G'day!

[aggieAXO]

Wow, I can't believe it is that inexpensive for college there! I wish I had those student loans. College in America is more focused on academics. I knew that if I wanted to become a veterinarian or human doctor I had better have the grades-no pass/fail unfortunately.

BTW, University of Texas at Austin has about 50,000 students, great party school with a good academic reputation (OMG my grandfather is probable turning over in his grave rt. now-I said something nice about UT). I live 10 minutes away and Austin is an awesome city!!!!

Originally posted by Aussie
Hi everyone, thanks for the replies.

I feel perhaps I should clear some things up. Firstly, I meant no disrespect in my previous post. I am certainly looking for more than a place to party in a Fraternity, one of the main reasons I want to join one is for the brotherhood and personal development. Indeed, a lot of the Americans here at my residential college her in Melbourne reckon I should just live in a dorm and go to college parties but I can't help but feel that if I went to America and didn't join a Fraternity I would be missing a vital part of the college experience. One of my worries is that if I joined a Frat I would miss out on one of the other highly touted college aspects of having a room mate, something we don't do here... I hear that you form life long bonds with your room mate, they become like a brother, that's something that seems really cool to me. I figure though that joining a Frat would be like getting 100 roomates, you have that close a bond. Yeah?

The reason I mentioned that the academics of the school are not important to me is more complicated. Here in Australia university is virtually free. The government pays half your fees and the rest you owe on a deferred loan that is paid off through tax once you earn over A$22, 000 per year. University costs us about US$2000 per year, which we generally never notice paying off. Also, potential employers do not have access to your grades as I believe they do in the US, so getting high marks is not such a priority. As long as you pass you're right. So, because of this there is a lot more relaxed attitude towards university, the hardest years of your study life are the last two of high school, as your marks are the sole factor of what course you get into at university. It's not always the case, but I and most people I know tend to take the attitude that university is more about tasting the fruits of life than getting killer grades. It's our last chance to take like not so seriously I guess. Couple this with the fact that my grades from America would only transfer as pass / fail credits anyway, and my trip is less about more academics and more about absorbing the American culture.