<p>I'm an Australian, studying at the University of Western Australia.</p>
<p>I'm really looking to go to the US for postgraduate study in research</p>
<p>I'm just about to pick a University here to study Engineering at (Probably Electrical) at an undergraduate level.</p>
<p>My choices are currently </p>
<p>1) University of Western Australia - studying Engineering Science as an undergraduate (3 years), then do a Masters of Professional Engineering (2 years) </p>
<p>2) Melbourne University - Studying Electrical Systems as an undergraduate (3 yrs), then a Masters of Engineering (Same as the UWA one - 2 years) </p>
<p>3) Monash University - Studying Engineering and Commerce as a double degree - this is the old system Australian universities used to use, but I believe some (UWA and Melbourne University) are moving toward a more broad educational system. </p>
<p>Which Universities have a good reputation in the US? </p>
<p>Would there be much weight on the prestige of the university I complete my undergraduate degree at when applying to Universities in the US? Particularly for high ranked ones, such as stanford/MIT/Caltech etc.</p>
<p>None. Unfortunately 99% of the US population cannot name a single university in Australia. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, it’s just that they dont’ really have much reputation in the States.</p>
<p>With that said, I’ve heard of University of Melbourne and I think it’s the best of the three.</p>
<p>But when applying to graduate programs, your research is the most important, much more so that what school you went to.</p>
<p>Melbourne Uni is probably the most prestigious university in Australia at the moment, that was really the only reason why i was considering it, as it’s well recognised internationally (I thought!) and use a more international system. </p>
<p>What do you mean by research? Is this usually part of your undergraduate course, or something you do externally/go after professors and ask them to be an assistant?
How do you generally go about getting research experience in the states? I’m not sure if it’s a different system here. </p>
<p>As an engineering student here, we’ll spend our last year doing a thesis, but for the most part, especially at the very prestigious universities - UWA/Melbourne Uni - the course seems to be very theoretical from what I’ve heard.
Generally we can only really get involved in stuff like the universities motorsport teams, to get some hands on experience. However, it’s not really research based, more just building the car.</p>
<p>Monash is part of the better australian unis (Called the group of 8), but seems to have a more hands on approach compared to UWA/Melb.</p>