Undergrad Business Program - Australia (Semester Abroad)

Hey Everyone,

I'm interested in doing a semester abroad for my final year in Australia. A list of partner schools with my uni are:

1) University of Melbourne
2) UNSW
3) University of Sydney
4) University of Queensland

For all of the Australians out there, which school(s) would you recommend looking into? I'm particularly interested in UNSW and UofSyd. Any thoughts or things to consider?

(FYI: Canadian, interested in banking/capital markets overall, would like to get some exposure to the country and am genuinely interested in travelling/experiencing life out there)

9 Comments
 

I think it really depends on what sort of things interest you and your lifestyle. Are you into dining out, concerts, clubbing, etc. That would dictate somewhat where to go because each city has its charms, so to speak (putting the debate on USyd/UNSW to one side for now).

You can't go wrong with any of the choices though Melbourne and Sydney probably have more variety than Brisbane. I assume budget isn't a factor in your decision - not that any of those cities are cheap in the first place!

 
Best Response

I have to agree with the advice about working in Australia with respect to grad programs. The Visa issue is a turn off - the paperwork! - and there is so much supply that you'd need to be a very, very compelling hire.

There are people from Asia trying to do the same thing and a many of them end up paying for internships or similar programs just to obtain residency visas...that's what it's come to....

You'll probably enjoy Sydney and the weather would be better than Melbourne regardless of which semester you choose.

Good luck!

 

For finance, UNSW > USYD.

I'm a first-year at UNSW doing finance and I can say that the finance courses here are very well-structured.

Most of the teaching staff know what they are talking about, as most of them have real-world finance experience. My head lecturer for intro finance has a MBA AND a phd from NYU, he did his undergrad at brown. He was a MD at a long/short equity fund during the 2000s, so he gives a lot of crazy examples to students about the hedge fund world. I have one tutor who was a portfolio manager for Morgan Stanley for a couple of years and another who did one year in IB, trading and AM.

I do have quips. It is extremely competitive. I cant give too much insight, as I'm only a first-year, but the averages for our first exams were extremely high - 80s. What happens is the professors need to make the mid-sems even harder to level out the averages. UNSW is much more competitive than USYD in regards to finance, but thats just me.

If you have any more questions about UNSW, let me know.

 

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