[Melbourne or ANU?]

Yes, Melbourne is similar to Vancouver - but nicer and the weather isn't quite as bad. Last time I went to Vancouver I had to trudge through snow-slush, ugh. On the other hand, last time I was in Melbourne our car's thermometer recorded the temperature at 48C (approx 118F).

You'll have fun in Melbourne - the uni is a quite nice place to just hang out, and as a bonus you can just wander off-campus for lunch to the most fantastic places... go for off-campus housing either near the uni, a reasonable tram ride away, or near a train station - you can catch the train to Melbourne Central station and then take a tram up. Get a CAVAL card (special library card that lets you borrow from any uni library in the state). Learn all about AFL (Aussie Rules football) because people will expect you to know and care all about it, including who the teams are, their mascots, club songs, current standing, and star players. (If you don't know, they will still expect you to care and will tell you all about it )

Also, two catchphrases that will come in handy:

"I think Melbourne is much better than Sydney." (Will win you lots of Melburnian friends.)

"Of course Melbourne Uni is way better than Monash." (Although be careful saying that to Monash students, they can be militant!)

You'll be all set! Good luck.

[Melbourne or ANU?]

ANU can be a bit, well, snobby in terms of accepting qualifications from other universities. I've known a few Americans who had to repeat their final year of undergrad at ANU to be considered for Masters or Doctoral programs.

If you want I can ask one of my friends for more goss about Uni Melb, but like I said, everyone I've known who has studied in that department has had issues of some sort. Also, the Masters program is brand new and they're still figuring it out. My friend was considering transferring into that program (from 4th year undergrad) and I think the only difference between the undergrad and Masters program were that she would have to do an extra semester of classes.

I assume you've been to/lived in Melbourne before? It really depends on why you're moving to Australia for grad school. If it's for the best education and university experience, then go with ANU. If it's to live in Australia, pick Uni Melb.

I've lived in both cities and Canberra is not as awful as the rest of Australia claims. (And ANU is wonderful!) I honestly can't decide which is better - there are things I love and hate about both of them. Things I hate about Melbourne include public transport (Connex!), traffic, pollution and AFL. :wink: With Canberra, it's mainly frustration at the "country town" aspects, but it's a good place to live (just boring to visit, because the locals don't tell "tourists" where the fun is )

[Undergrad school same as graduate school]

Its bad enough if you are an undergraduate in a lab and then want to continue as a PhD student in the same or similar lab. How are the other graduate students, who knew you as an undergrad and were probably your most immediate supervisor, going to adjust to you being their intellectual equal all of a sudden?

This is a good point (although it varies depending on the student - there are some stellar undergrads who are welcomed to the ranks of grad students with open arms). But even weirder, for my friends who did undergrad & grad at the same place, is that you may end up teaching people who were your classmates a year or two ago. This creates some awkward moments...

The main reason against it, as others have pointed out, is that you don't get enough diversity of experience, thought, etc. You only know one way of doing things, which applies both in terms of your research and your teaching.

[Melbourne or ANU?]

ANU. No contest. If you want to do anything related to politics/IR (admittedly not my area), then ANU is the place to go. The overwhelming majority of ANU Arts students seem to be aiming for a career in foreign affairs/politics/international development. The prime minister went there, which is where he learned Mandarin. Also, if you're interested in Asian Studies they have an awesome library collection (second only to the National Library, which is about 5-10 min drive away.)

Academically ANU has a better reputation - well, it has a reputation as the hardest university in Australia. Uni Melb is known for having extremely high entry standards, but ANU seems to be harder once you're in. If you're interested in academia/research, then it's definitely a good place.

re: location. Yes, Melbourne is an awesome city. By far the best city in Australia. But Canberra is the capital city, packed with politicians and diplomats. It's also a good place to be a student - students make up a relatively large portion of the city and ANU has a good campus atmosphere and sense of community (better than Uni Melb, but it's also much smaller). Canberra is a bit country-townish, except that it's populated with over educated left-wing people. If you need a big city fix, it will take about 3 hours and $15 on the bus to get to Sydney. A plane to Melbourne will cost you $50-100 and take less than an hour.

Edit: If it's the MIR you got into at Melb, I'd recommend steering clear of that dept. I know a couple of people who did honours there (which is being phased out, I think, in favour of the MIR) and both had issues with supervisors getting switched mid-way through their thesis. It doesn't seem like a particularly student-friendly or supportive department. Also, the Masters is just a glorified/longer version of undergraduate honours, because they are ditching honours degrees and making people stop undergrad at a 3-year degree and then do a Masters.