What is everyone's opinion/experience of Melbourne University?

[Jesshope257]

Hey Guys!
I'm not sure if this is the right place for this post, so please redirect me if it isn't.
I'm currently completely my VCE, year 12, and all my life I've dreamed of Melbourne Uni. Everyone outside of my school, tells me that yes I should go there, good reputation and recognized in other countries. However many inside my school, say Monash is better for science, Deakin has a better atmosphere and there hasn't been many commendations of Melbourne.

I want to go to uni to learn science, not to party.

So my question is what is everyone's experience of the place? What is the atmosphere like?

[squidgee123]

Personally, I think the Melbourne campus is more vibrant and aesthetically pleasing. The most likely reason why some people aren't recommending Melbourne is probably because of the Melbourne Model. For the BSc, this means you'll generally have to take at least 4 subjects outside of the science faculty. This isn't the case with Monash where you can do all science electives if you like, or do a more specialised degree that may grant certification with just undergrad.

In terms of reputation and choice of majors, they're both pretty similar. Another really important thing to consider is travel time. Having been to a school where it took nearly 2 hours to get to and 2 hours back, I can tell you now that this can really eat up a lot of your time.

[Jesshope257]

Thanks for the reply!
That makes sense, travel time is definitely important, I think I'm about the same distance currently from both now.

[literally lauren]

I want to go to uni to learn science.

What sort of science?

If you know the answer --> probably Monash.
If you have no clue --> probably Melbourne.

Disclaimer: I do Arts, hence know nothing :3

[Jesshope257]

What sort of science?

If you know the answer --> probably Monash.
If you have no clue --> probably Melbourne.

Disclaimer: I do Arts, hence know nothing :3

Don't know the answer.
Also I was wondering more about the vibe and stuff, would you be able to tell me about that?

[literally lauren]

Don't know the answer.
Also I was wondering more about the vibe and stuff, would you be able to tell me about that?

I would highly recommend checking it out for yourself!

There'll be uni open days in August, but you'll be competing with thousands of other kids and the crowds are ridiculous, so it's hardly a realistic idea of what an average uni day is like.

If you ever get a PD day off school, or can go in over the school holidays at some point, you can just wander around for a bit. Check out some buildings, suss out the food/coffee places, and maybe get a friend to show you around or take you to a lecture if you know anyone currently studying at either campus

[Aaron]

I'd like to make a comment in general about the whole 'prestige' and 'reputation' thing - most undergraduate degrees have to follow the same (or extremely similar) course programs in order to receive and maintain accreditation from professional bodies (e.g. Engineering has Engineers Australia as their professional body, Australian Computer Society for the CompSci/IT areas).

What you'll find is that most of the content is extremely similar - yet what makes unis stand out from the rest is the way they deliver this content (this is broad, meaning the quality of the lecturers/tutors/demonstrators, quality of the extracted content from the prescribed textbook, and so on). I've been fortunate enough to experience both La Trobe Uni and Monash Uni (you can arguably say that they represent two different 'prestige' classes - so to speak). Honestly, I don't see much of a difference between the two.

When making a decision about your future university, please don't take 'prestige' into account (or if you do, make sure it isn't the primary reason).

However many inside my school, say Monash is better for science, Deakin has a better atmosphere and there hasn't been many commendations of Melbourne.

What you have said here is true. Each university has their pros and cons - this is something you need to think about. I personally think that the only way you're going to know for sure is by going there and finding out for yourself. There are always options to transfer after 1 semester if you don't like the culture or programs offered.

Just needed to say this. Cheers.

EDIT: In terms of my personal experience with Melbourne University, I applied to be part of their MTeach program and didn't get in for whatever reason (but got into Monash, which is good). Anyway, I tried to contact the graduate school responsible right after the offers came out just to get an idea of why I wasn't accepted (because I wanted to know). To this day, I still haven't received a reply from them. They're meant to be this professional, prestigious university, yet can't take a few minutes out to respond to an email. This makes me glad that I got accepted into Monash because I couldn't be happier now.

[appleandbee]

When making a decision about your future university, please don't take 'prestige' into account (or if you do, make sure it isn't the primary reason).

This is a very general statement and doesn't apply to everybody. For example if your careers aspirations lie in academia, research, management consulting or top-tier law firm, I would strongly taking prestige into account very seriously. In such career paths/work places, a high degree of nepotism exists. Considering the OP said that they wanted to do a science degree, if she (assuming OP is a girl lol) want to go into scientific research/academia prestige comes into importance when you need references and research placements. That said, 'prestigious' universities each have their own strengths/specialities even within a certain field (like Melbourne has a really strong research focus in immunology).

[Jesshope257]

Thanks for all the responses!
I have been to see Melbourne before, I went in my year 10 in a small group, and I went there for a tsfx lecture once.
I definitely liked the look of it then, but that's such a brief glimpse.
The email thing is definitely unprofessional, but at the same time a friend of mine has been ignored at Monash as well.
I'm actually doing the extension mabobbie at Monash this year, I'm taking first year chemistry. So I've been as a student to the (Clayton) campus twice, for experiments. From what I've seen of both aesthetically I like Melbourne better.
Although I'm not sure yet, at the moment I'm leaning towards research of some sorta science, or perhaps even becoming a lecturer. However I really have no idea. With the prestige thing, from what I've heard it makes you a more desirable candidate to have gone to Melbourne, so, yeah I guess?

I probably should have defined my question better, just in anyones general experience, is Melbourne all tense, study study study, or is it slightly more relaxed? Just what are people like, because ultimately for me personally, that will heavily define my opinion.
However I'm not looking for rampant partying either.

Also I am female haha.

[appleandbee]

EDIT: In terms of my personal experience with Melbourne University, I applied to be part of their MTeach program and didn't get in for whatever reason (but got into Monash, which is good). Anyway, I tried to contact the graduate school responsible right after the offers came out just to get an idea of why I wasn't accepted (because I wanted to know). To this day, I still haven't received a reply from them. They're meant to be this professional, prestigious university, yet can't take a few minutes out to respond to an email. This makes me glad that I got accepted into Monash because I couldn't be happier now.

The email thing is definitely unprofessional, but at the same time a friend of mine has been ignored at Monash as well.

Poor/inefficient administration services is something that happens across most if not all universities (I have applied for two of the top universities in UK and can confirm this), so therefore it shouldn't be judged on too harshly.

I'm actually doing the extension mabobbie at Monash this year, I'm taking first year chemistry. So I've been as a student to the (Clayton) campus twice, for experiments. From what I've seen of both aesthetically I like Melbourne better.

Maybe focus more specifically on the science facilities rather than the overall campus

Although I'm not sure yet, at the moment I'm leaning towards research of some sorta science, or perhaps even becoming a lecturer. However I really have no idea. With the prestige thing, from what I've heard it makes you a more desirable candidate to have gone to Melbourne, so, yeah I guess?

Not necessarily, it depends on the field of science, Melbourne and Monash has different research and faculty focuses/strengths. Melbourne is generally stronger in the medical sciences (I sure Monash is really good in certain sub-fields of medical science though) and physics side of things. Non- G8 universities are generally not ideal for science (that's if you would like to go into academia/research) as they tend to focus on vocational areas rather than ones involving research.

I probably should have defined my question better, just in anyones general experience, is Melbourne all tense, study study study, or is it slightly more relaxed? Just what are people like, because ultimately for me personally, that will heavily define my opinion.
However I'm not looking for rampant partying either.

Life as Melbourne Uni is pretty good (I don't party but I'm involved in a few co-curriculars within and outside the uni like debating, adjudicating, Acapella, contemporary dance, mentor and schools speaking volunteering). Whichever uni you go though, Science unavoidably has higher contact hours than other degrees (even more so if you are looking towards a career in research/academia where  you would like to secure some research placements). But yeah, G8 universities tend to have a more established student life/clubs.

[Jesshope257]

Appleandbee do you know anything of how the science facility is?

I'm really not sure what science I want to do, but at the rate I'm going it probably won't be psychology, and due to my horrible teacher last year I have a biased dislike of biology, so I'm leaning more chemistry and physics based. I'm currently taking chemistry and physics, and I completed year 12 biology last year.

I also do not want to be a medical practitioner. I am interested in taking one or two non-science based elective classes, so that forced no complete science thing won't bother me.

I will be going to all the open days, but I'm looking for more of an insider's perspective at this current time. I was assuming that the science facilities at Melbourne would be high caliber due to it's reputation, but if that's not the case, I'm very interested in hearing about it.

In particular what's the chemistry area like? I'm a fan of Monash's, but that's simply because it's ten times better then my school one. I haven't seen Melbourne's chemistry area.

[appleandbee]

Appleandbee do you know anything of how the science facility is?

I'm really not sure what science I want to do, but at the rate I'm going it probably won't be psychology, and due to my horrible teacher last year I have a biased dislike of biology, so I'm leaning more chemistry and physics based. I'm currently taking chemistry and physics, and I completed year 12 biology last year.

I also do not want to be a medical practitioner. I am interested in taking one or two non-science based elective classes, so that forced no complete science thing won't bother me.

I will be going to all the open days, but I'm looking for more of an insider's perspective at this current time. I was assuming that the science facilities at Melbourne would be high caliber due to it's reputation, but if that's not the case, I'm very interested in hearing about it.

In particular what's the chemistry area like? I'm a fan of Monash's, but that's simply because it's ten times better then my school one. I haven't seen Melbourne's chemistry area.

I'm not doing Chemistry or Physics so I won't be able to help you there (I did Chemistry for three weeks and dropped it for Psychology which I'm probably going to major in). I'm currently studying Biology, Maths and Psychology. Sorry!

[Jesshope257]

I'm not doing Chemistry or Physics so I won't be able to help you there (I did Chemistry for three weeks and dropped it for Psychology which I'm probably going to major in). I'm currently studying Biology, Maths and Psychology. Sorry!

Is all good! Thanks  anyway!

[asianguy22]

[HopefulLawStudent]

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