Why did you choose the university where you are studying/studied at?

[JR_StudyEd]

The pressure is on for me right now, as universities begin shoving their open days in my face. But I have tried to keep things in perspective; the decisions I make at the end of this year and the start of next year might affect the next 5 or so years of my life, but certainly not the rest of my life. And I can always make a more informed decision by changing unis and degrees if I really wanted to.

That being said, I am fully aware that there is an AN article on the topic of choosing unis for the right reasons. But I would also like to hear the perspectives of those who have been through the process of choosing their universities. What factors did you take into consideration? How difficult was your decision? What was the moment that made you think, 'yeah, I'm gonna study here next year!' What scared you the most about the whole 'getting into uni' process?

[charlottemchenry]

I was set on Sydney uni since about year 10, didn't know what I wanted to study but wanted to go there.

On Open Day I suggested going to UTS just because it was close to USYD and on same day. When talking to faculty I heard for the first time about the degree (in my signature) and thought it was exactly what I love. From there I researched more and saw that the uni itself was pretty cool. But pretty much the Open Day vibe and the degree were what pushed my decision. Additionally seeing the facilities such as the super lab on the campus tour made me realise how cool it was. I did put other uni courses in my preferences though but all at UTS as I was then set on that.

Definitely go to Open Day and chat to staff and students it helps you get a feel for the place and whether you'd enjoy it.

[brynstar]

I was set on Arts at Melbourne but put a few other courses in my preferences just to have flexibility.
Then results came out and Monash offered me two scholarships for Arts/Law. Melbourne basically offered me nothing  . I had literally never been to Monash or thought about going there so we drove up there in mid-December to have a look around. Decided I'd take the chance and go there and am now really happy and loving Law
Moral of that story is don't do what I did. Go to all the open days and apply to lots of places - you never know when plans might change.

[PhoenixxFire]

The first part of the decision for me was knowing that I wanted to move out - which meant I never seriously considered any universities in Melbourne.

The next part was degrees - I wasn't super sure exactly what I wanted to do yet. I didn't really want to just do a science degree, but I also didn't want to do a marine biology degree because it felt too niche. I looked at going to UTAS, but although it does do marine bio stuff, it didn't really have any broader enviro science degrees. Looked at UNSW for a bit, but if I went there I would have just done science, and also sydney is expensive. Thought about queensland for a bit, but it's too hot and there are too many bogans :p

Sometime amongst all that I found out that ANU does flexible double degrees - so I could do science and enviro science (despite how important that was to me at the time, now that I've actually started it, i think i would have been totally okay with just doing a science degree haha).

I did an excessive amount of research on the various courses that I could do at ANU, looked up stuff about halls and extracurriculars etc. Decided to come up for the open day in 2017, and loved the vibe, and now here I am. The amount of nature close by definitely helped the decision too, so if you're considering moving out, remember to think about the area as a whole, not just the university itself.

[K888]

- Went to open days to get a vibe of the campus and the course and speak to students/staff
- Did a good bit of research about the courses I was interested in
- As I had to move out to study at uni, I also thought about where I wanted to live.

Ultimately, it was a combo of these three that made me pick my choice. I considered La Trobe before I settled on Monash but at the open day I really disliked the campus and area and couldn't really see myself studying there. On the other hand, I went to the Monash open day (both at Peninsula and Clayton) and really liked it. Course structure was also an influencing factor - I had a chat to students and staff and got an idea of the courses and some structures definitely appealed to me more than others. - another big tick in the Monash box for me And I also looked into where I wanted to live - I really wanted to live in the south-eastern suburbs as I was closer to some family and in an area I liked more than the northern suburbs. In the end I also got a scholarship offer at Monash so that was kind of the cherry on top for choosing Monash.

I got an offer to study interstate and considered it as the course had a really good reputation and was super hard to get into, but I didn't get a scholarship there and figured I'd rather be closer to home (especially as I was living out of home for the first time) and trained in the state that I grew up in and not have to create completely new social circles.

[codsta769]

I originally didn't know what Uni I wanted to go to but i always knew since Year 11 that i wanted to study Business. It wasn't till year 12 when i did the research about what Uni would best suite me. I also definitely knew that i was going to stay in Sydney and not move to another city. As a result of my research, i found that the rankings for Business/Commerce degrees for Universities are as follows (and still is as of today):
1. UNSW
2. USYD
3. UTS
4. Macq
5. WSU

The top 3 had ATAR's above 90 and i thought i wasnt gonna get it, so i set my mind towards Macquarie which was an 80 ATAR, or WSU in case i chocked the HSC. On the Contrary, i did put UTS as my first preference anyways, because it might have worked both ways and i might have gotten better than expected. I attended the open days and thought that Macq would be alright in terms of the benefits the campus life however, i knew in my mind that i would still rather UTS due to the location (public transport is easily accessible and is in the city), employment benefits, and overall ranking.

I did infact do better than expected and got an offer from UTS, which i am still currently studying. Therefore my advice would be:
1. Do your research- make sure you know what Uni is best suited for your course (overall world ranking does not necessarily mean they are better in your course like in my case where UNSW is better than USYD for business).

2. Aim for the highest University you think you could achieve.

3. Take into consideration BONUS POINTS and SRS- they may make the difference between receiving an offer and not.

4. Go to open day to get a vibe of the people, campus life and to ask questions.

5. Location- although this would probably be the least of your priorities because im not sure about you guys but i would be willing to travel extra time for a better university, otherwise i would have gone with WSU since its a 15 minute drive from where i live compared to the 50 minute train ride to the city.

[hums_student]

I only made the decision to go to uni about a month into year 12, so for me, it wasn't about being 'set on UoM since I was young' or anything like that.

I decided through the very scientific and reliable method: a dartboard process of elimination (specifically on 3 aspects):
.
1) Location. I live in rural western VIC, which instantly crosses off unis the Eastern suburbs.
2) Course. I knew I wanted to study arts, so unis which don't offer that are off the list too.
3) Employability. There's no way I'd go to uni for 3 years just to land myself with massive HECS debts with no means of paying it back.

In the first half of the year I thought a realistic goal was Bachelor of Arts at ACU (guaranteed ATAR of 58.50), though I told others I was aiming for UoM to keep my goals high. Then later I realised UoM was achievable for me, so I made it my only goal.

[Divayth Fyr]

My decision boiled down to "I don't want to commute to Sydney every day." Newcastle offered a not soul destroying commute, and The University of Newcastle had the degree I wanted to do. And so here I am, at The University of Newcastle and not having a life shortening commute.

[angewina_naguen]

Studying at the Con for me was a lifelong dream. I knew I wanted to do music there ever since I went to see a concert at the university when I was in kindergarten (sounds like a story straight out of a fairytale). What made me choose my degree though was a talk with my most trusted teachers in school. I told them that I was feeling lost, not musically but in terms of my career choices. They asked me a very simple question- what gives you meaning in life? Although it was a really big question, I didn't think really hard because I always knew the answer deep down. I know that my greatest prides and achievements are those derived from being able to learn something new everyday. I think knowledge is powerful and when I realised how much help and care my own teachers had given me, I came to see music education as my pathway to being able to inspire that kind of love for learning in the future. That being said, I had a lot of doubts about whether I was good enough to do Music Ed. I told them I didn't know if studying at the Con was too far-fetched of a dream but that discussion with them really helped with my self-esteem and they were the ones who encouraged me to apply.

I would also ditto on everyone's suggestion of going to open days. When I went to the Con's Open Day, I got to chat with two of the musicology lecturers and they gave me great insight into my options. It also helped me solidify that studying there was something I truly did want to do. I could not stress the value of university events like those enough! I fell in love with the campus ambiance and community almost instantly so I would highly recommend checking out as many unis as you can and find the right place for you 

[owidjaja]

I've always known I wanted to go to UNSW but I was also open to other unis. Mainly, I considered either UNSW or USyd because both of them offer the degree I wanted. However, when I went to the USyd Open Day, I was really disappointed when I saw the engineering buildings. I would've thought that engineering was all about innovation and improving all aspects of life but their engineering buildings were a) isolated from the rest of the campus, b) was tucked away near a parking lot, and c) were just a set of bricked buildings. They may be improving a bit since when I went there a year after going to Open Day, they had a VR Lab, but UNSW already had that kind of equipment set up before USyd.

Plus, I just remembered hearing from a math tutor that UNSW initially started as an engineering school and then branched off into a university so I was intrigued by that.

[yourfriendlyneighbourhoodghost]

I only made the decision to go to uni about a month into year 12, so for me, it wasn't about being 'set on UoM since I was young' or anything like that.

I decided through the very scientific and reliable method: a dartboard process of elimination (specifically on 3 aspects):
.
1) Location. I live in rural western VIC, which instantly crosses off unis the Eastern suburbs.
2) Course. I knew I wanted to study arts, so unis which don't offer that are off the list too.
3) Employability. There's no way I'd go to uni for 3 years just to land myself with massive HECS debts with no means of paying it back.

In the first half of the year I thought a realistic goal was Bachelor of Arts at ACU (guaranteed ATAR of 58.50), though I told others I was aiming for UoM to keep my goals high. Then later I realised UoM was achievable for me, so I made it my only goal.

I literally have the exact same goal as you, I am in year 12 and really really would like to get into Melourne for a BoA. Was it hard to get into the course? I am studying a lot and during quite well on SACS but I am scared I am not going to get the 85, because I am doing all the scaled down subjects.
Also is Melbourne good for arts? I heard it is but I would like your opinion too (:

Thank you very much (:

[blyatman]

I've always known I wanted to go to UNSW but I was also open to other unis. Mainly, I considered either UNSW or USyd because both of them offer the degree I wanted. However, when I went to the USyd Open Day, I was really disappointed when I saw the engineering buildings. I would've thought that engineering was all about innovation and improving all aspects of life but their engineering buildings were a) isolated from the rest of the campus, b) was tucked away near a parking lot, and c) were just a set of bricked buildings. They may be improving a bit since when I went there a year after going to Open Day, they had a VR Lab, but UNSW already had that kind of equipment set up before USyd.

Lol totally agree, the USYD aerospace building looks like a shack whose sole purpose is to suck the life out of everything within a 100m radius. Sucks that they don't get a 100million dollar building like Law.

However, crappy old buildings doesn't equate to a bad faculty or a poor quality of education. How innovative they are has nothing to do with what building they're placed in, and it's often not their choice since it depends on university funding. There are even top tier aerospace schools in the US which have super crappy isolated buildings. When I was studying at the University of Texas at Austin, their aerospace building was pretty isolated and ancient as well, but their teaching and research was top notch. As they old saying goes, don't judge a book by its cover!

[owidjaja]

Lol totally agree, the USYD aerospace building looks like a shack whose sole purpose is to suck the life out of everything within a 100m radius. Sucks that they don't get a 100million dollar building like Law.

However, crappy old buildings doesn't equate to a bad faculty or a poor quality of education. How innovative they are has nothing to do with what building they're placed in, and it's often not their choice since it depends on university funding.

Haha yeah I know I shouldn't be judging USyd by their appearance (even though I still can't get over how depressing the engineering buildings are lol). I guess when I was getting my UAC preferences sorted, I thought about how much the uni is willing to fund the engineering department and it felt to me that they leaned more towards the Law/Humanities department. (although, it would be interesting to do a USyd vs UNSW comparison with engineering).

There are even top tier aerospace schools in the US which have super crappy isolated buildings. When I was studying at the University of Texas at Austin, their aerospace building was pretty isolated and ancient as well, but their teaching and research was top notch. As they old saying goes, don't judge a book by its cover!

Wow that's so cool you studied in the US! What made you choose University of Texas rather than, say, MIT or Stanford?

[blyatman]

Wow that's so cool you studied in the US! What made you choose University of Texas rather than, say, MIT or Stanford?

Haha it's not like I didn't want to get into those schools! Needless to say, getting into MIT/Caltech is extremely difficult. I applied for the top 10 aerospace graduate schools (MIT, Caltech, and Stanford among them). I got into the Masters program at Purdue and University of Illinois, but UT offered me a PhD position on a NASA-funded research project, which was what I wanted at the time. I've since transferred over to Purdue.

Also note that the university school rankings aren't the whole picture. Unlike undergrad, when it comes to graduate school research, your area of research and advisor is way more important than which college you went to. If your advisor is a well-known leader in your field of interest but at a lesser-known school, then it's much better to go there rather than doing mediocre research under a mediocre professor at MIT. E.g. People specialising in astrodynamics would tend to go for CU Boulder (a 10-20s ranked school) as opposed to MIT/Caltech, since CU has numerous prominent professors in that field.

If you're extremely (and I mean extremely - it's a life commitment) dedicated to aerospace, then I'd recommend doing graduate school in the US!

[Joseph41]

Bachelor of Arts
Bit of a weird one because for pretty much all of Year 12 (until preferences were due), I thought I was going to do something design-related, and all of my research and stuff was aligned with that. So I was trying to decide between RMIT, Swinburne, and Monash - I was probably leaning toward RMIT very slightly. When I changed my preferences last minute (bit of panic), I didn't have a huge preference, but knew people at UoM who loved it, and also knew people at Monash who loved it, so preferenced those two accordingly. Went with Monash in the end, largely on vibe.

Graduate Certificate in Careers Education and Development
This is what I'm studying atm. I'm doing it through RMIT but it's largely online. To be honest, the course structure just fit the best. I researched a fair bit and couldn't really find something else as specific as this that was also quite flexible. I've had a bit of contact with RMIT previously, too, and thought it would be a good match. Enjoying it so far.