<p>my dream school is UC Berekeley...but i dont live in the US...my family are all in Australia...so it turns out that i happen to be in a international school now in High school...im stuck between choosing an australian university and a American University....is it alright if i study at the University of Queensland for college and then apply for an american graduate school...?(preferable Berekely)...what would be my chances??? im biased against australian schools, thinking they're not half as good as american schools?? can anyone give me some advice? i could apply to an american college...though i would lose so much time with my family...would studying in a australian college lower my chances into studying in America?? its like my dream to study there....</p>
<p>"im biased against australian schools, thinking they're not half as good as american schools" ... Well I think you may be right ...</p>
<p>There's nothing wrong with doing Undergrad here and Grad over in the states. I think quite a few Proff's at UMelb did uni here and their PHD's at Harvard and stuff like that :p.</p>
<p>If you do well- and get 1st class honours and excellent recommendations then there should be no problem for you to study wherever you like. Why don't want to go to college in the states?</p>
<p>i reeli want to go to america for college...probably would make things a lot easier..but my family are in australia..even tho i dont live there now..i jus feel like if i go to the US for college i would lose a lot of time w/ my family....nd i dont think i would be independent enough to live alone in a foreign place when im 18....so its true that Australian colleges are that bad?? compared to US colleges??? would i be good enough to apply to grad school in US tho?? would i be able to catch up w/ them??? are there any good colleges located in Brisbane?? cuz thats where im going to live if i move to australia...?</p>
<p>There's nothing wrong with Australian Uni's... There's quite a few really good ones like UniMelb, UNSW, ANU, Monash etc although honestly I haven't really heard of UQueensland before. Like I said- there's nothing wrong with uni's here but there's no way they can compare with any of the top uni's in the states. </p>
<p>Sure the times rankings would place UMelb above Columbia- but if you ask any knowledgable person familiar with both places would tell you just how superior Columbia is.</p>
<p>Well... you sound like and Indian friend of mine... can't live without mum. So if don't have confidence in yourself then there's no point asking. If you really want to stay with your family then there's no choice for you either.</p>
<p>Good Luck</p>
<p>University of Queensland is the top univeristy in Queensland... that is a whole state in Australia. It is one of the oldest (and prettiest) universities in Australia, one of the sandstone universities. </p>
<p>As far as international name recognition goes you may be better off with Univeristy of Melbourne, Monash, ANU, UNSW or University of Sydney. However by no means is University of Queensland a bad university. Australian university education is not poor by any standards, why do you assume that the universities are bad? I am at UNSW and in the past year I have had Professors who have PhD's from Columbia, Princeton, and Cambridge. I have also had tutors who have worked at Berkeley. </p>
<p>Hey maybe it could even help you to go to the university of Queensland as there may not be many (if any) applying for the college of your choice in the states. It may make you stand out. Other than UQ there is also Griffith University at the gold coast which has a good reputation.</p>
<p>You could also try exchange if you wanted to experience studying in the states. Queensland offers exchange at the university of california so if you keep your grades up you could very well experience (or trial, to see if you can cope away from your family) Berkeley. Here is a list of UQ exchange programs there are lots of options in the states and to have exchange programs at these places the education would need to be of a similar level.
<a href="http://www.uq.edu.au/study/docs/GlobalNetworks.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.uq.edu.au/study/docs/GlobalNetworks.pdf</a></p>
<p>The thing about Australian Unis is... any idiot can get into any of the "prestigious" universities as he wants to. </p>
<p>In America it is impossible for a high-school slacker to attend a top school like Harvard, but in Australia even a person who hardly studied can get into Melbourne University or other universities, just in less selective courses.</p>
<p>Sure getting into Medicine at Melbourne is going to be a lot more difficult than getting into Agricultural studies (As shown by the vast difference in the ENTER cut offs), but the person in the latter case can still say "I attended Melbourne University." </p>
<p>If you want to go to grad school in America, I believe it would be highly advantageous for you to attend undergrad in America, because people will generally know what to do better because they know the process in the states</p>
<p>People can get in but people may not pass... </p>
<p>To get into Agricultural studies at Melbourne would be alot tougher than Agricultural studies at john doe university. While i can see your point i would disagree that 'any idiot' can get in, and even if it is the case then it is certainly not the case that 'any idiot' can actually pass or get decent grades. I know many students who worked really hard yet missed out on the 'prestigious universities'. To get into most 'respected' courses in NSW you will need at least over 90% if not 95% as your overall mark. Once you are in univeristy the australian system makes getting over 85 (a HD) a bit more tough than getting over 85 in the states. I mean no disrespect, but it is much more rare for people in Australian universities to get HD's than it is for people in the states to get an A. There are differences in the systems but i dont see that as a difference in quality.</p>
<p>Happy Aussie day people :)</p>
<p>Thanks Kjoodles! You too! :)</p>
<p>I just got back from the Big Day Out. I am so burnt and still tipsy. I really should not post as sometimes i read it the next day and am like WHAT DID I WRITE? so i appologise in advance if my above post has mistakes. Hope you all had a fun day celebrating :D</p>
<p>Lots of beer + beach + music = fun :)</p>
<p>haha same formula - the beach = fun for me too :)</p>
<p>
[quote]
To get into Agricultural studies at Melbourne would be alot tougher than Agricultural studies at john doe university. While i can see your point i would disagree that 'any idiot' can get in, and even if it is the case then it is certainly not the case that 'any idiot' can actually pass or get decent grades. I know many students who worked really hard yet missed out on the 'prestigious universities'. To get into most 'respected' courses in NSW you will need at least over 90% if not 95% as your overall mark. Once you are in univeristy the australian system makes getting over 85 (a HD) a bit more tough than getting over 85 in the states. I mean no disrespect, but it is much more rare for people in Australian universities to get HD's than it is for people in the states to get an A. There are differences in the systems but i dont see that as a difference in quality.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>By 90/95% you are referring to the ENTER right? ENTER, or the Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank, is a score from 0 to 99.95, in increments of 0.05, which determines your ranking against other graduating students. For example, someone with an ENTER of 65.00 would be in the 65th percentile of his graduating school leavers, and similarly someone with an ENTER of 99.90 would be in the top 0.1% of school leavers nationwide. </p>
<p>So you'd think a course with an ENTER of something like 90 (which according to you is "prestigious") would be relatively difficult to get into.... WRONG.</p>
<p>Achieving an ENTER of 90 is ridiculously trivial (In fact, something like 40% of the graduating class at my high school had an ENTER of 90 or above), simply due to the fact that there are A LOT of slackers who do not care about going to university. These people HELP you achieve an higher ENTER, so getting an ENTER of 90 isn't exactly hard...</p>
<p>I think alot of people work quite hard to get 90+. My school has similar stats as yours but i have gone to other schools where only 4 or so out of 100 get over 90. Basically your school would not be ordinary as its impossible for 40% of the general high school class to get over 90 as obviously the top 10% does not = 40%. They have changed the marking system lately so i think they claim that its not done as a percentage against your peers anymore but i think in general it still turns out that way. its been a few years since i was in high school so i am not up with all the details.</p>
<p>When i was refering to 85+ i was refering to the marks once you are in university. I was just making the point that while it can be argued that 'any idiot' can get in, once they are in it would be hard for idiots to get high marks.</p>
<p>hha...im getting 2 perspectives...so..wat should i do??? UQ that bad? or are there any other good colleges in Brisbane ..? Would goin to an Aussie college lower my chances of gettin into a good US graduate school?????</p>
<p>I think samedirection goes to one of those dodgy private schools like scotch or north syd where the amount of grade inflation makes sure you can't fail even if you wanted to :p</p>
<p>so..........wat should i do?</p>
<p>What level of university would you be able to get into in the states? Are you a serious contender for Berkeley for undergrad? Have you got the funding to pay for both undergrad and post grad there? (you dont have to answer that here obviously, just things to take into consideration when making a decision).</p>
<p>You already mention you dont think you are ready to live away from your family so does that really leave you any other option other than to study in Australia? UQ is NOT a bad university, it is well respected even if its not the BEST in australia. I would question more if they have the areas you want to study and if the lifestyle/climate etc will suit you. </p>
<p>People who have studied in australia do thier PhD's in the states quite alot (as i mentioned with my lecturers). It would certainly not ruin your chances by going to UQ (there are some less renowned universities that may limit your chances but UQ is not one of them). I am 100% certain that if you have the grades the admissions officers wont go "oh thats an Australian university we will have to reject them". However i dont know which would 'be best'. In life we never really know what the other path leads to so once you make your choice dont go on thinking that the path is always greener over there -------->
Maybe you could look at the stats of international students, look to see which country they studied at if those stats are available. </p>
<p>Where have you got such a bad impression on australian universities? Was it a good source?</p>
<p>"I think samedirection goes to one of those dodgy private schools like scotch or north syd where the amount of grade inflation makes sure you can't fail even if you wanted to"</p>
<p>Yeh some schools are crazy. Although at least half a mark should be a outside exam so hopefully that helps balance the grades a little bit. I am never sure if some schools just have really smart kids, pushy parents or corrupt teachers to get the marks they do.</p>
<p>
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I think samedirection goes to one of those dodgy private schools like scotch or north syd where the amount of grade inflation makes sure you can't fail even if you wanted to
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</p>
<p>Except that these rankings are derived primarily from state-run exams that everyone doing the same subject takes.</p>
<p>So you are in exactly the same kind of mess I was in 12 months ago. I graduated high school on the gold coast with a fairly decent ENTER and was really keen on studying undergraduate in the states. I sat the SATs 4 times and used well over $200 sending in applications to colleges. My situation was made worse when I gained entry to about 10 of them, including an ivy leauge. Earlier this year and had to choose either starting at UQ or risking an adventure in the US. I deferred for 6 months and travelled to the US for three months. I only just came back two weeks ago actually. I went to Berkely and Harvard and Columbia and Northeastern, in Boston, aswell as about 12 other colleges. To be honest, your decision should go by the college you are looking at, and what your concentration will be. For me, I wanted to study Law, and with law being a postgrad degree in the US, I was wasting my time and money studying liberal arts for 4 years, even if it was at an ivy leauge. I also learnt while I was visiting all of these universities the name many Australian universities have in the states. All but one of the aforementioned US colleges didnt know of UQ. Yes, colleges may be ranked. And I blindly made many foolish choices by these ranking last year aswell. No one but high school students ever take into account these ranks really seriously. If I were you, I would start at UQ and consider a study abroad. This will look really good if you do decide to study there afterwards. I know many oppourtunities exist in the US, and the lifestyle is very enticing aswell, but basing yourself in Australia first is going to be, in my mind, the better choice. Thats what im doing anyway. I wish I could have read this a year ago!</p>
<p>Good luck :)</p>