Shoyz

And they call us sexist!

beeish

hey after years of being discriminated against we deserve SOME years of being sexist haha

kittikhun

Hello.

It's nice to see some Australians here.

I'm in Year 11 and I attend a school ranked 600 or somewhere around that last year in the HSC. I plan on joining the US Army enlisted and then hopefully studying at USMA after that to become a medical officer somehow but taking into account your guys' résumés I'm sort of getting disheartened with my chances. I've been turned three times for volunteering positions and I didn't apply for a leadership nomination at my school due to my lack of prudence, grand imcompetence and the fact that I didn't meet the criteria to do so. My ECs are not very spectacular neither are those of many of my fellow peers. Being brutally honest, do you think I stand a chance? Because there is a point where you cross between being strong and also being stupid at the same time in chasing an almost unattainable dream. I really want to go to USMA though to escape the avarice and back-stabing that I see everyday in the civilian world. If I can do that I will be content for the rest of my life!

Shoyz

It's hard to say without having all your stats. That said, chances are usually inaccurate anyway. Looking at the chance threads on this forum and seeing people who are quite similar to me, I'd have been "definitely accepted at one of HYPS at least".

There's a lot more to it than your stats. I'm not particularly familiar with West Point, but I think that for a military school, your passion and personality would matter so much more to them. That said, if that's your dream, don't give up on it. At least give it a try, or you'll be left wondering "what if" for the rest of your life.

(Please beeish, don't use that what if thing on me =P)

But yes, definitely give it a try.

WanToBeABrownie

I am considering Australian universities , but i have no idea which 1 is good for an undergraduate in Mechanical engineering . I have a few queries :-

1) how is the standard of education as compared to the Universities in the US
2)Selectivity - how selective are they ?
3) Which universities should i be looking at ?
4) Internships , costs , scholarships ?

I am an International student.

I am an Indian currently studying in an Indian ( CBSE curriculum School) School .

My Stats :-

Grade 9 - 76.5 %

Grade 10 [ CBSE Board Exam ] - 78 %

Grade 11 [ I know this is too low , but I just screwed up] - 59 %

Grade 12 - I am in grade 12 now

SAT 1 - 2030
Maths - 700
CR - 700
CW - 630

E.C.'s - School teams - Table Tennis , Soccer , and Swimming.[2 Years]
2) All other are average and some are just participation certificates

Shoyz

That's a rather unique question.

For an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering, I'd say UMelb would one of the best. And probably USyd and perhaps UNSW very close behind. ANU, which is "highest ranked" in Australia is much more of a graduate university so the undergraduate degree isn't THAT great from what I've heard. (I went to ANU on a maths camp once (yeah, shut up), and my god but Canberra is boring =P) I've from Perth so my knowledge of eastern universities aren't too good.

UWA (Western Australia) is quite decent in engineering, especially mining if you might be interested in that since the mining industry is huge over here. That said, Perth is a very nice quiet city, but terribly boring. So if you're looking for a fun life outside of university, UWA might not be such a good option.

Anyway, to answer your questions

1) Australian quality of education is supposedly up there amongst top US institutes, assuming you go to a top university that is, think Go8. Undergraduate doesn't *really* matter, especially if it's engineering. Most of us just want to get out because we like the US, I think that's the case for everyone else anyway =P.

2) Selectivity is rather weird in Australian universities, we don't holistically view applications. If you make the mark, you're in.

Entry requirements : International : Future students : The University of Melbourne

According to that, you'll need an average of 75% to get into Engineering. I'm not sure if that's your average or your Grade 12 stuff. If it is your average, you'll need to get 86.5% this year (Good luck!). I'm not actually sure if they take SATs into account, but I'm pretty sure they don't care about your ECs.

4) Internships are really scarce over here, so I'll let the others answer this.

Good luck!

Ruby_x3

Lol selectivity for admission to Australian uni's is almost a joke. There is really hardly any 'selectivity'. It is entirely based on your grades. If you make the grade for entry into a particular course at a particular uni, you're in. Each uni also determines their own grade that you have to make for a particular course depending on the demand for that course. Why is medicine the hardest to get into? Because more people want to do med that it far outweighs the number of places available. So high school here isn't geared towards having a right set of extra curriculars or focused on moulding yourself into a desired candidate for a certain university.

That's another thing; I think the system here forces you to specialise and choose your career too early on. You have to decide or at least have a good idea on what you what to do in high school so you have the subject prerequisites for entry into a particular course at uni. In year 10 (last year), we all went through a careers program (although i wouldn't really call it a program) where we had interviews with teacher + your parents and choose a course of study for year 11 and 12 based on what you want to do at uni. We even had to put down a major, ie. bachelor of business. I know myself and a lot of my peers have no idea what we want to do at uni but were being pressured to decide on a career path.

I think if you know exactly what you want to do and especially if it's law, journalism or engineering and you're set on that, then going to an Australian uni is good for you because you can launch straight into that without needing to fulfil any requirements and maybe delay your career.

As for me, I'm much more into that holistic approach of US uni's (even though i'm far from it) and gaining a solid foundation on a broad range of things. It's why the liberal arts of US colleges is very appealing to me because you are not forced to launch into a major you aren't sure of straight out of high school.

Shoyz

Also, sorry bee! My msn did the stupid "This message cannot be sent" error for like, 5 hours. =[

WanToBeABrownie

thanks a lot for the help.

I plan to apply to a maximum of 2 universities in Austrailia , if then , which two should i be applying to ?

Costs - living + tuition ? ... is it reasonable compare to the US ?

International recognition ? ... prestige ?

If i plan to work in Australia after my undergrad .. what is the scope for jobs .. are there top companies lookig for undergrads and give a good pay ?

So you people would suggest only Umelb for mechanical engineering ?

Is it better to got to a rank 81 university in the US or a No 1 or 2 university in Australia ?

Thank you

kayevin

With the required copy of "External examination record/results", I obvisouly know that they need the HSC. But what about the UAI? Did you guys copy it and send it, or...what did you do?

Shoyz

Guess it really depends. If you want a really quiet city, then Perth would be good, but it's really isolated (and boring, did I mention did?).

If you want a much "funner" city, I'd suggest going over east. Melbourne and Sydney are supposedly really nice cities. That said, Sydney's cost of living is said to be extremely high compared to other Australian cities (take that with a grain of salt because I have never been to Sydney).

Tuition, however, is much cheaper. I think international tuition comes to around 30k/yr AUD compared to 50k/yr USD (60k AUD) in the US.

For international recognition, your best bet would be, as before, UMelb and USyd. Prestige...doesn't quite compare to the top few in the US though.

I'm not QUITE sure how working visas are issued in Australia, but it'll probably be easier than getting one for the US.



Isn't the HSC and UAI the same thing? xD

WanToBeABrownie

thank you .

I will most probably will be applying to UMelb and Usyd .. A few people suggested ANU .. should I apply there ?

Is it worth applying ?

st.g.i.dragons

ANU - if you are a quiet, do things by yourself with minimum extra curricular activities etc person then thats fine. otherwise, THERES NOTHING TO DO IN CANBERRA!! unless you know your way around

to shoyz who obviously is not familiar with the NSW system. no it is not the same thing. HSC is your actual scores from highschool in year 12 and UAI is the rank according to the rest of the state. I sent both in btw

it could be better to go to top 1,2 Aust unis than lower american unis. but i guess most of us here thought unis in america would be a better choice for some sort of a reason.

st.g.i.dragons

oh btw guys. theres a nzlander at my future school. i shall have fun

beeish

dude do you know anything about ANU???? I have like quite a few friends who go there... for some odd reason and believe me their lives are anything but quiet. Not only is ANU the top school in Australia but it is the one that is most like any American University because the majority of kids live on campus/near campus. They get up to ALOT of mischeif. And like half the people have cars so there is no problem getting into the "city" to do stuff. And whilst its not big they DO have movies and resturants and night clubs and bars AND it isn't that hard to come up to Sydney for the weekend. Like a two hour trip, if that.