<p>So really basic question.
I'm applying to these two schools as an International Undergrad
They're both really good schools, but there is only so much you can learn from reading their website.</p>
<p>I did do a search for these schools and found threads from years ago, but I really would like to know perspectives of the two Universities from a students point of view.</p>
<p>Just for a little background, I'm an Asian male from New York.
I talked to an Australian teacher from my school, and he really recommended Sydney to me (even though he went to ANU). He believed that Melbourne is more like New York, but that Sydney had more opportunities for college students.</p>
<p>Melbourne like NY, wow that’s the first time I heard that. I don’t think Sydney nor Melbourne is much like New York at all. </p>
<p>I’m from Sydney and go to UNSW. Both Usyd and Uni of Melbourne are top schools so I don’t think there is much to separate based on academics. There’s a very big Asian community in Sydney and UNSW and UTS are known to have more Asians than Usyd. I’m not really sure about Melbourne… but there has been some attacks on Indian students in Melbourne, you might of heard about that on the news. The City of Sydney is a lot bigger than Melbourne, and there are beaches about 30 mins from the CBD. I’ve only been to Melbourne once and the streets and buildings look more flashy, they have subway stations that look very New York! Saw quite a few trams going to Melbourne University and they are quite small so I don’t know how packed it’ll be during the semester. Melbourne is more passionate about AFL, Sydney is NRL. Melbourne has the Australian Open. Melbourne weather is worse than Sydney’s. </p>
<p>Uni life over here is very different to that in the US. A lot of the locals live at home and drive/take public transportation to uni and once their classes are done, they’ll go home so it’s not so lively. I’d much rather have the whole American college experience. Oh and we say uni a lot rather than college as you may have noticed. Hope it helped.</p>
<p>I’m currently in year 12 and I’m doing 1st year physics at Melbourne (I’ve also done a research project there and I have a scholarship there), so I might be able to give some comments.</p>
<p>Melbourne, in general, has quite a large asian community. Don’t be too worried about that - Melbourne’s Chinatown is much bigger than Sydney’s, but it’d be tiny in comparison to NY’s. In relation to the violence against Indians - it’s been blown completely out of proportion, and you’d probably find that racially motivated violence was the same in both cities.</p>
<p>Melbourne’s weather is a bit… scary… but it’s honestly not that bad. There are quite a few beaches close to Melbourne’s CBD - you could get to them quite quickly from UniMelb.</p>
<p>Melbourne and Sydney Uni are very, very similar. If you’re interested in biomedicine, I’d recommend Melbourne over Sydney any day. Melbourne’d probably be better for commerce too. Then again, Sydney offers undergraduate law, which you might want to consider.</p>