Melbourne or ANU?

[Expo1986]

Hey guys,

I am Canadian and I applied to some grad schools in Australia. Australian National University and University or Melbourne offered me admission to their Master of International Affairs programs. I can't decide where to go.

I've heard that ANU is located in a very sad city when compared to the vibrant Melbourne. But ANU consistently ranks higher than all Australian universities. I want to base my decision on the international reputation of the schools and potential international job prospects upon graduation.

Any two cents that any one of you can offer on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys.

[fluttering]

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.

[Expo1986]

thanks for your input, fluttering!

ANU offered me a place in their Graduate Diploma in IR first and after I finish that in a year with at least 70%, then I'm supposed to move on to just one semester of the Masters and end up with a Masters degree. The process seems a bit tedious and I have been told that the graduate diploma is basically another year of undergrad - which i already have 4 years of.

melbourne is going to be a little more expensive and about 6 months longer, but i think that's where i'm going to end up going. as much as i tried to ignore the allure of the city before, i think it definitely played a part in sucking me in...

[fluttering]

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 )

[Expo1986]

i think i'm pretty blinded by the excitement of going to melbuorne right now. and i actually like programs that i'm kind of a guinea pig for. it gives you more freedom from conformity to something that has a setup that has been fortified over years.

and i haven't been to australia yet. and i've always lived in the city - the country town-ness of canberra isn't exactly appealing. and melbourne, i've been told, is like vancouver - my home town - in many ways. don't get me wrong, i understand that the quality of education is probably higher at ANU - and that is naturally a priority. but melbourne's doesn't seem too bad in comparison either. and i believe they should both be good schools in terms of potential job prospects after.

decisions, decisions...indeed. though, for now, i think i'm going to go for melbuorne.

[fluttering]

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.

[Expo1986]

fluttering, you've been a good sport.

thanks, you friendly stranger.

[8am]

Hi there expo,

I'm a melburnian so thought i'd poke my head in to this conversation. (yes, melbourne is better than sydney, but no, melb uni is not better than monash )

Sounds like you've already decided on melbourne, and good on you for that. It's a great city, and if that is important to you then you'll have an awesome time here. I've got a quite a few melburnian friends (students/public servants) who have made the move up to canberra, and I think all but one have found the transition quite difficult. Which is not to say that that's everyone's experience - but it's not an uncommon one. (Although ANU is a great uni - so for some people that makes up for it)

Anyway, seeing as you have decided on U Melb, my only tip is that I would also steer away from campus housing if you can. I've tutored students in the past at their residence halls, and while they are nice and new, they also had (I thought) a bit of a sterile feel to them. And there are great places nearby that are only a quick tram or bike ride away - carlton, fitzroy etc. If you are interested, I would jump on Gumtree to have a look at places to rent - I think Craigslist is not really functional in melbourne (well it is, but it doesn't get much use - most people just post on gumtree instead).

Alright, well good luck with the move down here whenever that is. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

PS - yeah we did have a crazy hot spell this summer, but 48C is the exception rather than the rule! Although it was quite amusing to walk around in what looked like slow motion, and to see people (myself included) slowly melting into the pavement...

[fluttering]

I barely saw anyone out and about in the city when it was high 40s. It was horrible. Especially the fires. But yeah, usually it's a couple of days in the low 40s, and then typically you'll get a day where the temperature drops 10-20 degrees in half an hour. Bless Melbourne weather!

Is the new Uni Melb housing UniLodge? They're also terribly sterile and soulless. And the colleges are lame! I'm not sure whether Melbourne has any self-catered residential colleges, but they're all terribly overpriced... and terribly lame. Most Australian uni students commute to uni, particularly in the capital cities. (ANU is an exception; a large proportion of students are from out of town so the colleges have a much greater role in campus/university life, whereas at Uni Melb they are off on the edges of the campus and frankly much closer to the cemetery than the rest of campus.)

Expo1986, you're welcome. I just stumbled here randomly and thought, hey! I can answer that question btw, does you username refer to the actual '86 expo that was in Vancouver?

[Expo1986]

8am: Thanks eh. I had no clue this 'gumtree' existed. Very nice and useful of you!

fluttering: re: expo 86 vancouver - you got it!

[can-bra]

Hey - just thought I'd weigh quickly into this. Having spent 6 years studying at Uni Melb and the last 2.5 working for govt in Canberra, I would definitely recommend from a professional perspective that you go to ANU. I love Melbourne, and Canberra was certainly an 'interesting' transition. But if you want to work in foreign policy/international affairs, ANU has the best faculty and international connections, and the opportunities in Canberra for work experience, internships, etc are unparalleled in Australia. I have met plenty of ANU alumni who had access to extra-curricular experiences while studying that just weren't available in Melbourne. If lifestyle is your priority though, no question, Melbourne.

[Expo1986]

thanks can-bra. i've already declined anu's offer though as the extra step of graduate diploma in order to get a masters later did not seem to lucrative.

i'm going to start my masters right away at melbourne.

thanks for all the input you guys. it for sure helped.

[jino]

Hello. Sorry to resurrect a dead topic, but I figure it's better than creating a new one when this is still on the 1st page. of the index.

Ayway, how about for computers? I got accepted into Master of Computing in ANU and Master of Software Systems Engineering in Melbourne Uni, and I'm having trouble as well deciding where to go. I know that ANU is generally ranked higher than Melbourne in terms of University rankings, but what about their Computer Depts? I haven't seen an equivalent of the US News Graduate CS Programs Rankings for Australia.

Also, which city has a better IT industry for working after grad?

I've never been to Australia, but as for the difference between the cities, Melbourne definitely seems to win there. But having lived in a big, crowded, noisy, and lively city all my life, the country-towninsh feel of Canberra does hold a certain appeal for me to try out and see how it's like. Both are most certainly better than where I am now at least.

Thanks for the help.

[fluttering]

On the off chance that the above two posts aren't spam: try RMIT instead, from what little I know about computing and IT I do believe theirs is (one of?) the best regarded dept in Australia for such things.

[shamantajjj]

Hey Expo 1986, 

 

Assuming you went to Melbourne, how did you find it? I'm making the same decisions now. Do you think it ended in good employment opportunities? Do you wish you had done the ANU route? 

[guy73]

On 6/27/2013 at 4:47 AM, shamantajjj said:

Hey Expo 1986, 

 

Assuming you went to Melbourne, how did you find it? I'm making the same decisions now. Do you think it ended in good employment opportunities? Do you wish you had done the ANU route? 

Hi shamantajjj,

 I am about to ask you the same question that you had asked before.

So where did you end up studying? Uni Mel? or ANU?

What do you suggest?

Thanks in advance!

[DogsArePeopleToo]

I have visited both schools and both cities, though I have not studied in either. I know professors and graduate students at ANU.

City: If quiet is your thing, go to Canberra. You can take a three-hour bus across beautiful Australian plains to get to Sydney for the hubbub. Or you can drive 1.5 hours to Hyams Beach in Shoalhaven for an escape. There are lots of small towns with amazing restaurants along the way. Melbourne's weather is considered quite mercurial, with multiple changes in the course of a day, including colder-than-Australian-usual temperatures. But Melbourne has all the culture, architecture and whatnot. Crucially, you'll never get stuck in traffic in Canberra. In Melbourne, all bets are off.

Uni: I sat in on a law class at UniMelb. It was pretty good. But walking there, I was taking photos of the campus on my phone when what seemed like a bunch of snotty-nosed undergrads walked past and audibly mocked my touristy-ness. I have had a bad taste in my mouth for UniMelb since. I know doctoral graduates, doctoral candidates, master's graduates and master's students at ANU. They all seem like a pretty close-knit community. I know a couple of their professors. They're extremely nice and take students down to Shoalhaven/Hyams Beach for retreats multiple times a year. ANU hosts a lot of events and foreign visitors. It has very close ties with DFAT, Australia's department of state. Several ambassadors, directors-general and others are ANU grads, so the ANU-DFAT link is strong...professors offer policy input/guidance, etc. to all levels of DFAT and even DIBP, the immigration people.

People: Canberra is a lot like DC...a city of very educated, progressive young professionals, many of them connected with the government, law firms, NGOs, contracting agencies, etc. Melbourne is one of the two cultural capitals of Australia (along with Sydney), so you'll have a lot of events. It's also a melting pot, so a lot of immigrant communities (visit Afghan Bazaar in Dandenong, for example).

I know it's a tough choice. But personally, I can live in a city like Canberra or DC. I don't need constant stimulation. I'd go with the better university. Purely on the basis of its location and the nice community, I'd go with ANU. It's also a more prominent Aussie uni.

[DogsArePeopleToo]

Oops, I answered a thread that's, um, eight years old. Shoulda read the dates. *Blush*

Edited April 4, 2017 by DogsArePeopleToo

[Thanapoomped]

On 4/4/2560 at 0:08 PM, DogsArePeopleToo said:

Oops, I answered a thread that's, um, eight years old. Shoulda read the dates. *Blush*

Don't blame yourself, Bro, I get an offer from ANU and I find that your post is very useful as I considering the offer. Thank you for sharing.

[DogsArePeopleToo]

41 minutes ago, Thanapoomped said:

Don't blame yourself, Bro, I get an offer from ANU and I find that your post is very useful as I considering the offer. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you! I am glad it helped someone!