For ANU, the name of the course would be Bachelor of Actuarial Studies, and this is the only uni in Australia that offer actuarial course with the degree name in actuarial as well.

For Macquarie, the course name is Bachelor of Commerce (Actuarial Studies).

However, for Melbourne Uni, the course name is Bachelor of Commerce. That means either if you want to do accounting, actuarial studies, finance or economics or whatsoever, you will be accepted into Bachelor of Commerce, just one course. And then, you will choose the specific subjects you want to do during enrolment which will determine your major. Your major (from 2008 onwards) will be officially printed on the certificate.

Currently, all five unis in Australia that offer Actuarial course do not set quota against it. Under normal circumstances, students who fulfill the entry requirements will be admitted. As the case of not setting quota, many students who find it difficult to cope with will subsequently drop out, and the drop out rate is maintained at a high level. So you may probably only see a quarter of students left in your third year compared to the first year.

Entry requirements: (Australian Year 12: TER/ UAI/ENTER)
ANU 95
Macquarie 94
Melbourne 91
UNSW 90
Curtin 85

Actually october is not considered late for application, even november is not late either, so just wait for a month then apply. Usually they will send u an offer, either conditional or unconditional, within 2 weeks' time. If u do not receive within 2 weeks, i think it's not the fault of the uni, mayb is the problem of the agent, like IDP. IDP will be pretty busy in December when the SAM results are out and everyone rushes there to apply/ accept offer.

JPA scholarships to overseas are only available to SPM leavers, right? Why din you apply after your SPM?

Although STPM is way harder than A-level, the entry requirements for engineering using STPM will be higher than A-level.
For higher ranked uni in Aus, an aggregate point of 3.33 or around B+B+B+ should be sufficient to enter.
Actually you will find out that first year maths in engineering course will be pretty easy as you learnt most of them in STPM. Year 12 in Australia only cover basic stuff.

about 45 mins travel to Sydney city centre. Not very far though.

If u score an average of around 75% as well in the final exam, you will most probably obtain TER 90 and above. Marks around 75% should give the grade of 16B.

Officially, 161 out of 200 (which is 80.5%) and above is only considered as 17A.
However, according to past year results, the cut-off scores for 17A are usually around 155 only.
As the performance of the candidates each year varies, TER can't be very accurately predicted based on yr scores.
Just a reference, in past few years' time:

17A, 17A, 16B, 16B, 16B= TER 92.30
18A, 17A, 16B, 15B, 15B= TER 90.75
18A, 17A, 15B, 15B, 14B= TER 89.05

Basically, you will be converted into Australian full fee place. However full-fee places will be abolished started 2009.

This post has been edited by alwayshappy: Oct 28 2008, 02:08 PM

Currently there are two types of places for local students, CSP places and Australian full-fee places.

CSP places are subsidized by the government and the government sets the maximum amount of money a uni can charge for each discipline band. For example, the maximum amount charged on Medicine, Dentistry, Vet Science and Commerce are $8,677 in 2009. (Most unis will charge the maximum amount of course.)

Australia full-fee places are offered to students who do not achieve the CSP cut-off scores but reach certain requirements (usually TER/UAI 5 marks below the cut-off scores). Under this place, the student will not be subsidized by the government and is responsible for the entire tuition fees. Normally, Australian full-fees will be slightly lower or the same as International full-fees.

Starting 2009, Australian full-fee places will be abolished and no students can be admitted into a course with Australian full-fee place. This means that if their scores are below the CSP cut-off scores, they have no chance of entering into the course (unlike previously by paying full fees).

RBA cut the interest rate again! now 5.25%!!

[quote=Lim Ling Yang,Nov 9 2008, 07:46 PM]
So lets say you defer. You don't get the JPA scholarship. You're 1 year behind, there may not be a semester 2 intake (I don't know what course are you looking at). Now what?

[/quote]

Bach of Engineering , there is sem 2 intake.
Thats why I might not be defering....
Anyways what is the average living cost in Canberra peryear ?

[/quote]

Just an indication, you may just spend $12000 p.a. on a tight budget.
Normally, $15000- $18000 should be sufficient including all expenses.

im curious you are buying AUD in bank draft, TT or the AUD notes?
If you're buying the notes, the rate will be higher than bank draft.

This post has been edited by alwayshappy: Nov 13 2008, 05:56 PM

AUD fluctuates recently, so do you believe it will keep on depreciating? If so, just change it later.
You need to have AUD notes of at least a thousand to cover your expenses and other establishment.
TT is ok, but it involves charges, RM10 in Msia and AUD10 in Aus. You may just buy a bank draft and bring it over to australia.

Btw, public RM2.45 is for notes, it is just 2.36 for bank draft/ TT.

This post has been edited by alwayshappy: Nov 13 2008, 06:35 PM

If i obtain a new passport after being granted the student visa, what should I do? Go to the immi office?

2.3 is not the lowest ever since, and aud is not anticipated to appreciate very soon...

not RM20000 per year, is AUD20000 per year!

Unimelb, UNSW and ANU are considered equally good. QUT are not as prestigious are the other three.

Just some points:
1) There are TOO many international students taking commerce in melb, esp those from PRC. The number of international students in faculty of econs and commerce are higher than local students. Under Melbourne Model, you MUST choose some non-commerce subjects in your commerce degree. Campus is near the city. Tuition fees are the highest among those three.

2) ANU is in canberra, a city which is considered 'boring' by many people, but this means that it has less distractions. ANU are pretty good in commerce and the number of international students is low.

3) UNSW is very famous in engineering, though it is quite good in commerce as well. High proportion of international students as well.

Actually Melbourne isnt very cold as imagined. During winter, the daytime temperature will be around 10 degree celsius, 1 or 2 degree will only be reached during midnight or early in the morning which usually people are sleeping under their warm quilt. Those very-very-warm jacket which is meant for winter in Canada, Switzerland is not required. A normal jacket with single coating will suffice.

Btw, Melbourne is extremely hot, even hotter than Msia these two days but will be cooler soon.

For Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, daytime temperature will be around 9-14 degree Celsius, night time temperature will be 2-8 degree Celsius. In more regional area, it is possible to reach below 0 C. Canberra, which is not on the coastal line, does reach -3C at times.