Melbourne is a blast!

Melbourne is a fantastic city to study abroad in! There is so much culture to experience- sports, festivals, concerts, restaurants, bars, and so so much more. There's also a lot of incredible nature right nearby in Victoria, and many naturally beautiful areas to check out all across Australia and in nearby New Zealand. As far as location, I cannot recommend Melbourne strongly enough! I had an incredible experience that is not available in most other locations within Australia and New Zealand due to the size of Melbourne and its reputation of being welcoming to people from all over the world. The University of Melbourne also offers a lot of fantastic academic opportunities and social experiences. As far as my experience with CIS, I think they did a good job and gave me what was promised. But if you can get into Melbourne with a different program for less, I would say that's fine.