My journey with University of Melbourne

RMIT University

7.5(35 Reviews)

Reason for choosing my college

• I chose the University of Melbourne over other universities because it is one of the globally recognised universities, and I specifically liked the course curriculum for data science, and there were really great professors behind the subjects as well.

National University of Singapore

7.3(8 Reviews)

Reason for Rejection

• I didn't actually put a lot of focus on creating a good profile and application for NUS as i was completely focusing on my application with University of Melbourne and I wish i had a good background on extra curricular activities.

• Try to make your CV/resume as diverse as possible; aim for at least 7.0 in your IELTS exam and similar results in TOEFL or PTE.
• Coming to the documents for application (CV, SOP, and LOR), make sure you invest proper time in preparing for these as they play a vital role for a successful application and make sure to write on your own and don't use any AI assistants/chatbots.

• I opted for the University of Melbourne, as it is ranked as one of the top 15 universities in the world and it has a really good academic setting.
• I personally preferred Australia, as it is one of the places I've been fond of since I was young (the culture, accent, and wildlife), and as I mentioned earlier, the University of Melbourne is ranked 13th currently based on QS 2025 rankings and it has a wide range of options for bachelor's, master's, diploma, PhDs, and even further.
• It has multiple campuses, and I study in the main campus (Parkville).
• There are options for a lot of career-related opportunities (part-time and full-time options to work at the university and a job portal to make you aware of all the off-campus job opportunities).
• I have completed a year so far and I feel it was really a great experience with the academics, campus, and student life, as the practical sessions are considered as important as the theoretical sessions, you get a lot of freedom to choose and alter your subjects and timetable, and finally, you get to indulge in a variety of extracurricular events and activities all around the year.

• For my course (Data Science), it is usually a bit tough for two semesters (usually the first two) and you can't expect classes every day during that time and there would be around 2 theoretical classes and 1 practical class for a normal subject (12.5 credits) and each class would be for 50 minutes.
• If it is a prerequisite core subject (25 credits), you can expect to have 4 theoretical classes and 2 hands-on sessions for that subject.
• The class timings for the core subjects are fixed, whereas the class timings for the practical sessions can be draughted by us.
• The average strength of my class is around 110 students and there are over 15 Indians in my course.
• Apart from the regular classes on a daily basis, you can expect to spend 2-3 hours on a daily basis for assignments and exams.

• The faculty members that I've come across so far are humble, knowledgeable, and down-to-earth.
• Usually the faculties have 1-2 sessions allotted for clearing the doubts of students.
• They also host some extra sessions during the exam time and it is possible to approach them whenever they are free as soon as the class gets over.
• The faculty-student ratio is 15.4 on average at the moment.
• For me (data science), I like professors Weichang Wu, Pavel Krupsky, Richard Sinnott, and the other professors as well.
• I like my professors as they explain stuff right from the basics and even explain the in-depth concepts in a clear way.
• The faculties do help in providing references for full-time and part-time jobs and also help students join their research work/projects.

• The University of Melbourne has 6 campuses and the main campus is in Parkville and the rest are in Southbank, Burnley, Dookie, Creswick, Werribee, and Shepparton.
• The main campus in Parkville has almost all the facilities not limited to Libraries, sports, medical, and auditoriums.
• I study at the Parkville (main) campus and the main events take place during the orientation (February and July) and Chinese New Year.
• There are over 200 clubs and activities currently active in the University and they are not restricted to languages, music, culture, spirituality, politics, adventure, sports, and so on.

• Most Indians prefer working in a supermarket (like Coles, Woolworths, IGA, and ALDI), 7-11, as they pay well considering the limited hours they can work when the semester is running and some people work in restaurants, aged care, and I have seen a lot of people do food delivery (Uber Eats and DoorDash), and there are plenty of other options available as well.
• It is good to get a driving licence here in Victoria to be available for most of the part-time jobs.
• Apart from that, there are some options to work related to your own field (IT, medical, etc ...) but usually there would be restrictions and a lot of competition.
• It is manageable to land a part-time role if one puts proper effort into searching and applying for such roles.
• The process is much similar to the usual jobs (applying online, being called for 1-2 rounds of interviews, and handing over an offer) and sometimes people hand over their resumes directly to the stores.

• TA (usually called a tutor) and RA are available for almost all the subjects; the positions are very limited and most of them already continue from previous years and it is possible to become a TA/RA if students have exceptionally good grades and if they are very interested and curious in the subject; they can take the initiative and communicate with the professor for any possibilities.
• There are about 3-6 TAs and RAs for a professor in a subject and the average pay for them is around 46-49 AUD per hour. People with student visas are capable of working for 24 hours per week and for the rest there is no such limitation.

• I believe around 80-90% of the students land a job within 6 months of completing their degree and graduate students can expect about 70k-100k AUD on average for their salary.
• Most of the students (especially international) usually look and apply for off-campus jobs using various platforms (SEEK, Indeed, Prosple, and University Job Portal) and sometimes people get referrals from their seniors or relatives (which makes the process a bit easier).
• The lowest salary can be around 40k AUD and the highest can be till 130k-140k AUD.

• I had a relatively easy process of obtaining an accommodation as my friends had arrived a bit earlier than me and with the help of his aunt, we were able to secure a rentable property.
• It is usually recommended to search for the accommodation as soon as you get an offer letter (as the student accommodation availability is limited and getting a rentable property is really hard).
• There are some pros and cons for each accommodation facility, as commuting is easier with student accommodations, whereas the rent is relatively cheaper in a house in the suburbs but transportation is quite hard.
• There are a lot of platforms online (real estate, etc ...) and agents can also be contacted to find suitable accommodation based on the student's needs.