1. My first preference for on campus accommodation is International House, was this a good choice?
Yeah, IH is pretty good. Depends on the type of person you are though. If you're cool with mixing with heaps of different people from other countries, and don't want to cook for yourself, then go for it.
2. what are the rooms like & what's room security like?
Rooms are usually pretty small-ish. Enough room for a bed, a study table, some shelves and wardrobe, and that's pretty much it. Usual configuration is each 'block' has 3 floors, each with 10 rooms in total, 5 on one wing of the floor and 5 on the other wing, seperated by a kitchen/lounge room. I don't know anyone that has had any probs with security. Keep your room locked if you're not comfortable with your housemates. Otherwise, 90% of people in IH tend to leave their doors unlocked.
3. with the whole enrolling for lectures and tutorials and what not, what should I do if i am overseas when the application dates open and may possibly not have access to the internet?
Lectures
When you first add/enrol courses for the semester, lectures are automatically added. You don't register for lectures though. Tutorial registration is a different thing though. When tutorial registrations open, everybody rushes to grab the time slots that work for them best. If you have classes most days of the week and are ok with any spots, then you should be fine to register later when you get internet access. Otherwise, maybe you might need to get someone else (family/friends etc) to register your tutes for you.
4. what is university sport like (how competitive, availability etc)?
Depends on what the sport is. Rugby and League tend to be fairly competitive as well as Soccer and Cricket, but I guess it varies from year to year really. Your best bet is to turn up to the Shortland Union during O-Week and talk to people thar.
5. whats the arts (Japanese) course like?
Pretty good i've heard. A guy called Sato (Sensai) is in charge of a lot of the courses, and according to my Jap friends, he is really easy on the aussies and heaps hard on the Japs! Obviously, the courses get harder as you progress from 1st year (1000 level) to 3rd year (3000 level).
I'm doing JAPN2410 as an elective in Sem1, and possibly JAPN1110 (Keep changing my mind though). Woo!
6. whats the law course like?
Lots of reading in first year. Lots. Tonnes. Other than that, the lecturers are great.
7. what sort of university clubs are there (outside of sport)?
Tonnes. There are religious clubs, a scuba diving club, heaps of random clubs as well that I can't remember. Maybe others here can help answer this one.
8. how much coinage should i have at my disposal for O-week?
$1000 should get you through okay, made out in a cheque to me. Seriously though, all you need money for is food and gym membership if you're keen. Also, there are PS3/XBOX360 consoles at Shortland Union that you might be into, so I guess you might spend a couple of dollars on that too?
9. internet usage, speed, restrictions, availability and rates?
Need moar specifics dude.
If off-campus, I have a Naked ADSL2+ connection with Exetel for $50/month and that gives me 12GB off-peak and 48GB peak downloads. Does me fine, and cost me $40 to setup and $100 to break contract if I don't see it out. No line rental = win.
10. whats the employment market like?
Can be tough if you don't know where to look and how to score certain jobs. I'm working for the University in both the Library (AIC/CHIC) and the Student Hubs, which is good pay and good conditions, but is fiercely competitive. Out of over 200 applications for Library staff, only 12 were taken on. Similar figures for the Hubs.
However, if you want a job at say, Woolies doing Nightfill then as long as you give them enough availabilities, you shouldn't have any problems (from exprience of friends).
11. Tell me any other stuff you think i should now/ might be unaware of.
- The university has it's own suburb allocated to it; Callaghan.
- Bring some mozzie repellant if you want to survive the first week.
- Learn the rules and student/asssessment/exam policies of the university. They are boring as batshit, but 9/10 people complain that they are being hard done by, because they dont present their argument in the right way. Sounds simple, but causes a lot of frustration for everybody if you find you cant get an extention for something until its too late etc etc.
For example, I didn't know that you can challenge a final grade from a course that you did at any stage of your degree until I read it (for some unknown reason). If you're in 5th year now, and got an Fail for a 1st year course, you can challenge it. Random fact #3508.
Thanks.
You're welcome.
EDIT: What program are you doing? B.Arts/B.Law?
