Hancock's UniMelb Exchange Advice

[Hancock]

Hey guys,

For those that do not know, I'm currently in the process of applying for an exchange to the United States. I'll let you know a secret now. This process is a massive pain in the ass, but will hopefully be worth it in the end. I'm here to give some general advice on what to do to minimize the number of hours scrolling through other university's handbooks and to make the whole process go a lot smoother.


Tip #1 - Know where your information is.
This site will be your number 1 port of call. The Melbourne Global Mobility site has everything you will probably need, and is set out a little weirdly, but you'll get then hang of it after reading through the entire site to make sure your application is fine.
http://www.mobility.unimelb.edu.au/

Tip #2 - Plan your exchange early / Make sure you can feasibly go
This is where I visited struggle-town so many times. If you want to go on exchange in a Science / Engineering degree, you have to basically plan out your entire degree, from the get go, with that ideal in mind. Science is much more rigid than Commerce and Arts and you have to make sure you can feasibly go without interrupting your degree progression (unless you don't mind extending your degree by a year due to missed courses and what not). For exchanges and study abroad, I recommend that you go in Semester 2 of your 2nd year. This will be the earliest time you can go, and will applying at the end of first year. That means that those easy first year classes you are taking can bump up your GPA so that it is as high as possible. It also means that if you are only going for a semester, you will not have to take major subjects at your exchange university. THIS IS A GOOD THING. Which leads me onto number 3.

Tip #3 - Plan to take elective subjects overseas
This is something I am guilty of not doing, but it is generally really good advice. I'm planning on going for a year, and I need to take 3 majors subjects in 2 semesters. Since all three classes run in both semesters, I'm not too worried and I can always pull out after 1 semester and come back home if I don't get into my major classes. However, if for some reason you are going in third year, and you need to take major courses, it will be a massive bitch if you can't enrol in them overseas. This will cause your degree completion to be delayed and that is not a good thing. Especially with the United States, Melbourne Global Mobility has a warning:

Please note that no institution in the USA can guarantee enrolment in a specific subject you may need for progression in your degree. One student on exchange in the US noted in an email that:

...exchange students are given the lowest priority when it comes to subject selection. As it stands now, I am on waiting lists for already-full subjects - 14th in line for one subject and 34th for the other. The online enrollment [sic] system barred me from enrolling at all from the two other subjects I wished to do, because it didn't recognise me as a second-year student.

Studying breadth and elective subjects, therefore, is the wisest course of action for an exchange to these institutions. If you do try to study core subjects on exchange and do fail to enrol in one or more of those subjects this may result in having to extend your degree by a semester or full year.

"Be warned."


Tip #4 - As soon as your decide you want to do an exchange trip, create a solid study plan
What I mean by this is planning your degree so that you have a semester or 2 with the least number of core subjects necessary. I've planned my BSc(Mech / Elec Eng) so that I have zero core classes in semester 2 of second year, which means I can start doing my major classes overseas. Your study plan is a form / list that dictates what subjects you are planning on studying at your overseas institution. These will HAVE TO BE APPROVED by the DISCIPLINE ADVISOR. Not that faculty advisor. So, if I plan to take a Commerce class and I'm a BSc student, I have to go to the Commerce Discipline Advisor, which happens to be at the Commerce student centre. A list of all the departmental advisors can be found here: http://www.mobility.unimelb.edu.au/outbound/exchange/advisors/index.html When making your study plan, you are going to want to find the overseas handbook, and look carefully for classes that are related to your major. Do NOT think that 4 classes overseas automatically means a full time load (50 Melbourne points per semester is a full time load). In some countries, a full study load is 7 classes and if you only enrol in 4 for the semester, you actually might get deported due to you breaching your student visa. In the USA, the number of classes I will be taken per semester is roughly 4 - 5 per 50 Melbourne Points.

This section is generally where most exchange applicants have struggles with because it is tedious to create a working study plan and to make sure that all your prospective classes run in a way that you are able to do them. Please make sure you check the class semesters when you make a study plan. There is no point choosing 8 classes that you absolutely love, and finding out 7 of them run in the Fall semester, and only 1 runs in the Spring semester. Yes, it did happen to me.

Tip #5 - Exchange Essay and Reference Letter
Your exchange essay may possibly be the cheesiest thing you've ever written in your life. After numerous (and I mean countless) revision, my essay turned out to be something respectable, but OMG, the first draft. I could've chucked it on top of a meat patty and called it a cheeseburger. Don't get me wrong, your essay is important. While Melbourne Global Mobility does cull applicants due to GPA (with the highest GPA's getting in due to equity reasons they said), your essay has some weighting as to whether your FACULTY will nominate you to MGM in the first place. So make sure you get a couple of mates and family to read your essay and give you an objective critique, because it will help in the long run.
 
When choosing something to write a confidential letter of reference for you, please choose a tutor that you've had more-than-required contact with. At first, I was thinking of choosing my Calculus 2 tutor from first semester, then I realised that no one talked in that class and I was a bit of a social recluse because I wanted to get in and out as quick as possible. However, with my Linear Algebra tutor, I had numerous conversations with her about pure maths and how her PhD was going, among other topics. The idea of the reference letter is for Melbourne Global to know that you are an outgoing person with more than adequate social skills. Choose carefully because this also has a weighting on whether you get nominated by your student centre.



So that's all from me at the moment guys, I'll probably update this later with some more stuff. If anyone has any questions about Exchange or Study abroad, ask away and I'll be happy to help. Stay tuned.

Cheers

[Hancock]

Tip #6 - Funding

So, this is one of the major deterrents of anyone going on exchange. It's is quite expensive coming in at 13k for 1 semester and 19k for a year. Many of my mates from different universities want to go on their respective exchange programs and can't find the money to justify going. Let's run through some ideas to get funding without parental assistance and your own salary.

OS-HELP:
This has been talked about in the thread a lot but I'm going to repeat it here. The OS-HELP loan is by far the best loan you will ever get in your life. It has a maximum amount of $6051 in 2013 per semester and goes directly onto your HECS. This means that you do not pay it off until you get a wage above the threshold to pay HECS back. It is literally a interest-free, tax based loan which will allow you to get $12,000 for your exchange. That could fund your entire exchange for 1 semester already. Don't believe the site that says it is based on academic merit when demand exceeds supply. I've asked the Scholarship's Office and they are always in supply because the Government wants to send more people over than it is currently doing.

One condition for an OS-HELP loan is to have 50 Melbourne Points on your degree when you come back. If you are planning to take out this loan, the latest you can go on exchange is Year 3, S1 for a one semester exchange, or Year 2, S2 for a year long exchange. I'm taking a summer course this summer, which means I can only credit 87.5 points onto my exchange because I NEED to have 50 Melbourne Points left. Make sure you plan it out carefully. To find out if you are eligible (all semester long/ year long exchanges are eligible) check the formula in the link.

http://services.unimelb.edu.au/scholarships/ugrad/current/travelling_oshelp.html


Melbourne Global Grant / Global Scholars Award:
This is what many students recieve from MGM. The Melbourne Global Grant is automatically considered when you apply and has a value of $2500. It is based on academic merit and I'm not too sure what the cut-off is. I would suggest having a H2A/H2B average to be competitive (~75) considering the lowest GPA you can have to go on exchange is 65.

http://www.mobility.unimelb.edu.au/outbound/funding/exchange-funding.html#grant

The Melbourne Global Scholars Award is for students who satisfies ONE OR MORE of these criteria.
- Started university FROM 2011 AND got an ATAR of 98
- Is a Kwong Lee Dow Scholar
- Is a Chancellor's Scholar

This gives the student a guaranteed funding of $2500. Note that you cannot get both a Grant and a Global Scholars Award.
NOTE: On the application form, there is a box for getting an ATAR of 98 AND starting university in 2011. THIS IS A TYPO. If you got an ATAR of 98 and started university FROM OR AFTER 2011, CHECK THIS BOX OR YOU WILL NOT GET THE GLOBAL AWARD. I talked to the MGM advisor and told me they forgot to update the form correctly from the 2012 form (I was handing in the 2013 form).

http://www.mobility.unimelb.edu.au/outbound/funding/scholars-award.html

Make sure to read this link, which has the major funding options for financial hardship and academic merit. This page also has specific extra funding for some institutions like the U21 group and special universities in Asia.

http://www.mobility.unimelb.edu.au/outbound/funding/exchange-funding.html
http://www.mobility.unimelb.edu.au/outbound/funding/other-funding.html

Tip #7 - Going to non-partners is possible but extremely hard

I know many people who have been thrown off going because we aren't partnered with Stanford / Harvard / Oxford. Let me tell you know: UoM has the 2nd best exchange program in Australia (IMO, 2nd to ANU) with some of the best university partners in the world. If you don't believe me, go on VU / La Trobe's exchange page and try and see the amount of partners they have (not bashing VU / La Trobe, they are excellent universities). This is because universities create bonds according, but not only due to, international rankings and perceptions.

Going to an non-parter is called a "Study Abroad". MGM will give you little assistance with your application and you have to do everything. This includes emailing the university in question and asking if they even accept Study Abroad students. STANFORD DOES NOT.

They programs, if you get accepted, are very expensive. I don't mean to crush your dreams if this is one of them, but paying 40k a year for tuition PLUS living isn't something that is financially sensible unless you have rich-ass parents. I was aiming for Stanford Summer Program (which clashes with our exam period next year in June so you can't really go unless you want to gamble that you don't have exams on the third week) but the $10,000 cost for 2 months can't be justified in my eyes even if Stanford was my dream school.

If you want to go to a non-partner, two recommendations. TALK TO YOUR PARENTS FIRST. I'm going to presume not a lot of us students would fund an entire 50k study abroad by ourselves so this is paramount. AFTER getting their approval, then start emailing universities and finding out some more information.

Tip #8 - Student Flights are your friend
Unless you have a stack of frequent flyer points (#WINNING), the STA flights and other organisations which give out student flights are your absolute best friend. You can get a flight from Melb to LA for so much cheaper than through QANTAS on an adult fare. Make sure you find a way to cut-off costs whenever you can because, from what I've heard, you will go overbudget in your exchange.


So that's all from me guys, I'll make sure put up more but I can't think of anything for the moment.
Cheers

[Planck's constant]

Thanks for starting this thread.
I have just started looking into this, and your description of the process being a 'pain in the ass' resonates with me.
It seems very difficult to plan the right exchange AND get all the faculty approvals AND synchronise the dates AND get the credits AND finish your undergrad degree in 3 years.
Looking forward to useful hints like the ones you just posted.

[Hancock]

I'm glad its helping you. I'll try and get some more up tomorrow regarding funding and other topics.

[abcdqdxD]

Out of curiosity, is it possible go to universities not listed on the mobility website? i.e. those prestigious unis in the US like MIT

[Hancock]

Possibly. You'll have to ask those specific universities themselves if they accept 'study abroad' students. However, you will be paying FULL FEE, which corresponds to around 40,000 a year just for tuition. Unless you are absolutely loaded, I personally don't think it is worth it because you will not be getting a degree from that university.

[abcdqdxD]

Ah, what about completing a full degree abroad? Is that more complicated?

[Hancock]

If you were completing a full degree abroad, you wouldn't be a UniMelb student. You would therefore need to gain admission for those universities by yourself, usually by doing the SATs (ATAR version in America) and doing all this other shit like college essays. While it would be a different experience, you are still going to be paying international full fee of 40k a year. While financial aid is available, it is very hard to get it as an international and it does affect your application if you say you need to have financial aid. Some universities that have a needs-blind policy (which means they don't look if you need financial aid before accepting you) include Harvard, Yale and Princeton (I'm fairly sure there are more, but I know these three follow this policy to the best of my knowledge).

All in all, degrees abroad are so expensive it's not even funny. One of the reasons I didn't apply for Oxford (VCE ATAR needs to be around 98.5+ according to their site) is because my family is not rich enough to afford that amount of tuition which I could get at Melbourne for 8k a year. You have to do a cost-benefit analysis on whether that amount of money is worth a degree.

[Art Vandelay]

Really great info! What uni did you apply for in the University of California system? Do you know how many students from Australia get accepted into UoC Exchange Programs each year? Thanks!

[Hancock]

It's a bit different now in terms of the UC system. You don't apply for 1 campus, you apply for 3 with preferences. My preferences were Berkeley, UCLA and Santa Barbara. However, since I'm in an impacted major (all eng disciplines are impacted majors) I could get diverted to any campus but they still take my campus preferences into consideration. I know that from Melbourne around ~5 - 6 go to UC each semester. I'm not too sure about other universities in Australia though.

[ReganM]

People should also take into consideration scholarships and the like. If you plan on studying a language overseas there ARE scholarships for you, and your language head should be able to tell you what kind of scholarships are available.

I'm also hoping to go on exchange, but maybe I'll post my advice after I get accepted, lol, who knows if my advice is any good if I get rejected.

[ggxoxo]

Is the Melbourne Globility Scholarship $2500 for all students???

[Art Vandelay]

I've heard you can take a loan from HECS for study abroad - is this accurate? Thanks!

[charmanderp]

It's a bit different now in terms of the UC system. You don't apply for 1 campus, you apply for 3 with preferences. My preferences were Berkeley, UCLA and Santa Barbara. However, since I'm in an impacted major (all eng disciplines are impacted majors) I could get diverted to any campus but they still take my campus preferences into consideration. I know that from Melbourne around ~5 - 6 go to UC each semester. I'm not too sure about other universities in Australia though.

That is insanely competitive! Do you know what kind of grades would be required to get an exchange place at UCLA?

[Mech]

My friend did an exchange to UC Berkeley for engineering. He also did an internship at NASA Ames Research Centre and worked in Silicon Valley for a bit over there, too.

Engineering sounds like a pain in the arse to get a reputation.