A good experience that expanded my global horizons Past Review

By (Psychology And Business, Brandeis University) - abroad from 02/15/2013 to 06/26/2013 with

IFSA: Sydney - University of Sydney

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
The biggest thing I learned was to be more open and global. Now I want to see other places in the world and I've made friends from all over the world that I want to visit. There are so many cool places to see and you've only got one life to try to see it all.

Review Photos

IFSA-Butler: Sydney - University of Sydney Photo IFSA-Butler: Sydney - University of Sydney Photo IFSA-Butler: Sydney - University of Sydney Photo IFSA-Butler: Sydney - University of Sydney Photo IFSA-Butler: Sydney - University of Sydney Photo

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? 1 month - 6 months

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I found Usyd to be very academically rigorous. Classes are quite large and you don't get much personal attention from lecturers or tutors- they respond to emails but don't seem willing to help you in the way that they are in America (with having office hours, taking questions during lectures etc.) Grading is very harsh and lots of points are taken off for small mistakes. Grading starts at 0 and you build to 100 rather than starting at 100 points and losing for doing stuff wrong. Its annoying because you feel like professors can arbitrarily give you grades and not tell you what you did wrong. Its hard to pass much less do well. Finals are worth like 50-60% of your final grade and you are tested on material that you were never tested on before. The study abroad academic advisors at Usyd didn't seem that helpful and didn't seem like they knew what they were doing.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

Ifsa Butler was helpful when i needed them. i didnt live with the other Ifsa people and so I although Ifsa would constantly show up to hang out and check in with people living in the village (where most ifsa people lived) they rarely reached out to me

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I lived at Mandelbaum House- the Jewish Residential college with kosher food. I absolutely loved it. It was a great opportunity to live with and meet Australians and other international students

* Food:

tasted fine and was kosher which was good but not that healthy (lots of carbs)

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I was living with Australians, working with them for group projects, and going to stay with families for Sabbat every weekend

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I didnt have any issues so I don't really know about it

* Safety:

I felt pretty safe. Sydney isn't so well lit at night though. Also, we were cautioned not to take the train to the nearest stop at night (because it was sketchy at night) and to take the bus instead even though the train was more convenient.

If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? Yes

Finances

* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

it was easy. sydney is super expensive but since food was included in the cost of my dorm i really didn't spend much during the week. I'd buy a soda maybe once a week, the occasional bus pass and if I ever did touristy stuff that was expensive but I only did stuff once every few weeks.

Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? $10
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? don't waste your money on stupid stuff.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? No

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Dorm
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Local Students
  • Americans
  • International Students
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Local Students
  • Americans
  • International Students
About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? 10+

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?
  • Mandelbaum House- my dorm
  • the people I was living with
  • Sydney is a beautiful city- beaches etc.
* What could be improved?
  • more prep for how hard (and different) classes would be and support for students like me who are used to going to Tas for everything and not having that resource there
  • ifsa-butler could work more on their communication to us before we leave- sometimes it took a long time to get responses back
  • maybe have a check in from Brandeis half way to see how you are doing
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? how the grading works and the best way to study for their type of system. the best way to use time where i could still travel (i didnt get to travel as much as many of my friends who went abroad because my university seemed to be more rigorous than all of my other friends)- perhaps I'd suggest to book your ticket early or late to allow more time to travel (if you are thinking about going to Queensland (great barrier reef), new zealand, tasmania etc. (all of which I wanted to go to but never got to.)

Reasons For Studying Abroad

To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you.
The Academic or Linguist
You went abroad with specific academic goals in mind; the program credentials and rigor of your coursework abroad were very important to you. You had a great time abroad, but never lost sight of your studies and (if applicable) were diligent with your foreign language study. Good for you!

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:

Foundation of Information Technology

Course Department: INFO
Instructor: Josiah Poon
Instruction Language: English
Comments: its a good way to learn some basic programming and web design. Instructor's English is a little hard to understand and its a lot of work on your own but overall its a really good intro to computers course.
Credit Transfer Issues: don't know yet- but i was told it would count for general credit
Course Name/Rating:

Brain and Behavior

Course Department: Psyc
Instructor: Ian Johnston
Instruction Language: English
Comments: they have different lecturers for every unit. none of the professors seem passionate about teaching, they just read off the slides. its listing study after study about rats running through mazes and its a lot of memorization.
Credit Transfer Issues: i was told that it would count as a group 1 psych class at brandeis
Course Name/Rating:

Social Psych

Course Department: Psych
Instructor: Lisa Zadro
Instruction Language: Enlish
Comments: The teachers were well prepared. there was too much emphasis on racism policy instead of psychology. too much emphasis on the writing APA paper and very harsh grading
Credit Transfer Issues: it is supposed to count for me as a business elective
Course Name/Rating:

Consumer Behavior

Course Department: Marketing
Instructor: Megan Davis
Instruction Language: English
Comments: boring, very easy and self explanatory. her slides were not really adding anything to the textbook.
Credit Transfer Issues: supposed to count towards a group B business elective.