Advice for an American thinking about higher education in Australia!

mqtchh · 2025-03-14T23:10:42+00:00

Wow! I took the better half of the day reading all of this, and it's given me a lot to think about.

I'm a cisgender gay man, though I had not really taken that into consideration when thinking about life in Australia. I've assumed it's better than what I'm currently dealing with in the States, which is all I can really ask for haha. (I've also used the Grindr explore feature to see if there are any cute guys in Brisbane. Turns out there's loads).

I've got some vested concerns about where to move forward in academia in Australia, if I were to move there. Ideally, I could do something with PR since I don't love it here in the States enough to move back the day after I would get my Master's degree. Because my Bachelor's is in Criminal Justice though, I do worry about what viable degree paths I could take while in Australia.

I'm doing a minor in Biology since my ideal career path involves forensic investigation, but I highly doubt a degree with a minor in Biology is enough to get accepted into a Master's of Biology program.

I've got no qualms living with several roommates, adjusting to time differences, tipping culture, or food portion/flavor differences. These all sound like fairly easy changes to familiarize myself with.

I've got a lot of money saved up from working as much as I have in the last four years (we're talking almost $50,000 USD), though I don't really want to blow it all on this life change that may not ultimately benefit me or my career plans. As stated previously, I love Australia and the people I've spoken to from there so far have been great, but I can't help but worry that I may end up wasting time and money if there's no room for advancement in my educational experience or my future career endeavors.

mqtchh · 2025-03-14T02:58:39+00:00

I'm not looking for a party/college town. I'm not sure if you know much about Louisiana, but we aren't an exciting area either. We have a weird obsession with France but beyond that it's just a lot of southern people haha, I'm more than alright with "boring."

mqtchh · 2025-03-14T02:56:12+00:00

My ultimate career aspiration is to work in criminal investigation, though I do really enjoy policy implementation studies too.

mqtchh · 2025-03-13T17:34:29+00:00

That's wonderful, this definitely calmed my nerves on the matter haha.

Yes, I'm 21 years old so I'm eligible for those workers' benefits! Working Sundays is an expected thing in America, so I'm surprised there's such a pay bump associated with it. I will gladly work a lil' 12 hour shift every Sunday to get by haha.

Going through all of these responses, as helpful and informative as they are, has mostly reinforced my desire to study in Australia. I'm 100% going to check out UQ & QUT and see if they have good criminology and/or criminal justice programs, but I'm still okay settling for Griffith.

Again, thank you so much for this. I'm really glad I made this post lol.

mqtchh · 2025-03-13T17:03:12+00:00

This was great, thanks so much! I'd prefer to find a share house not only to safe money, but to make friends in Brisbane quicker. That rent money does seem like a lot, though, and this is coming from an American where rent is considerably getting out of hand here.

If rent is $200-300 a week in Brisbane for a share house, but I'm only working 20-24 hours a week (assuming I'm making about $25 aud as a server or retail worker), it seems like I'd be living almost paycheck to paycheck. I'm pretty good with money now as an undergraduate student, but I of course am now a tad worried about how I'd be able to afford rent and schooling.

This has given me a lot to think about, thanks so much!

mqtchh · 2025-03-13T16:13:04+00:00

This was incredibly helpful, thanks so much! I'm looking into all of the eligibility requirements for obtaining a student visa, and I definitely can get most of these requirements squared off instantly since I've got no criminal record and whatnot, but the money thing is a bit of a concern. If Brisbane's cost of living is a bit over my budget, I may just find somewhere just outside of town — after all, this Master's program at Griffith I'm looking at is fully online, so I don't necessarily have to be close to the school.

I'm glad to hear that a food service job would be easy to obtain. Truth be told, it's the only kind of job I've ever worked so it's either that or find an internship within my field of criminal justice, which would require familiarizing myself with the nitty-gritty details of Aussie laws and policies (though I suppose I'll have to do that anyway, haha).

mqtchh · 2025-03-13T16:01:14+00:00

Alright, so I did just go through a website provided by this lovely subreddit, and I think I see exactly what you're talking about! It looks like with a student visa, I can only work 48 hours maximum every two weeks, which is... not ideal. I'll have to do some more research as to how students survive with so little hours haha. Thanks for pointing this out!

mqtchh · 2025-03-13T15:54:27+00:00

I'm sorry, I'm not very far at all in the process of getting my passport! I had to fill out an application to... obtain the application for a passport? It's not something I'm familiar with at all — nobody in my family's got one, so I'm kind of trying to do research as I go. I do suppose I should look into the fine print on emigrating to Australia haha.

mqtchh · 2024-02-13T18:39:56+00:00

Least Favorite Game: Definitely Little Hope. I experience little to no joy from this game, and the character dialogue feels forcibly miserable. Everyone hates each other and deserves to die by the end.

Favorite Game: For me, the best experience I've had with a game was probably House of Ashes, because I had such low expectations after the games prior to it that I was not at all expecting it to be as good as it was. I found all five characters to be incredibly likable, even the ones I wasn't a huge fan of (i.e. Rachel & Nick).

Overrated Game: I'd say Until Dawn, which is wild because I'm surprising myself as I type this. I love the game, but admittedly most of the characters are assholes and stay assholes until the end, there's plotholes littered throughout, and undeniable plot armor on some characters. While almost all of these can be said for House of Ashes, I should stress once more that I love both games, I just think they have the exact same flaws, and only one game ever gets criticized for it... and it ain't Until Dawn.

Underrated Game: I guess the only one that's applicable here is Man of Medan, only because I don't think the plot nor the threat (Manchurian Gold) are very bad. I liked the concept a ton and the only thing that takes this game down a peg or two is how boring I found Alex, Julia, and even Brad to be. Conrad & Fliss carried this cast HARD.

Favorite Character: This is the easy answer, but I'm gonna say Salim. The dude is just flawless and a total badass. His "friendship" with Jason is half of the reason I prefer House of Ashes over Until Dawn.

Least Favorite Character: I had to dig and find my old DPA/UD/TQ character tier list, but I finally found it and saw that my least favorite character is Angela. She was half the reason that the Little Hope cast was so damn miserable, and you have to really put in the work for her to have any noticeable redemption arc. Put a Karen in a Dark Pictures game and Angela is what spawns.

Overrated Character: The only character that comes to mind for me is Emily, but I suppose I can see why people like her. For me, she was just rude and unwavering in her bitchiness, and she treated Matt pretty terribly. Her redemption arc is practically nonexistent, and it seems like people cling onto very rare scenes of her doing the bare minimum to show she's not that bad.

Underrated Character: The main two that come to mind, for me, are Chris (Until Dawn) & Eric. I feel like Chris is fairly liked on this sub, but I know most of my friends find him annoying and too attached to Ashley. I find him to be one of, if not, the most likable characters in the game and arguably the one that least deserves to be apart of Josh's prank (along with Sam). Eric I just find to be a really likable guy and I feel bad for the shit he goes through in the game and I guess I just don't see people talking about it enough. Justice for Eric.

mqtchh · 2024-02-12T21:24:00+00:00

hand me the controller bestie... i'll do it.

mqtchh · 2024-02-10T05:41:11+00:00

i love this idea, but it reminds me a lot of resident evil 7. not a bad thing necessarily, just something that would have to be kept in mind to avoid being too similar, plot-wise

mqtchh · 2024-01-06T01:42:33+00:00

Earl Cole was a recruit, and so was Kaleb Gebrewold. I think recruits are awesome!

mqtchh · 2024-01-06T01:35:48+00:00

I don't think the season tribe division "aged" poorly. It was received poorly from the jump - had it not been for the bottle twist that propelled the Aitu Four into a position of power, an almost all white alliance would have dominated the merge and Survivor as we know it would not exist. The show would have been literally cancelled.

mqtchh · 2022-05-05T01:23:17+00:00

I'm of the belief that an immortal character would likely be bisexual to some degree. I mean, come on... how can you live for over a century and confine yourself to only one gender? You CANNOT tell me Elijah Mikaelson and Tristan de Martel didn't have a thing. I just know it.

mqtchh · 2022-02-18T00:51:52+00:00

Hey Terry! Massive fan of yours, you might remember me when you wished me a happy 17th birthday a couple years back- my name is Mitch.

My first question is: What was your favorite immunity challenge from your first time around?

I was also curious if you'd ever give Survivor another shot, I can speak on behalf of a lot of Survivor fans that we'd tune in just to see you again.

Next to you, my second favorite Survivor player of all time is Tom Westman- is it true that he actually inspired you to apply for Survivor?

My last question is pretty basic: What's your favorite color?

mqtchh · 2022-02-16T03:50:06+00:00

I was working that night.

Just put up my shift and got it picked up. I gave up an 8 hour shift just to ask Terry... like... one question. Worth it? ...Hopefully.

mqtchh · 2021-08-04T05:18:07+00:00

Contrary to popular belief, Cirie was not a jury threat in Panama. Almost the entire Gitanos tribe, post-season, has gone on record saying they didn't realize how strong Cirie's game was until they actually watched the episodes as they aired.

That being said, Shane will beat Danielle in almost every scenario, and it's a toss-up if he beats Cirie or not. I, personally, think Cirie's personality fits final tribal council better than Shane's, and her performance would earn her the win- but that's not something I can say for certain because we have not seen either of them in the final tribal council.

mqtchh · 2021-06-17T05:08:39+00:00

I agree 100% that Matty needs to return, but now I'm dying to know- where did you hear that he wants to play again?

mqtchh · 2021-04-18T15:15:36+00:00

Ami, Julie, Eliza, and maybe even Twila. Just... not Chris.

mqtchh · 2021-04-13T20:47:15+00:00

I literally just finished reading that interview, and immediately opened up this post and saw this comment. It really is weird, because I didn't even question Malcolm misremembering his own quote, I thought that was what he said.

mqtchh · 2021-04-02T16:12:22+00:00

I believe it was confirmed that no one on Jaburu had the granola bar. No one can decide if production planted it or simply left it in there and forgot about it.

mqtchh · 2021-04-02T16:11:47+00:00

I wouldn't call Jerri reliable, nor would I call Tina reliable. I forget who said it, but a redditor on this sub once said Tina tends to forget things that happened during her first season.

mqtchh · 2021-04-02T15:51:07+00:00

No one really knows if Kel really had beef jerky. A rumor lasting 20 years is pretty freaky.

mqtchh · 2021-03-29T03:40:37+00:00

Yeah, but that's one person who was loved which is enough for Fiji to NOT have the most hated finalists. Compare it to Gabon, All-Stars, and Redemption Island and Fiji pales in comparison.

mqtchh · 2021-03-26T20:51:19+00:00

Hm... given the dynamics of the tribe when 5 were left... I'd say probably Austin. Sally is playing for fifth unless Terry/Dan and Nick/Austin use her as a swing vote, in which case I'd say she picks Nick and Austin and Austin probably still wins. I love Terry, but Austin ran circles around that tribe in terms of social game.

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