise some kind of Singaporean festival in Brisbane, like the MFest they have in Sydney.

What do you mean by our ringgit being a joke? It has been performing quite well actually. It's the Australian dollar that is appreciating against all major currencies.

Bias. Melbourne isn't any cheaper than Sydney.

MBP is actually pretty reasonably priced for its specs compared to similarly configured notebooks from other 1st tier brands here (except Dell maybe).

Yeah, but I'm only comparing prices within Australia. Buying from the US is too much of a hassle as it's not easy to swap out DOA items, especially when it's a pricy notebook. At the current exchange rate, isn't it cheaper to get MBP in Malaysia anyway?

Probably get the LCD here. It's difficult to carry a 20"+ LCD abroad.
If the instalment has interest, it's not worth it, especially for electronics because they become obsolete too quick.
MBP is pretty heavy and hot for uni use though, unless you only intend to use it at home.

So LYN members are in the other 95%?

Only about 4 times as much actually and that's under CSP (Commonwealth Supported Places, formerly HECS). It's government-funded (cough, international students), but well it's like a part scholarship for them, provided by their government. It is allocated on a competitive basis using TER/UAI scores.
There's another group of students, called Domestic Full Fee Paying. These are essentially those who failed to secure a place under CSP, so they have to pay the full amount for university upfront. These students will still benefit as they are often charged less than international students in government universities as unis have the discretion to set the fees. However, this DFFP programme is currently under a lot of controversy as they have allowed universities to take in a lot of students who have entrance scores way below the published cut-offs, especially in popular high-demand courses like Medicine, Law, Engineering and Commerce. It becomes an issue where university entry becomes the domain of the rich, as Go8 universities charge more than their counterparts. In other words, if you can afford it, you don't need the required the 99.95% to enter the most popular courses because the cut-offs usually represent those vying for CSP.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Oct 23 2007, 08:27 PM

Some information that I'd thought would be of use pertaining to a few discussions back:

UNSW's expected UAI score for Engineering programs is 88 for 2008. It has been 85 for the past few years.

UAI is simply an indicator of demand/supply of courses. As UNSW offers a greater number of places for Engineering than any other universities in Australia, its admission scores are generally lower for Engineering as it takes in more students and have more resources to teach them.

However, a general misconception among Year 12 students that UAI/TER = prestige instead of the forces of demand/supply has actually caused the uni some problems in its admissions process. Hence, they have provided the following links as a guide to how the UAI came to be what it is:

http://www.eng.unsw.edu.au/feas/index.htm
http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/undergrad/prospective/UAC.html
http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/seng/Other/UAI/

There was some controversy a few years ago where UTS admitted only a handful of students into their BIT program hence vastly inflating their UAI cut-off, but I guess that no longer happens. As with other unis, there's this new "alternative" entry scheme (FEAS) whereby they allocate points/credits towards skills or talents which underachieving students may possess which may make them good engineers despite not having the required entrance scores. This will require undergoing an interview/test conducted by university academics.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Nov 15 2007, 10:11 PM

Both universities are just as good. It depends on your location and who you are asking. In Sydney, UNSW naturally has the advantage as it has a greater exposure, while ANU is in Canberra. On an interstate basis, graduates from both unis get jobs as easily and like fletcherwind said, it all depends on your results. Employers and headhunters here seek experience, academic results, technical know-how, soft skills before they even look at which university you graduated from. Which pro Engineering company quoted what you said? I believe no credible, professional Engineering firm would make such a blanket statement.

How exactly is ANU harder to get in? It is actually easier to get in as there is less competition for places (don't think International students compete for places in AU unis anyway since we're paying full fees).