A short review of my experience as a University of Melbourne student

Monash University

7.3(45 Reviews)

Reason for choosing my college

• I never applied to any other colleges, as I only applied for one and got accepted. But if I do have to give a reason, unimelb is Australia's number one ranked university.
• Getting accepted here meant there would be no point in applying to other universities.

Deakin University

7.6(38 Reviews)

Reason for Rejection

• I never applied to any other college, as I got into my first preference. So I really can't answer why I wasn't accepted to any other colleges, as I never experienced getting rejected to share my view on this topic.

• You'll have to strongly give a reason why you are opting for this specific course and this particular university.
• Do some research and try to find a unique answer for example, if a particular course is being taught by a particular professor who is well renowned.
• Add names and be as detailed as possible, rather than just giving a generic answer saying this is the best university and such other type of response.

• The primary reason for choosing Australia was the weather conditions, which are mostly the same as in India, and the second reason was I didn't want to go to either the US or Canada, which typically is the go-to option.
• The University of Melbourne is not only Australia's number one university but also ranked 13th (17th when I applied) in the world ranking, and it was my first preference while applying.
• I pursued a master's in computer science, majorly choosing cybersecurity as my focus.
• If you specifically want to do cybersecurity, you can opt for a master's in IT, the difference being that the former degree has a thesis part that is done over two semesters.
• The university is located in the heart of the city, in Parkville. Computer science is a broad degree with multiple facets to choose from. Based on your chosen domain, the opportunities are plenty.
• The student life is good in the university, where one gets to experience different cultures and can get involved in various club and sports activities. My favorites are the poker club and the university's sports facilities.

• For my degree, typically 12-14 classes per week, if you choose a thesis-based degree like mine, the last 2 semesters will not have any classes but only weekly meetings with your supervisors.
• The class timings are from 8 in the morning till 6 in the evening. The class strength entirely depends on the subject, some having around 100, while some only have 20.
• There are a considerably good number of Indian students, but from what I have witnessed, this again depends entirely on the subjects you choose. I would say more time goes into your assignments and self-study than to your lectures.
• Most courses are strongly driven based on what you have understood and how you can apply them to the assignments.

• The faculty-to-student ratio is quite good, as after the lectures, you're broken down into smaller groups, where each group is assigned a tutor, and if needed, you can always reach out to professors.
• My choice of best faculty was my supervisor for my thesis because, for someone who didn't have much experience in doing research, they helped me a lot with understanding how to conduct research and how to write my results.
• I can't say much about getting references for jobs, be it part-time or full-time.

• Uni had two campuses. The Parkville campus is the main campus, with the majority of the courses being held there, and another campus in Southbank mainly has arts and humanities courses.
• The university has top-class facilities for sports, library and medical.
• The sports facility has a gym, pool, running track, a cricket ground and nets, and an all-purpose court where you can play badminton, basketball and netball.
• The university does host a lot of events, which are mainly led by the clubs on the campus. Events particularly related to each culture (an Indian festival and an Indian student meetup) are conducted as well.

• As I mentioned earlier, the average pay is between 24 and 40 per hour, depending on what time of the day or which day of the week you're working. Weekends and late-night shifts pay more.
• It's a tad hard to land your first part-time gig, after which it's considerably easy as there are always companies looking out for casual workers.
• The process is pretty much similar to any other job application, where you use job portals to apply.
• Apart from this, you can reach out to your friends who might be able to refer you directly to a place they're working, and sometimes reaching out to the business owner helps as well.

• TAs are harder here but it's not impossible. They're hard as most of the TAs are for the tutoring positions and universities prefer students doing PhDs.
• On-campus or off-campus, a student is allowed to work 24 hr/week and the wage ranges from 24 dollars per hour to 40 dollars per hour depending on the day and time of the work.
• Internships are very scarce here. I don't have much idea about internships that I can share.

• I don't have an exact number for the percentage, so I won't be able to answer it definitively.
• The average salary range is between 60-75k plus super (which is like PF in India).
• The jobs again have to be applied for by actively looking out for job ads.
• The lowest salary would be somewhere around 60-65k and the highest can go up to 90-95k and, in very exceptional cases, 100k.

• Finding the first place to say it is again a hard thing, and I would say it's probably one of the hardest tasks.
• Since you would be new to the place without any rental history, plus it's a tedious process of first applying, then inspecting, followed by quoting a rent, and finally getting a place.
• The best recommendation I would offer anyone is to look out for student housing and student accommodation just until you're settled, after which you can find a place by yourself or make a couple of friends and move in together.