Great City, Gateway to South Pacific

Program

Study Abroad at the University of Auckland, NZ

By Nicholas Wilson on 09/14/2017

Ratings

Overall

Academics: 3

Support: 3

Fun: 2

Housing: 3

Safety: 5

Review

My partner lives in Auckland and I undertook exchange to spend more time together, so I haven't properly engaged with the exchange student network. On the other hand, I've arguably had a much more domestic experience (having come from Sydney), with exchange being my tenth, and least 'touristy' visit to New Zealand so far.

UoA is very safe and reputable, but classes and the social scene are very quiet. Lots of paperwork and I found the online systems very fragmented and unintuitive. Auckland is very urbanised and quite similar to Sydney (home uni), and active travel beyond the region is required to fully appreciate what differentiates New Zealand from other exchange destinations. Auckland's great if you're interested in travelling to both the South Pacific and Australia's east coast.

Was glad to hear exchange students can now partake in Summer Research Scholarships.

Year Completed

2017

Private Note to Provider (optional)

I felt as if the diversity within the cohort of the Exchange Student Welcome Day wasn't capitalised on - not a complaint necessarily. 100 or so countries represented in a relatively small group of people, perhaps scope for some really interesting group/introduction activities.

I have never been part of such a diverse group before or since.

Media

Photos