If the better university was in another state, would you go?

[dekoyl]

I really am torn between a Sydney university and a Melbourne university. For months, and moreso after I received by results, I couldn't make up my mind.

The interstate university has: a better quality of education, a better name, seemingly higher graduate jobs (both in numbers and income), is recognised in a few fields internationally (which happens to be the field I'm studying in).

So, given your current position, would you go to another state to study? Why or why not? I know what you say may not apply to me, but I just want to hear what everyone has to say if they were forced to make this decision.

[stonecold]

I would move, for all the reasons you mentioned, plus I would love the fact that I could live independently away from home. 

[appianway]

I'd move if I could afford it, as well as the flights to visit home regularly.

[xXNovaxX]

Not at ALL

ANU= Best Uni in Australia

I don't care :/
We have Monash and Melbourne which although don't rank as HIGH as ANU, they are known WORLDWIDE, and are just as good in my personal opinion, sorry Humph =P

I think moving, finding accommodation, costs, missing family and friends etc is more trouble than its worth for "just" a Uni (don't kill me for saying 'just').

Like, OKAY, if we didn't have Monash/Melbourne you COULD go interstate, but it's not like you live in Tasmania or the Northern Territory where you don't really have options, or many/any top notch Uni's (well that I've heard of anyway).
BESIDES, Monash and Melbourne are good enough as they are....

[/0]

We have Monash and Melbourne which although don't rank as HIGH as ANU, they are known WORLDWIDE, and are just as good in my personal opinion, sorry Humph =P

Lol are you sure they are known worldwide? Or is it because, living in Victoria, we just hear about them all the time

[xXNovaxX]

^LOL

You are right, well I didn't mean they are like the Oxford or Harvard of the world, where EVERYBODY knows about them.

But I have seen a few articles on their respective websites which were  published in international magazines and newspapers I think :/

Like, I would assume since we have thousands of international students, the Uni's WOULD be renown/known?

[Eriny]

No, never....



Being able to easily access Monash and Melbourne is great and they are both great unis which offer good courses. However, if for whatever reason, they don't have the course best suited to your wants/needs or if you get a scholarship or if it's very important for you to get into a certain course and you're willing to do anything to get there (medicine springs to mind) then it makes perfect sense to leave. And really, moving away is actually a pretty positive experience, at least for me.

You also have to remember that for most of the world, not moving to go to uni is really strange. In rural Australia, for instance, if you want to go to uni you either have to do the course by correspondence or you have to move. In the US, hardly anyone stays home and for some degrees you are obliged to live on the university grounds. In many places, its even normal to move overseas for a bachelor's degree. I've noticed in Melbourne many people seem to have this idea that living away from home for uni is such a huge deal when that's exactly what many many people do.

[xXNovaxX]

Can you tell us more about being obliged to live on Uni grounds? I find that stupid :/

How can you be FORCED to live on campus? What does the Uni have to gain/lose, it's ultimately up to you, and any uni student would understand the shortages of finding accommodation, so living at home should be promoted.....

I've heard of so many weird and disgusting stories of living on campus, home is the best place 2 be. Clean, good food, and all free , as well as surrounded by family

[herzy]

its a tough decision. i was deciding between bond uni, a few sydney unis, anu, and monash (and melbourne...) and in the end decided monash... but who knows if thats the right decision?

[/0]

Personally part of the reason why I want to go interstate is so I can experience campus life. I don't care if it's worse than life at home. I've been at home most of my life and it's not very exciting. Also, ANU has guaranteed undergraduate accommodation which is pretty cool

[Eriny]

on-campus living is pretty cool, I like that its only a short walk to class. The food isn't so great though.

Can you tell us more about being obliged to live on Uni grounds? I find that stupid :/

How can you be FORCED to live on campus? What does the Uni have to gain/lose, it's ultimately up to you, and any uni student would understand the shortages of finding accommodation, so living at home should be promoted.....

I've heard of so many weird and disgusting stories of living on campus, home is the best place 2 be. Clean, good food, and all free , as well as surrounded by family

I'm not sure why they make it so, but at some places it's a degree requirement for whatever reason.

[QuantumJG]

I was 100% sure that this was on ANU.

According to THE, USyd and UoM are both on a par.

[xXNovaxX]

OMG, dekoyl.

Your avatar reminds me of Voxii  :buck2:

[humph]

Not at ALL

ANU= Best Uni in Australia

I don't care :/
We have Monash and Melbourne which although don't rank as HIGH as ANU, they are known WORLDWIDE, and are just as good in my personal opinion, sorry Humph =P

I think moving, finding accommodation, costs, missing family and friends etc is more trouble than its worth for "just" a Uni (don't kill me for saying 'just').

Like, OKAY, if we didn't have Monash/Melbourne you COULD go interstate, but it's not like you live in Tasmania or the Northern Territory where you don't really have options, or many/any top notch Uni's (well that I've heard of anyway).
BESIDES, Monash and Melbourne are good enough as they are....

Lol Fair point, though I personally disagree with most of this. Like eriny said, being a Melbourne kid makes you biased to think that UoM and Monash are the two best and most well known unis in Australia. Same with Sydney kids, they don't look beyond USyd and UNSW (and maybe UTS for certain subjects...). From the people that I've met overseas (I've been on exchange the last semester), many have "heard" of UoM and USyd, in that they assume that they're the main universities in Australia, being named after the two main cities. Barely any have heard of Monash/UNSW/ANU, and similarly with UQ/UWA/Adelaide.

As for the moving/housing/costs/family&friends bit, well it depends very much on the person. The only bit of that that I find stressful is the cost - housing was guaranteed at ANU, moving wasn't too bad (one big drive up from Melbourne), and I see family and friends back in Melbourne a couple of times a year, which is more than enough for me (I'm a pretty independent person...). Plus I have much better friends at uni than I did back at high school, which basically is a result of, or results in the fact that campus life is awesome. But it's not for everyone, obviously - a few people in each year move back home because they're not a fan.

[Rietie]

When deciding which uni to go to, it was basically a toss up between ANU and UoM. I wasn't considering others as they were either too far away, didn't offer the course I wanted or wasn't a "top" uni. I first started considering ANU because my siblings went to it, but then I also decided I wanted to do something a bit different and try and become a bit more independent (esp. emotional, which hasn't worked very well, but oh well). ANU is also a top uni.

Ultimately, I ended up writing a list of the subjects I would do at either uni, asked the opinions of my close family on what they would prefer, asked academics about their courses/faculties and what unis had strong departments, in say English or Politics.

Eventually, I decided on ANU as I really disliked the new Melbourne model.
And I didn't think too much about moving away from friends and being all lonely or anything, as I knew eventually I would make friends, and luckily, I would have family in Canberra.

It was a really tough decision to make between the two unis, made more difficult which accommodation offers (a college didn't offer me a place till the week before orientation week started, even though they are meant to send out offers on 25th jan in 2009, and even then they didn't get me the room I asked for, or even a room that 1st years are allowed to apply for - it was a double room   ). So, it was hard decision, but I had a lot of help from close family, a family friend who was doing recruiting for UoM, and my grandfather who is an academic at ANU.