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[Undergrad] Pros and Cons of each Uni
- Thread starter Shizzy
- Start date
jobensingh
Regular Member
id love to c UTAS and UNCLE....i will hopefully be going to one of em next yr!
DocOrNot
Regular Member
Here's my crack at UNE.
University = JMP@UNE
1. Campus:
Armidale, NSW - it's high... They recommend you spend a few days in Tamworth to acclimatise lest you be left to suffer excruciating headaches...
2. Social:
Soccer: there's a somewhat-serious uni team that plays in comp with a couple of town teams and teams from surrounding towns. This year we had a Tuesday-night-comp med team that played against the various res colleges. You could also opt for a town team and, if you're lucky, feature on the back page of the Armidale Express...
Others: Inter-college mixed netball, hockey, etc., plenty of social sport...
Pubs: More pubs per capita than I had on Sydney's North Shore, some trash, some good, a club or two....
College stuff: I live in town but colleges run various events regularly and (I gather) you wouldn't be short of a group to drink or socialise with. I live in town, not college, and it seems that there are plenty of things to keep you occupied for the 8 months/year you're here... Someone else will have to comment on college food but on campus, options are turd imo. (tops coffee in town, seriously)
3. Student Society:
UNEMSA is pretty active and there are plenty of opportunities to get involved. All the usual things abound: med revue, ball, "First incision". GPSN, rural health club and ASPIRE also run events. Free pizza is the usual kicker for attendance at AGMs, etc.
4. Accommodation:
Most people live on campus at one of the res colleges. It seems that all have their positives and negatives as far as I'm aware but again, I will defer to a college kid. I am but a "townie". The list of colleges can be found here: https://www.une.edu.au/accommodation/prospective.php. Fee info can be viewed here: https://www.une.edu.au/about/living/fee-summary.pdf. As an example, Austin College costs $217/week plus $67/week for 3 meals a day. In town, I'm currently paying $290/week for a 3 bedroom house with a decent yard. Woolies/Coles are unsurprisingly Sydney-priced.
5. Cost of living:
See above. If you're in town, energy is your biggest expense, the country gets rorted. I pay $350-400/qtr for electricity with little use of heaters (add $700/year for wood and roughly the same for electric heaters if you're running them)
6. Amenities:
Student car park? Yes.
Tennis court? Several, quite cheap or especially cheap if you use the side gate that has been tampered with. Basketball courts, gym with classes and pool, fields, etc.
Anything? Plenty of toilets.
7. Study assistance:
How is the library? Good. Small med reserve but no problems getting books except for in stuvac (extended loans),
Lots of copies of Talley? I suppose, would be interesting to see how often they've been borrowed...
Computers? You realise this is the "School of Rural Medicine? I'd dust off my punchcards if I were you... BYO is the option, free wifi all over campus and colleges and thanks to KRudd you'll be cranking out NBN-speed downloads...
Other learning tools: You won't want to look at a skeleton after the anatomy elective but if you do, there are plenty in the lab. If you're nice to the anatomy a/prof you'll be able to get out and review prosections (cadaver parts) if you want - haven't tried but she loves an enthusastic student...
8. International links:
Probably a downside. Link with a Thai Medical School, some pre-established options for your Health Equity Selective in 3rd year. I THINK that the opportunity previously available through UNCLE (pre-JMP) to take a semester in the UK is available to all JMP but I'm not entirely sure. You can arrange placements in your clinical years (4&5) anywhere that will take you and subject to approval. Most go with the JMP clinical schools. Nothing as well established as many of the older med schools.
9. Location:
Within a busy city? You bet. I foolishly left home for uni 10 minutes before my lecture once and got caught by the paddle-pop lady. Was seriously two minutes late. There is also the distinct possibility of being caught at a traffic light. If you're at college however, you should be okay, especially if you were lucky enough to score one of the new electric bikes...
Or by the shores? 2.5 hrs from Coffs harbour. The "blue hole" is a swimming joint in summer.
10. Number of students:
How many? Supposedly 60 but we had 68 in first year - extras, repeaters, etc.
Too many? Not at all, you'll know everyone pretty quickly.
How many people in PBL or per anatomy class etc? 8-9 per PBL, seems a comfortable number. Clincial/GP groups of 2-4. Anatomy is random, plenty of instructors and specimens.
11. Entertainment:
How's the night life? You'll need a collegian to fill you in there...
Beach sports? Ummm... Armidale...
Winter sports? There have been photos of snow on facebook but I wouldn't call it sport.
Or pretty much boring? I'd say no, don't think I know anyone who would call it boring. It seems there are plenty of courses for all the horses at UNE.
12. Worst thing:
Hard to say now but I suspect that clinical years will be a slightly steeper learning curve for us having only been at Armidale and Tamworth hospitals but these hospitals are at least deemed suitable for full years in 4th and 5th years. Waaaaaay smaller than John Hunter though. The school is still "being established" as are all of the new schools so there are a few things that will be ironed out over the next few years so there aren't the international relationships, nice scholarships, etc. You're in Armidale so you won't have clinical rotations through big hospitals in your first three years. There is no Myer, David Jones so I just can't buy my hot Diesel jeans until I go to Sydney. It's a 5.5 hour drive from Sydney, 7 hour train or 1.25 hr flight (can be quite cheap if booked in advance). I gather there's some difficulty recruiting staff specs at the hospital with an attached teaching role. At this stage, there seems to be plenty of GPs/physicians willing and keen to teach but I think the general difficulty of recruiting and training doctors to rural Australia applies to us particularly. Years 4 and 5 are integrated with UNCLE which absolves concerns over clinical years.
13. Best thing:
The small cohort means that you'll get to know everyone very quickly. It also means there is a lot of support from fellow students and those in the years above. There is no obvious distinction (apart from what is being studied and examined) between 1st, 2nd and 3rd years and there's plenty of help being dished out from all angles around exams. The patients (and even nurses) at the hospitals are very accommodating and generally warm and most local doctors/physicians/surgeons have a lot of time for you, even outside of lectures, clinicals and semesters. If you're keen, you shouldn't have any trouble getting on surgeries and consults whenever suits you and the doctor. Julia G just gave HNEAHS $5mil for a new GP/clinical school so there'll be a shiny new building to look at next year. There is good coffee in town, trust me, my partner would have left me otherwise. 1st and 2nd years are standard uni timetable so there'll be plenty of time back in your hood but you might be surprised (as I was) how easy it is to settle in here. I'm sitting on my verandah and I can hear cows (that may not be your thing but it beats the sound of 531 from Chatswood to Central).
University = JMP@UNE
1. Campus:
Armidale, NSW - it's high... They recommend you spend a few days in Tamworth to acclimatise lest you be left to suffer excruciating headaches...
2. Social:
Soccer: there's a somewhat-serious uni team that plays in comp with a couple of town teams and teams from surrounding towns. This year we had a Tuesday-night-comp med team that played against the various res colleges. You could also opt for a town team and, if you're lucky, feature on the back page of the Armidale Express...
Others: Inter-college mixed netball, hockey, etc., plenty of social sport...
Pubs: More pubs per capita than I had on Sydney's North Shore, some trash, some good, a club or two....
College stuff: I live in town but colleges run various events regularly and (I gather) you wouldn't be short of a group to drink or socialise with. I live in town, not college, and it seems that there are plenty of things to keep you occupied for the 8 months/year you're here... Someone else will have to comment on college food but on campus, options are turd imo. (tops coffee in town, seriously)
3. Student Society:
UNEMSA is pretty active and there are plenty of opportunities to get involved. All the usual things abound: med revue, ball, "First incision". GPSN, rural health club and ASPIRE also run events. Free pizza is the usual kicker for attendance at AGMs, etc.
4. Accommodation:
Most people live on campus at one of the res colleges. It seems that all have their positives and negatives as far as I'm aware but again, I will defer to a college kid. I am but a "townie". The list of colleges can be found here: https://www.une.edu.au/accommodation/prospective.php. Fee info can be viewed here: https://www.une.edu.au/about/living/fee-summary.pdf. As an example, Austin College costs $217/week plus $67/week for 3 meals a day. In town, I'm currently paying $290/week for a 3 bedroom house with a decent yard. Woolies/Coles are unsurprisingly Sydney-priced.
5. Cost of living:
See above. If you're in town, energy is your biggest expense, the country gets rorted. I pay $350-400/qtr for electricity with little use of heaters (add $700/year for wood and roughly the same for electric heaters if you're running them)
6. Amenities:
Student car park? Yes.
Tennis court? Several, quite cheap or especially cheap if you use the side gate that has been tampered with. Basketball courts, gym with classes and pool, fields, etc.
Anything? Plenty of toilets.
7. Study assistance:
How is the library? Good. Small med reserve but no problems getting books except for in stuvac (extended loans),
Lots of copies of Talley? I suppose, would be interesting to see how often they've been borrowed...
Computers? You realise this is the "School of Rural Medicine? I'd dust off my punchcards if I were you... BYO is the option, free wifi all over campus and colleges and thanks to KRudd you'll be cranking out NBN-speed downloads...
Other learning tools: You won't want to look at a skeleton after the anatomy elective but if you do, there are plenty in the lab. If you're nice to the anatomy a/prof you'll be able to get out and review prosections (cadaver parts) if you want - haven't tried but she loves an enthusastic student...
8. International links:
Probably a downside. Link with a Thai Medical School, some pre-established options for your Health Equity Selective in 3rd year. I THINK that the opportunity previously available through UNCLE (pre-JMP) to take a semester in the UK is available to all JMP but I'm not entirely sure. You can arrange placements in your clinical years (4&5) anywhere that will take you and subject to approval. Most go with the JMP clinical schools. Nothing as well established as many of the older med schools.
9. Location:
Within a busy city? You bet. I foolishly left home for uni 10 minutes before my lecture once and got caught by the paddle-pop lady. Was seriously two minutes late. There is also the distinct possibility of being caught at a traffic light. If you're at college however, you should be okay, especially if you were lucky enough to score one of the new electric bikes...
Or by the shores? 2.5 hrs from Coffs harbour. The "blue hole" is a swimming joint in summer.
10. Number of students:
How many? Supposedly 60 but we had 68 in first year - extras, repeaters, etc.
Too many? Not at all, you'll know everyone pretty quickly.
How many people in PBL or per anatomy class etc? 8-9 per PBL, seems a comfortable number. Clincial/GP groups of 2-4. Anatomy is random, plenty of instructors and specimens.
11. Entertainment:
How's the night life? You'll need a collegian to fill you in there...
Beach sports? Ummm... Armidale...
Winter sports? There have been photos of snow on facebook but I wouldn't call it sport.
Or pretty much boring? I'd say no, don't think I know anyone who would call it boring. It seems there are plenty of courses for all the horses at UNE.
12. Worst thing:
Hard to say now but I suspect that clinical years will be a slightly steeper learning curve for us having only been at Armidale and Tamworth hospitals but these hospitals are at least deemed suitable for full years in 4th and 5th years. Waaaaaay smaller than John Hunter though. The school is still "being established" as are all of the new schools so there are a few things that will be ironed out over the next few years so there aren't the international relationships, nice scholarships, etc. You're in Armidale so you won't have clinical rotations through big hospitals in your first three years. There is no Myer, David Jones so I just can't buy my hot Diesel jeans until I go to Sydney. It's a 5.5 hour drive from Sydney, 7 hour train or 1.25 hr flight (can be quite cheap if booked in advance). I gather there's some difficulty recruiting staff specs at the hospital with an attached teaching role. At this stage, there seems to be plenty of GPs/physicians willing and keen to teach but I think the general difficulty of recruiting and training doctors to rural Australia applies to us particularly. Years 4 and 5 are integrated with UNCLE which absolves concerns over clinical years.
13. Best thing:
The small cohort means that you'll get to know everyone very quickly. It also means there is a lot of support from fellow students and those in the years above. There is no obvious distinction (apart from what is being studied and examined) between 1st, 2nd and 3rd years and there's plenty of help being dished out from all angles around exams. The patients (and even nurses) at the hospitals are very accommodating and generally warm and most local doctors/physicians/surgeons have a lot of time for you, even outside of lectures, clinicals and semesters. If you're keen, you shouldn't have any trouble getting on surgeries and consults whenever suits you and the doctor. Julia G just gave HNEAHS $5mil for a new GP/clinical school so there'll be a shiny new building to look at next year. There is good coffee in town, trust me, my partner would have left me otherwise. 1st and 2nd years are standard uni timetable so there'll be plenty of time back in your hood but you might be surprised (as I was) how easy it is to settle in here. I'm sitting on my verandah and I can hear cows (that may not be your thing but it beats the sound of 531 from Chatswood to Central).
jobensingh
Regular Member
lol sitting out on ur verandah at 2am??
But sounds good, although i put down Newcastle cause its closer to home (2hrs by train).
But sounds good, although i put down Newcastle cause its closer to home (2hrs by train).
D
Deleted member 6391
Guest
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Last edited by a moderator:
zvyx
Regular Member
Calice
Regular Member
[offtopic]
are u friends with kav?
[/offtopic]
who knows, i may even be kav
yandrewcheng
Regular Member
What about Monash Uni and Melb Uni? 
'Representin'.'
The University of Sydney, Darlington and Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia, 2006.
Campus.
Undergraduate years, unless one does combined music and medicine, are located solely at Main Campus. Graduate medicine years are initially located at Main Campus and one's assigned teaching hospital. In third and fourth year, one spends one's time wholly at teaching hospitals.
Main Campus, the Conservatorium of Music (located closest to Martin Place or Circular Quay, by the Sydney Royal Botanical Gardens), and teaching hospitals (located about the place) are large and nice refers to aesthetics, tastes, and I can't be an impartial assessor of niceness; thus, I'll remark as having said if old-architectural-style buildings and sandstone float your boat, this may be a university for you.
Social.
The university does in fact have sport teams and three gymnasiums. Whether one uses them is another matter entirely.
There's a fairly wild social/campus life, particularly with the Clubs and Societies and the severity with which students take their student activism and politics. Should one wish to join a club or society, one should be prepared to shell out at least a hundred dollars (if not renewing one's membership with the Union). College students have their Union membership cost incorporated into their lodging cost; or, it's "free"... nominally.
There are two pubs/public houses, each of which function as events halls. They are not comparable to the University of New South Wales's Roundhouse, however; to compensate, they do offer a different milieu or aura. It's homely.
University food changes, with the latest change being the installation of a milkbar/snack shop but at the cost of removing the canteen.
Student society.
There is an active medical society, which organises and hosts several events throughout the years, including balls (masquerade-themed Med Ball), camps, conferences, et cetera.
The undergraduate Combined Medicine Association has a couple of events of its own, such as free food, discursive discussions with doctors regarding their research and other work.
It's much the same and run-of-the-mill.
Accommodation.
On-campus accommodation is a luxury, as is peri-campus accommodation. The cost can be anything between approximately AU$75/wk to AU$500/wk, with college living being substantially costlier (as of 2011).[1]
Cost of living.
College living tends to imply three meals a day at generally fixed times, with an option to take out the lunch in case one has class. This would be covered as both rent and food, laundering, and other services rendered are packaged.
Amenities.
I don't believe there's a student car park at Main Campus. There are a few parking spots in the colleges in the vicinity of the university but not on University of Sydney-owned real property.
There's a tennis court, three gyms (as aforementioned), a rock-climbing facility, a swimming pool, and a couple of ovals and fields for sport. An elite athlete program exists.
Study assistance.
There are several libraries, with the most relevant ones being Medical Library and Dental Library, I suppose. Dental Library is small but perhaps passably adequate, and Medical Library is larger and likewise adequate.
There are a few copies of Examination Medicine but I don't definitively recall sighting it on the frosh text list but I think it's there; I can check this, or I'll presume that you'll take my word.
Computers are heavily disabled or locked down under shell policy (which is perhaps done with the pretense that it's security or accountability but it's hardly either). It's not too big a deal unless you can do something about it; and, no, complaining is not doing something about it. Hey, perhaps you'll do a B.Sc. in computer things if that can still be done, particularly as computer science has been moved out of Science and into Engineering and Information Technologies or whatever it's called these days -- no, given the rate of change, whatever it's called now.
There are skeleton models, and they're very useful, like small group rooms for facilitated discussion / PBLs.
International links.
Yeah.
Although not in the exchange booklet and on paper, students can attend Ivies during their undergraduate. It's not so easy in graduate years.
Location.
We've done this one.
It's by the city, bordering a festering bordello, a ghetto, and the hub of Sydney CBD.
Number of students.
Not too many in both medicine and dentistry.
Too many in undergraduate subjects.
Entertainment.
Newtown's near by, as is the CBD. You tell me.
Worst thing.
Nothing. (Wait a while; I'll have the benefit of retrospection.)
Best thing.
Everything! (Wait a while; I'll have the benefit of retrospection.) (I know, this is a non-valid answer; best implied but one thing only.)
Hope that was illuminating. Sorry if it was woefully inadequate or sucked.
EtA:
[1] The University of Sydney Accommodation Information Service. (2011.) "Accommodation Cost Comparison 2011." <https://sydney.edu.au/current_students/accommodation/documents/Cost_Comparison.pdf> Accessed: April 1, 2011.
The University of Sydney, Darlington and Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia, 2006.
Campus.
Undergraduate years, unless one does combined music and medicine, are located solely at Main Campus. Graduate medicine years are initially located at Main Campus and one's assigned teaching hospital. In third and fourth year, one spends one's time wholly at teaching hospitals.
Main Campus, the Conservatorium of Music (located closest to Martin Place or Circular Quay, by the Sydney Royal Botanical Gardens), and teaching hospitals (located about the place) are large and nice refers to aesthetics, tastes, and I can't be an impartial assessor of niceness; thus, I'll remark as having said if old-architectural-style buildings and sandstone float your boat, this may be a university for you.
Social.
The university does in fact have sport teams and three gymnasiums. Whether one uses them is another matter entirely.
There's a fairly wild social/campus life, particularly with the Clubs and Societies and the severity with which students take their student activism and politics. Should one wish to join a club or society, one should be prepared to shell out at least a hundred dollars (if not renewing one's membership with the Union). College students have their Union membership cost incorporated into their lodging cost; or, it's "free"... nominally.
There are two pubs/public houses, each of which function as events halls. They are not comparable to the University of New South Wales's Roundhouse, however; to compensate, they do offer a different milieu or aura. It's homely.
University food changes, with the latest change being the installation of a milkbar/snack shop but at the cost of removing the canteen.
Student society.
There is an active medical society, which organises and hosts several events throughout the years, including balls (masquerade-themed Med Ball), camps, conferences, et cetera.
The undergraduate Combined Medicine Association has a couple of events of its own, such as free food, discursive discussions with doctors regarding their research and other work.
It's much the same and run-of-the-mill.
Accommodation.
On-campus accommodation is a luxury, as is peri-campus accommodation. The cost can be anything between approximately AU$75/wk to AU$500/wk, with college living being substantially costlier (as of 2011).[1]
Cost of living.
College living tends to imply three meals a day at generally fixed times, with an option to take out the lunch in case one has class. This would be covered as both rent and food, laundering, and other services rendered are packaged.
Amenities.
I don't believe there's a student car park at Main Campus. There are a few parking spots in the colleges in the vicinity of the university but not on University of Sydney-owned real property.
There's a tennis court, three gyms (as aforementioned), a rock-climbing facility, a swimming pool, and a couple of ovals and fields for sport. An elite athlete program exists.
Study assistance.
There are several libraries, with the most relevant ones being Medical Library and Dental Library, I suppose. Dental Library is small but perhaps passably adequate, and Medical Library is larger and likewise adequate.
There are a few copies of Examination Medicine but I don't definitively recall sighting it on the frosh text list but I think it's there; I can check this, or I'll presume that you'll take my word.
Computers are heavily disabled or locked down under shell policy (which is perhaps done with the pretense that it's security or accountability but it's hardly either). It's not too big a deal unless you can do something about it; and, no, complaining is not doing something about it. Hey, perhaps you'll do a B.Sc. in computer things if that can still be done, particularly as computer science has been moved out of Science and into Engineering and Information Technologies or whatever it's called these days -- no, given the rate of change, whatever it's called now.
There are skeleton models, and they're very useful, like small group rooms for facilitated discussion / PBLs.
International links.
Yeah.
Although not in the exchange booklet and on paper, students can attend Ivies during their undergraduate. It's not so easy in graduate years.
Location.
We've done this one.
It's by the city, bordering a festering bordello, a ghetto, and the hub of Sydney CBD.
Number of students.
Not too many in both medicine and dentistry.
Too many in undergraduate subjects.
Entertainment.
Newtown's near by, as is the CBD. You tell me.
Worst thing.
Nothing. (Wait a while; I'll have the benefit of retrospection.)
Best thing.
Everything! (Wait a while; I'll have the benefit of retrospection.) (I know, this is a non-valid answer; best implied but one thing only.)
Hope that was illuminating. Sorry if it was woefully inadequate or sucked.
EtA:
[1] The University of Sydney Accommodation Information Service. (2011.) "Accommodation Cost Comparison 2011." <https://sydney.edu.au/current_students/accommodation/documents/Cost_Comparison.pdf> Accessed: April 1, 2011.
University = Charles Sturt University
1. Campus: Orange
2. Social: Soccer, Basketball, Rugby Uni Clubs. Night life includes the Pubs on Summer St i.e The Royal & The Ox
3. Student Society: CSUSDA, OPSA etc They organize many social events for e.g The Roland Bryant Cup
4. Accommodation: Cottages (4-6K), Old Residentials (4-6k) & New Residentials (8K)
5. Cost of living: 6K per year average with 4 meals a week.
6. Amenities: Car parks available. Soccer, rugby, tennis, netball and basketball fields.
7. Study assistance: Modern Library, State of art laboratories
8. International links: Over sea electives and exchange programs
9. Location: 5 minutes from town.
10. Number of students: 500 students in total. 40 in each cohort for majority of degrees on Orange campus.
11. Entertainment: Paintball, Caves, Dubbo Zoo, Ophir Mines, Camping, Blue Mountains, Pubs.
12. Worst thing: No supermarket on campus.
13. Best thing: The atmosphere.
1. Campus: Orange
2. Social: Soccer, Basketball, Rugby Uni Clubs. Night life includes the Pubs on Summer St i.e The Royal & The Ox
3. Student Society: CSUSDA, OPSA etc They organize many social events for e.g The Roland Bryant Cup
4. Accommodation: Cottages (4-6K), Old Residentials (4-6k) & New Residentials (8K)
5. Cost of living: 6K per year average with 4 meals a week.
6. Amenities: Car parks available. Soccer, rugby, tennis, netball and basketball fields.
7. Study assistance: Modern Library, State of art laboratories
8. International links: Over sea electives and exchange programs
9. Location: 5 minutes from town.
10. Number of students: 500 students in total. 40 in each cohort for majority of degrees on Orange campus.
11. Entertainment: Paintball, Caves, Dubbo Zoo, Ophir Mines, Camping, Blue Mountains, Pubs.
12. Worst thing: No supermarket on campus.
13. Best thing: The atmosphere.
Will edit daily.
University = UTAS
1. Campus: where is the campus/capuses? How big are they? Are they nice?
We have a separate campus in the middle of the city, right across the hospital.
Relatively Small building. Sometimes we have to go and use the Hospital's lecture theatre.
So essentially two places of study. Labs are present in both buildings for use. Library only in the hospital along with computer labs.
Many students prefer hospital just because the medlets have a separate room with a table tennis table
2. Social: Does the uni have sport teams? Pub? Hows the uni food?
3. Student Society: Does the uni have an active medical society? What kind of activities do they organise?
4. Accommodation: Is there decent on campus accommodation? How about around the uni? Prices?
5. Cost of living: Including rent and food?
6. Amenities: Student car park? Tennis court? Anything?
7. Study assistance: How is the library? Lots of copies of Talley? Computers? Other learning tools (skeleton models etc)?
8. International links: Any links with other universities? Overseas elective potential?
9. Location: Within a busy city? Or by the shores? Etc
10. Number of students: How many? Too many? How many people in PBL or per anatomy class etc?
11. Entertainment: How's the night life? Beach sports? Winter sports? Or pretty much boring?
12. Worst thing: ?
13. Best thing: ?
University = UTAS
1. Campus: where is the campus/capuses? How big are they? Are they nice?
We have a separate campus in the middle of the city, right across the hospital.
Relatively Small building. Sometimes we have to go and use the Hospital's lecture theatre.
So essentially two places of study. Labs are present in both buildings for use. Library only in the hospital along with computer labs.
Many students prefer hospital just because the medlets have a separate room with a table tennis table
2. Social: Does the uni have sport teams? Pub? Hows the uni food?
3. Student Society: Does the uni have an active medical society? What kind of activities do they organise?
4. Accommodation: Is there decent on campus accommodation? How about around the uni? Prices?
5. Cost of living: Including rent and food?
6. Amenities: Student car park? Tennis court? Anything?
7. Study assistance: How is the library? Lots of copies of Talley? Computers? Other learning tools (skeleton models etc)?
8. International links: Any links with other universities? Overseas elective potential?
9. Location: Within a busy city? Or by the shores? Etc
10. Number of students: How many? Too many? How many people in PBL or per anatomy class etc?
11. Entertainment: How's the night life? Beach sports? Winter sports? Or pretty much boring?
12. Worst thing: ?
13. Best thing: ?
Luxxey
Member
Bit surprised Monash hasn't been done yet (even though a few people have wanted to know about it). I would definitely have found this helpful last year, so here goes.
University = Monash University
1. Campus: Located in Clayton (about 40 minutes out from the city). There's a large bus loop on campus that services a large number of routes and connects to a few nearby stations, so it's easy to travel anywhere. Quite a large campus, very lovely, lots of greenery and lawns. Big campus centre (food and societies) and large libraries. Gym and swimming pool. Buildings are all comfortable and fairly modern.
2. Social: Lots of sport teams (including snow sports, kendo, anything that takes your fancy). Pub on campus, Sir John's, is fantastic with $1 pots on Messy Thursdays. Food is generally quite good and can range from run-of-the-mill fish and chips to Indian to fancier cafes. There are so many active societies (science, engineering, arts, law) that run BBQs during the week with free sausages and alcohol, as well as organize events like balls, trivia nights, pub crawls, foam parties and booze cruises. There's always way too much on and it's impossible to do everything.
3. Student Society: At Monash we have MUMUS (Monash University Medical Undergraduate Society). They're very active both academically and socially. There are a lot of conferences we attend, such as AMSA and Ignite, as well events that are organised (Pleasant Friday Evenings at bars, the after-exams party, med revue, med ball, etc.)
4. Accommodation: I'm actually living at the Halls of Residence at the moment, since I'm from Sydney. It's about $170 a week including all utilities but no food. There's a bus that takes you right from halls to the nearby shopping centre so groceries are easy, and it's about a 10-15 minute walk down to the main campus and gym (much less on a bike). The room sizes vary with each Hall. I highly recommend living at Halls for the first year (you move out to a sharehouse with other Meddies in second or third year) because you meet so many people outside of Med (which is important as the course gets very insular, very fast) who you spend a lot of time with, just chilling in their rooms, watching movies, having dinner or going out. There are a lot of functions that happen (toga party, tight and bright, scribble party, etc.) as well as general "college" stuff like Thursdays at the local pub and general shindigs in the common room. A definite experience. Around the area there are quite a few sharehouses that range from $100-250 a week depending on where and with whom you live. Also there's Mannix College which is ~$300 a week with all meals included (except dinner on Saturdays) and is literally 5 minutes walk from the med building. It's about 80% Meddies so there's a very strong sense of community and a lot of tutoring from 2nd and 3rd years, which is always helpful come exams. Be warned, though, they're notorious for partying hard every Wednesday (and then some) so it's not for everyone.
5. Cost of living: $170 on rent and around $50 for groceries (but again, this really depends on the person). If you live on res like I do and don't prepare your own lunch, it's at least $5-7 a meal at the campus centre.
6. Amenities: Massive student car park with free parking if you carpool. Very well equipped gym and swimming pool. Quite a few tennis courts.
7. Study assistance: Two main libraries (Hargrave-Andrew and Matheson) that are fairly large with a few levels. Fantastic for med textbooks as there are often multiple copies of pretty much everything. Computers are abundant but hard to secure. You can also book rooms in the Med building to practice injecting, etc.
8. International links: Connected with the Malaysian (Sunway) campus. There's also an Italian campus but Med can't take advantage of that exchange--though there are a few overseas exchanges that you can take in later years (not sure where, though, but they exist.)
9. Location: 40 minutes out from the city. However Melbourne has a large-branching public transport system that can take you pretty much anywhere. Also, unlike Sydney, the suburbs don't really get too much worse the further you go out (with a few notable exceptions like Frankston and Dandenong).
10. Number of students: About 300. There are a few internationals and quite a few interstaters. Each tutorial has 10-15 students. Feels like a good number.
11. Entertainment: Melbourne night life is amazing. There are fantastic bars and clubs in and around the city, some down hidden laneways. If you're not into that, there's the Melbourne Comedy Festival, the Jazz Festival, numerous film festivals (and even an underground cinema scene that has themed screenings) and markets (Camberwell and Victoria, notably). Lovely places to lunch and browse (Lygon, Degraves) or wander at night (Chapel, Sydney). The beaches, however, have nothing on Sydney and Brisbane.. though the further out you go the better it gets.
12. Worst thing: 8am starts.
13. Best thing: The cohort is fantastic and you get quite close with at least a few subsets of students. The course itself is also amazingly integrated and balances theory with application/clin skills really, really well. There are weeks when all of that week's lectures and tutes come together in your CBL/PBL and it just clicks. Plus, y'know, 5 years with 3 years of hospital placements is pretty awesome.
University = Monash University
1. Campus: Located in Clayton (about 40 minutes out from the city). There's a large bus loop on campus that services a large number of routes and connects to a few nearby stations, so it's easy to travel anywhere. Quite a large campus, very lovely, lots of greenery and lawns. Big campus centre (food and societies) and large libraries. Gym and swimming pool. Buildings are all comfortable and fairly modern.
2. Social: Lots of sport teams (including snow sports, kendo, anything that takes your fancy). Pub on campus, Sir John's, is fantastic with $1 pots on Messy Thursdays. Food is generally quite good and can range from run-of-the-mill fish and chips to Indian to fancier cafes. There are so many active societies (science, engineering, arts, law) that run BBQs during the week with free sausages and alcohol, as well as organize events like balls, trivia nights, pub crawls, foam parties and booze cruises. There's always way too much on and it's impossible to do everything.
3. Student Society: At Monash we have MUMUS (Monash University Medical Undergraduate Society). They're very active both academically and socially. There are a lot of conferences we attend, such as AMSA and Ignite, as well events that are organised (Pleasant Friday Evenings at bars, the after-exams party, med revue, med ball, etc.)
4. Accommodation: I'm actually living at the Halls of Residence at the moment, since I'm from Sydney. It's about $170 a week including all utilities but no food. There's a bus that takes you right from halls to the nearby shopping centre so groceries are easy, and it's about a 10-15 minute walk down to the main campus and gym (much less on a bike). The room sizes vary with each Hall. I highly recommend living at Halls for the first year (you move out to a sharehouse with other Meddies in second or third year) because you meet so many people outside of Med (which is important as the course gets very insular, very fast) who you spend a lot of time with, just chilling in their rooms, watching movies, having dinner or going out. There are a lot of functions that happen (toga party, tight and bright, scribble party, etc.) as well as general "college" stuff like Thursdays at the local pub and general shindigs in the common room. A definite experience. Around the area there are quite a few sharehouses that range from $100-250 a week depending on where and with whom you live. Also there's Mannix College which is ~$300 a week with all meals included (except dinner on Saturdays) and is literally 5 minutes walk from the med building. It's about 80% Meddies so there's a very strong sense of community and a lot of tutoring from 2nd and 3rd years, which is always helpful come exams. Be warned, though, they're notorious for partying hard every Wednesday (and then some) so it's not for everyone.
5. Cost of living: $170 on rent and around $50 for groceries (but again, this really depends on the person). If you live on res like I do and don't prepare your own lunch, it's at least $5-7 a meal at the campus centre.
6. Amenities: Massive student car park with free parking if you carpool. Very well equipped gym and swimming pool. Quite a few tennis courts.
7. Study assistance: Two main libraries (Hargrave-Andrew and Matheson) that are fairly large with a few levels. Fantastic for med textbooks as there are often multiple copies of pretty much everything. Computers are abundant but hard to secure. You can also book rooms in the Med building to practice injecting, etc.
8. International links: Connected with the Malaysian (Sunway) campus. There's also an Italian campus but Med can't take advantage of that exchange--though there are a few overseas exchanges that you can take in later years (not sure where, though, but they exist.)
9. Location: 40 minutes out from the city. However Melbourne has a large-branching public transport system that can take you pretty much anywhere. Also, unlike Sydney, the suburbs don't really get too much worse the further you go out (with a few notable exceptions like Frankston and Dandenong).
10. Number of students: About 300. There are a few internationals and quite a few interstaters. Each tutorial has 10-15 students. Feels like a good number.
11. Entertainment: Melbourne night life is amazing. There are fantastic bars and clubs in and around the city, some down hidden laneways. If you're not into that, there's the Melbourne Comedy Festival, the Jazz Festival, numerous film festivals (and even an underground cinema scene that has themed screenings) and markets (Camberwell and Victoria, notably). Lovely places to lunch and browse (Lygon, Degraves) or wander at night (Chapel, Sydney). The beaches, however, have nothing on Sydney and Brisbane.. though the further out you go the better it gets.
12. Worst thing: 8am starts.
13. Best thing: The cohort is fantastic and you get quite close with at least a few subsets of students. The course itself is also amazingly integrated and balances theory with application/clin skills really, really well. There are weeks when all of that week's lectures and tutes come together in your CBL/PBL and it just clicks. Plus, y'know, 5 years with 3 years of hospital placements is pretty awesome.
I'll add my thoughts since they somewhat differ to Max's on the first page.
University = James Cook University
1. Campus: Campus is hidden up against Mount Stuart/the army firing range of all things. The actual Med School itself is about as close to the Hospital as it could possibly get (~50m) and along with Engineering faculty is the furtherest walk from college. Campus isn't decadent or overly new, the med school wasn't built too long ago so it looks alright.. to be honest I don't see why looks would matter though, a lecture hall is a lecture hall. Chairs in lecture halls are comfortable (a bit too comfortable at times) and home rooms are good too. The walk from my college (Uni Hall) is about 600m and for other colleges it can be a little bit further.
2. Social: We have inter-faculty sports, med sports days and JCUMSA med balls and MedCamp. There's fairly decent social life, but I wouldn't want to rely solely on it. College is far more involving.
We have a club at the uni that most people go to because town is too far when there's a club literally 100m away. It's pretty good and definitely somewhere you can keep going back to every Tuesday and Thursday night, coupled with Bludgers(more chill, with live bands etc) on Friday night it's pretty decent.
3. Student Society: Answered above.
4. Accommodation:One piece of advice: COLLEGE, LIVE ON IT. I'm at Uni Hall which is the cheapest fully catered at $255 a fortnight and is set up as halls - i.e. there's a hallway with about 30-40 people on it and 6 stories of that. The colleges might look a little bit dodgy when you first see them, but honestly that's half the charm. Sure, you might be able to get your own house with your own toilet and kitchen for the same price but you aren't going to get all the friends or the social life or be able to wake up at 8:55 and still make it to a 9AM lecture.
5. Cost of living: Said above, I wouldn't know about off-campus.
6. Amenities: Car park is decent as long as you don't rock up at 8:59 trying to get to your 9AM lecture.. if you get there 5-10 minutes earlier you'll find a car park in ten seconds flat. It's a pretty dodgy car park but it works. I don't drive anymore because there isn't the threat of rain and there's no point when I can walk from college.
Over by the colleges there's basketball courts, decent football fields and squash courts in the gym. Gym membership isn't cheap, but from what I've heard it's worth it. There's also a 25m pool over near the colleges that's open from 1pm-6pm every day.. sounds dodgy but then if you aren't going to be getting up at 5:30 in the morning for your swim before class it's perfect - finish lectures, head over to the pool at 4 and done by 6.
7. Study assistance: There's a computer lab open 24 hours in the Med School that's fairly decent, I haven't really used it but I can imagine those not living on college could find it handy. Not terribly sure about the library, but I know that extra anatomy lessons can be organised pretty darn easily if you want them. Most lecturers will happily help you out if you swing them an e-mail and if you get really stuck they'll even give you a good ol' tutoring session.
8. International links: We have some scholarship link thing to Norway and the US, not too sure what the logistics of it are though.
9. Location: In Townsville.. not really close to any awesome beaches or anything of the like. There's not terribly much to do in this city, hence why college life is so good.
10. Number of students: 200, with home groups of 10. Class size is good, would be happier if it was a bit smaller but it's no big deal.
11. Entertainment: If I wasn't on college I think I might have gone insane by now. Either that or invented some kind of extreme sport.
12. Worst thing: The lack of amazing social/cultural life in Townsville.
13. Best thing: College, making up for the above lack.
University = James Cook University
1. Campus: Campus is hidden up against Mount Stuart/the army firing range of all things. The actual Med School itself is about as close to the Hospital as it could possibly get (~50m) and along with Engineering faculty is the furtherest walk from college. Campus isn't decadent or overly new, the med school wasn't built too long ago so it looks alright.. to be honest I don't see why looks would matter though, a lecture hall is a lecture hall. Chairs in lecture halls are comfortable (a bit too comfortable at times) and home rooms are good too. The walk from my college (Uni Hall) is about 600m and for other colleges it can be a little bit further.
2. Social: We have inter-faculty sports, med sports days and JCUMSA med balls and MedCamp. There's fairly decent social life, but I wouldn't want to rely solely on it. College is far more involving.
We have a club at the uni that most people go to because town is too far when there's a club literally 100m away. It's pretty good and definitely somewhere you can keep going back to every Tuesday and Thursday night, coupled with Bludgers(more chill, with live bands etc) on Friday night it's pretty decent.
3. Student Society: Answered above.
4. Accommodation:One piece of advice: COLLEGE, LIVE ON IT. I'm at Uni Hall which is the cheapest fully catered at $255 a fortnight and is set up as halls - i.e. there's a hallway with about 30-40 people on it and 6 stories of that. The colleges might look a little bit dodgy when you first see them, but honestly that's half the charm. Sure, you might be able to get your own house with your own toilet and kitchen for the same price but you aren't going to get all the friends or the social life or be able to wake up at 8:55 and still make it to a 9AM lecture.
5. Cost of living: Said above, I wouldn't know about off-campus.
6. Amenities: Car park is decent as long as you don't rock up at 8:59 trying to get to your 9AM lecture.. if you get there 5-10 minutes earlier you'll find a car park in ten seconds flat. It's a pretty dodgy car park but it works. I don't drive anymore because there isn't the threat of rain and there's no point when I can walk from college.
Over by the colleges there's basketball courts, decent football fields and squash courts in the gym. Gym membership isn't cheap, but from what I've heard it's worth it. There's also a 25m pool over near the colleges that's open from 1pm-6pm every day.. sounds dodgy but then if you aren't going to be getting up at 5:30 in the morning for your swim before class it's perfect - finish lectures, head over to the pool at 4 and done by 6.
7. Study assistance: There's a computer lab open 24 hours in the Med School that's fairly decent, I haven't really used it but I can imagine those not living on college could find it handy. Not terribly sure about the library, but I know that extra anatomy lessons can be organised pretty darn easily if you want them. Most lecturers will happily help you out if you swing them an e-mail and if you get really stuck they'll even give you a good ol' tutoring session.
8. International links: We have some scholarship link thing to Norway and the US, not too sure what the logistics of it are though.
9. Location: In Townsville.. not really close to any awesome beaches or anything of the like. There's not terribly much to do in this city, hence why college life is so good.
10. Number of students: 200, with home groups of 10. Class size is good, would be happier if it was a bit smaller but it's no big deal.
11. Entertainment: If I wasn't on college I think I might have gone insane by now. Either that or invented some kind of extreme sport.
12. Worst thing: The lack of amazing social/cultural life in Townsville.
13. Best thing: College, making up for the above lack.
University = James Cook University
filling in living costs for mdogz, who did a very accurate description of JCU.
5. Cost of living: On campus there are about 5 or 6 colleges which house lots of the med I cohort at the moment. services range from full board to self catering and style is from budget to luxury. cost is expensive however. Im at the budget end of the scale at university hall and its around $250/fortnight for full board. for a more fancy room at other colleges price increase is steep. Off campus rooms closeish to uni are readily available at around $110-150 / week. cheap buses service uni well.
agree that on campus in townsville is heaps good.
filling in living costs for mdogz, who did a very accurate description of JCU.
5. Cost of living: On campus there are about 5 or 6 colleges which house lots of the med I cohort at the moment. services range from full board to self catering and style is from budget to luxury. cost is expensive however. Im at the budget end of the scale at university hall and its around $250/fortnight for full board. for a more fancy room at other colleges price increase is steep. Off campus rooms closeish to uni are readily available at around $110-150 / week. cheap buses service uni well.
agree that on campus in townsville is heaps good.
ladynove
Double shot cappuccino.
Hey everyone!
Quick bump back into this thread. I've found a website that reviews universities from the same pro/con sort of perspective but may attract users on a larger scale. Turns out a survey I did about two years ago contributed to the review of Swinburne! Surprise! I'm right there, negative as ever, with too many semi-colons.
Anywho, seeing things have changed since I submitted my review of Swinburne, chances are things have changed at other universities as well. It would be great if there were more recent entries for the respective medicine courses, especially for courses have established in the past ten years or have little said on the website already. If you don't mind a few minutes to rate your university course so far, the link is https://www.uniaustralia.com.au/ !
EDIT: Oh, and no, this isn't spam. I'm genuinely this enthusiastic. Thanks!
Quick bump back into this thread. I've found a website that reviews universities from the same pro/con sort of perspective but may attract users on a larger scale. Turns out a survey I did about two years ago contributed to the review of Swinburne! Surprise! I'm right there, negative as ever, with too many semi-colons.
Anywho, seeing things have changed since I submitted my review of Swinburne, chances are things have changed at other universities as well. It would be great if there were more recent entries for the respective medicine courses, especially for courses have established in the past ten years or have little said on the website already. If you don't mind a few minutes to rate your university course so far, the link is https://www.uniaustralia.com.au/ !
EDIT: Oh, and no, this isn't spam. I'm genuinely this enthusiastic. Thanks!
Last edited:
uniaustralia
Lurker
Hey Ladynove,
I discovered your post via the web - I actually run Uni Australia! Thanks for the post
We do have lots of new data that needs to be uploaded from this last year (will be uploaded in the coming month), but it would be great to hear from more students on the site for the Med courses around Australia. We get a lot of students on the site each month, and I know that it would be a big help!
Thanks for being so enthusiastic! (and contributing your own experiences)
Rowan
is there a way to communicate or message other members of uniaustralia to ask them questions after reading their reviews?
Hey Ladynove,
I discovered your post via the web - I actually run Uni Australia! Thanks for the post
We do have lots of new data that needs to be uploaded from this last year (will be uploaded in the coming month), but it would be great to hear from more students on the site for the Med courses around Australia. We get a lot of students on the site each month, and I know that it would be a big help!
Thanks for being so enthusiastic! (and contributing your own experiences)
Rowan