Australia) : Reviews (Wollongong)

Academics: The academics there are just as challenging at UOW compared to CU if not more. However, the classes are a lot more independently oriented. Teachers there expect a lot from you and may not remind you of upcoming exams or assignments. Stay on top of all work, don't slack off because you have more free time, use it wisely. Also, go to every lecture, many Australian students hardly go to class, but they end up failing their subjects. You do not want to come back with a Fail on your transcript. Forget that your classes are pass/fail and work as hard in them if it were for a real grade. Overall I would say I had a challenging buy manageable academic experience.

Location: Wollongong is a beautiful coastal city. The beach is within walking distance or you can hop on the free shuttle to take you there. The University is also very beautiful, much smaller than CU however which I found as a nice change, it made it much easier to get around campus without getting lost. There are lots of fun things to do in town, eat at cafes, go shopping at the mall, go to the clubs, and visit the local gallery. Wollongong is very close to Sydney which makes traveling around Australia very accessible. I would give location 5 stars!

Housing: I lived in International House but I spent some time at new Kooloobong as well. Living in Ihouse is more like living in the dorms at CU, there is a full meal plan, RAs, student run activities and shared bedrooms. Kooloobong is more compared to University Village in Boulder. New Kooloobong has apartment units and suites. I would suggest that for anyone who doesn't mind sharing an apartment with 3 other strangers and likes to cook for themselves. Most of the other study abroad students from my session who were also from boulder lived at Campus East, the only thing I know about Campus East is that it is really far away, but it is right next to the beach. My friends from there had to commute to Campus by bus everyday. Campus East is not on the east side of the University Campus. In Australia dorms are called "campuses." Campus East is on the east side of town.

Interaction with Locals: I had a high level of interaction with locals, or domestic students as they call themselves. Mostly because of where I lived. International house does a good job of mixing up the types of people in that dorm, I would say Ihouse is a third international(non Australian pursing a degree there),a third study abroad (non Australian studying for a semester or year), and a third domestic (Australian). Also all of my close friends there were Australian. It is hard to meet people in your classes, so your best bet for friends would be your accommodation, join a club, or go out on Wednesday nights, "Uni night" to meet people.

Local transportation: There is a free bus (9 or 9N) that takes you to and from Uni from the North Wollongong train station. This bus is comparable to the buff bus from those that live at Ihouse, it comes every 5-10 minutes so it is pretty reliable. There is also a free green shuttle called the 55C and 55A. The green shuttle is particularly important because it will take you to Uni, to the beach and into town. The green shuttle doesn't have a time table but it comes every 30-45 minutes so it is relatively reliable. The train station is what I consider the most important transportation in Wollongong, it will take you up and down the coast, to Sydney and the airport, it is relatively cheap especially for exchange students.

Excursions, internships, and volunteering: If you choose to live in Ihouse you will have the opportunity to volunteer almost on a weekly basis. While I was there I volunteer for a event called global highway and I ran a booth representing America. During Oweek you'll hear about travel opportunities and trips like surf camp and the Blue Mountains.

It was an amazing experience! There weren't too many things that i disliked. One is that it seems like you only need $600 for your meal plan for the semester, but you will end up spending more than that if you eat at the cafeteria at Campus East 3 times a day. Accommodation was good, and academically, it was just like any other school and you have to put in the time in order to pass.

Amazing experience. Great people. Easy to travel around Australia. Bus and train system helps heaps with local travel. Campus east housing made the experience.

The academics were very different from CU's. They are much more self taught. Lectures are not mandatory. Very few study abroad kids went. I loved the location of Wollongong. It was close enough to Sydney we could go there for the day, but I still got to live in a small city. I would suggest Campus East to anyone going there. The room set ups were nice- suite style. I would suggest to anyone studying there to make it a priority to friend australian students as well as Americans.
The bus system around Wollongong is much like our system in Boulder. Very easy to use!

My courses were not an overload and having pass fail classes allowed me to travel more and really emerge in the culture while abroad. The location was amazing! 5 minutes from the beach and close enough to the city. It was nice being surrounded by other Australian students as well, not just international students.

The courses are a bit different, but fun for the most part. Wollongong is located just south of sydney, which is an easy train trip. I liked the small town feeling as opposed to the big city feeling. Other international students were great, as were the locals, and planning on keeping in touch with them.

Everything was wonderful

Courses were easier than at CU, still had to pay attention though. Location was perfect, 5 minute walk to the beach. Locals are very friendly. Travel around Oz as much as possible.

Location of the University of Wollongong is gorgeous! The town of Wollongong is absolutely amazing and right along the coast. The university is landscaped like a rainforest and is about a 5-10 minute drive from the beach. Regular grocery stores, a mall, bars, restaurants, and other needs are located all within a close vicinity of the university and campuses. Campus east is the place to be, for it immerses you living with Australians in dorms, has a community aspect, and is located with a 5 minute walk to the beach. My courses were not bad, for they were considered pass/fail by the University of Colorado. However, Australia's grading system is tougher than what we are used to, so upper division classes will require more work and possible harder grading than lower division classes. Interacting with locals was by far the best part of my entire experience. I was living with 4 other Australian's in Campus East and absolutely loved it. Australian's in general are very welcoming, fun to be around, and know how to party. They always want to show exchange students their amazing country as well, so they will be wanting to take you on trips! Take advantage of it!

Studying abroad in Australia is such an amazing experience, and I think the best place to do it is Wollongong because you really get an authentic experience and mingle with so many locals, plus it's a lot more affordable! In big cities like Sydney a lot of students commute from home to go to school, but at Wollongong, most students aren't from Wollongong so they live in campus housing. It's a lot like a college town. Although Wollongong doesn't have as much to do as Sydney, it's in a more beautiful location, you can walk to the beach rather than have to take buses, and I think you'll have more genuine relationships with Australians. Plus, it's an easy and cheap train ride to Sydney if you ever want to go to the city. I had an internship once a week in Sydney (that I found by myself) and it was not a fun commute, but manageable.
As an exchange student you don't have any excursions organized for you like other study abroad programs, which I was really worried about before I started my program. With the CU orientation though you'll meet everyone in the program, and can set up a Facebook group to get to know each other and plan trips before classes start. I ended up liking not having excursions because with all the money I saved from high program fees I traveled a lot and Australians are always excited to take you in their car to show you their hometown/some nearby adventure spots.
A lot of students end up going to Australia and never wanting to come back. Almost everyone I did the program with hope to make Australia a part of their life in the future, and a lot of us want to move back there after we graduate. I have Australian friends coming out to visit this winter for ski season, which is also really common!

Campus East is definitely the best place to live; right by the beach and the community is phenomenal. Surf camp was a great time; I would definitely recommend it over the other orientation trips. Courses were great, but be prepared for the work load, as it is much more independent based studying comparatively.

I study Integrative Physiology, and I was able to take an upper division IPHY core class while at UOW. It seems like a physiology program at UOW is pretty well developed, there were lots of options for IPHY classes and everything transferred! I also took my upper division writing class, and an indigenous studies class as an elective. Wollongong is a great uni town, it has a smaller city vibe but Sydney is still super accessible by train which is fun! Lots of beautiful beaches, has all the shopping/restaurants/clubs/random things you need! Aussies are super friendly, I had great interactions with locals. I didn't do any internships or volunteering, but I know there were some volunteering opportunities!

Arts and science classes are much better than classes within your major (transferability, ease, interest). Pass/fail is amazing, but you still have to put fourth the effort in school because it's very easy to fail in an Australian university. Do yourself a favor and live in Campus East. The other dorms are fine, but Campus East is the best community ever. Australians love making friends with Americans,even though they know you are leaving in a semester, weird but true. Travel, travel, travel. It doesn't have to be expensive, but don't be overly stingy with your money, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity! You don't necessarily have to travel far either. Visit local's homes and see how they live and go to those local areas. Bike around to different places, its a lovely way to sight see Wollongong. There are fantastic volunteer opportunities at Campus East like supervising local primary school children at recess. Teach the Aussies about the wonder of beach volleyball because they are definitely missing out on that. Jobs pay amazing wages there, and if you find a good job or a valuable internship where you are working with other people that you can befriend, then don't be afraid to take it, you can still have a wonderful time abroad. You will have to make some sacrifices though. Don't have someone to accompany you to do something you really want to do? Do it alone, don't let it stop you! Don't obsess about differences between Australia and America, but do use it as a talking point.

My courses were fairly easy and pass/fail helped me to have more time to travel and meet people instead of stressing over grades so that was really great. I think Wollongong University in paticular was a great institution to be an exchange student at because it's so international and has a lot of welcome events held at all their dorms for international people. However I really didn't interact with that many local people in wollongong because I was caught up hanging out with other international and australian students. My friends were the ones who we planned excursions with and did trips to New Zealand, Bali, and to Cairns. Wollongong was a great central location that was right next to awesome beaches and only an hour away from Sydney and all that goes on there.

The classes are a lot of independent work, take easy core classes or something and schedule your classes on as few days as possible
Location is amazing, the town of Wollongong is beautiful and has much going on
Lots of interaction with locals, most of my friends were Australian
Excursions are easy, go out and do them as soon as possible and as many as you can
I tried to find volunteering opportunities and no one ever contacted me, so I would just enjoy the free time

The course work was hard at times but light enough that I still had the time and freedom to do lots of things outside of classes. The location was amazing. Such a beautiful area. Particularly campus east, where I lived! The people were by far the best part of my experience. They were fun, welcoming, and kind, they made this the bet experience of my life. I walked away from my 5 months there with friends for life.

I lived in Campus East, which was dorm style living. It was by far the best living option in my opinion. Each person has their own individual bedroom with a desk, bed, and closet. Depending on which dorm you are put in, most dorms have a shared common room with table and couches, kitchen, and bathroom. These shared facilities make it very easy to be social with your roommates and get to know their friends who come by as well. Local transportation was very easy to use. To transport to classes, there is a free bus which is a 5 min walk from campus which comes about every 20 minutes. This bus will take you to university for classes, to grocery stores, or to the main town area with a mall and restaurants. If you live at Campus East, there is a carpool system where you can grab a ride with anyone driving to university from campus east. This was a very easy and time saving system, and anyone driving would post on the campus east facebook page for the time they were leaving from campus east. Transport to Sydney and other towns was very east too; Fairy Meadow train station was a 10 minute walk from campus east and these trains would take you straight to your desired destination.

Many people abroad take only 3 classes, but I took 4 and thought it was just fine. I did not feel overloaded at all. The grading system in Australia is much different than the U.S. Typically, there is not homework due every week. Your grades are based on about only 3-4 major tests or assignments. One aspect that seemed to stress people out somewhat were the final exams, because they can be worth up to 60% of your grade for the class. However, since CU Boulder takes the classes as pass/fail, it is not difficult at all to pass all of your classes. Typically for class schedule, you only have 1 lecture per subject per week. These lectures could be 1-2 hours depending on the class. They are typically supplemented with a tutorial (which is similar to a recitation). Tutorials can be 1-2 hours one time per week depending on the subject, and usually provide a smaller class setting to allow for participation and more personal attention from the lecturer or tutor. Depending on the subject, there also might be a lab once per week as well. Overall, I found the classes very doable and was happy with my academic results.

At the Uni I took two sociology classes and AUST 101. School in Australia is definitely different. You're given less assignments, and it seems like less is expected of you but then your professors will grade a lot harder. Luckily the program is P/F! Australians don't do much work during the semester and skip class a lot, but then the final month of the semester they'll really cram and end up failing classes often. If you just go to all your classes, skim your readings and put in a decent effort for your assessments, you should Pass without a problem.
Professors are usually similar to American ones, some are amazing and some are bad, but they seem to be generally interested and like to start up conversations and debates in class often. Generally, Australians are more interested in sharing their opinion in class than Americans.

Most of the locals I met were through my classes and also through the buddy program. I would highly recommend the buddy program because it allowed me to meet another separate group of friends that were all Aussie and not associated with my dorm scene.

If you want to be able to study like you do at Boulder and live by beautiful beaches then Australia is the place for you. The people are laid back and friendly. The courses are designed for interactions with other students so you'll get to meet and work with locals. The beach is within walking distance from the campus and there is a lot of diversity in cultures from all around the World.

Australians are hands down the most sincerely nice people I've met. On this abroad trip I stopped through both Hawaii and Japan and of course have plenty of experience with Americans. Aussies are hilarious, sarcastic, and always genuinely interested in you and what you're on about. Completely wholesome polite people that aren't faking it at all.
If any prospective students want the best possible experience in a community and making friends for life--sign up to live in the International House Dorm. Words cannot describe the sheer sense of community that the hardworking student leaders and the staff fostered. More than that, everyone who lived in IHouse was actively there to have fun, meet people, find a friend family, and explore. Everyone was everybody's best friend. This is of course not always the case every year but when it does happen it is the best experience. I love you, IHouse! Will miss you and the family I formed there.
The courses offered at UOW are varied and unique across the board. My Digital Game Cultures course (which will be splitting into two next semester under different names) was particularly excellent. In it, the entire class spent the entire game playing board games and making board games (or video games if the student has the means). This was a fantastic course because it really drove home how nothing is stopping anyone from creating something utterly unique out of nothing but paper clips and card board.

Wollongong is an absolute beautiful place to study! Right from the start, everyone I met was super friendly and fun to be around. I lived at Weerona which was about halfway between uni and the beach. The bus system is pretty good as there's a bus that goes to town and uni about every 20 minutes or so during the weekday. The classes seem to be way more independent than CU. Classes only meet once a week and there are fewer assignments due throughout the semester, but each assignment is heavily weighted.

As for traveling, Australia is the best place to be! I traveled to New Zealand and Southeast Asia while I was there. The experience of travelling and being in a foreign country is amazing. It is fun to immerse yourself in different cultures and to appreciate the world in a new way.

The courses were much more independent than at CU and you were required to go to most classes since they are only once a week but, the content wasn't harder, I would even say some were a bit easier. I took an array of different classes which I don't think was the best idea. Since they don't take core classes, it made for having some gaps in knowledge in certain subjects. UOW is in a really ideal location. I stand in Campus East which is a short walk to the beach and has easy access to shops and such on the free bus. The local students know about CU because a lot of students exchange between the two schools which is nice. They were all really welcoming and friendly!

The courses I took were a lot more difficult than I am used to at CU Boulder, but you learn so much about the course and your studying habits. The classes require more time outside of class, teaching yourself with less homework. However, the assignments are worth more and graded on a completely different scale. It is extremely difficult to get about a 90%, and a 50% or higher is passing which is something that isn't easy to look at when you're used to CU Boulder's grading scale.
The location was fantastic! It is not in the middle of the busy city, it is perfectly near the coast with access to the beach, nearby hikes, a shopping mall, and the train station.
Across the campus, there is a Botanical Gardens, and there is a nearby hike too, on Mount Keira. There are also a few free buses that take you around Wollongong which is great. The location couldn't be better.
The locals are very friendly that it is almost unbelievable. You could be sitting on the bus, and people will start friendly conversations all the time. The staff in supermarkets and stores are very kind and will ask you how your day is and so on. The thing I had a hard time adjusting to is that people don't tip at restaurants, and there were some places where they didn't help keep you satisfied if you didn't like the food or couldn't eat it. That Was disappointing, but it wasn't everywhere, it was just certain restaurants.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the program, and everything about it.

Close to the coast. Laid-back people. Active arts and music scene. Ideal for anyone who wants to have a good time and get an Aussie perspective on the world.

I lived in dorms that were off campus. They were called International House. It was a 15-minute walk from campus, but there was also a free bus available that took us straight to campus. It was a great fit. I loved it! I thought it was a good fit for me because it encouraged me to be more social and involved. The Student Leaders (aka RAs) organized a few events per week that would help us socialize with other people. The events were a lot of fun and at times they were also educational. They would have presentations that would help us survive at Uni or that would inform us about their Australian ways, like ANZAC day.
The transportation around Wollongong was really easy with the free buses provided. There was one bus that took us straight to campus, and the other one that took us to the center of the city and by the beach. Also International House was located next to the train station which made it easy to travel to Sydney and other cities nearby. The train costs, so we had to purchase an opal card, but it was very convenient. On Sundays, it was reduced fare.