Motivation
I wanted to experience the American college environment and the rumored fantastic student life available there. I also wanted to have the opportunity to study at a top North American and global academic institution in my field.
Personal Development
Georgia Tech provided many ways to get involved and connect with other students. Living on-campus in the Georgia Tech accommodation was a great way to ensure I was immersed in the college community, allowing me to meet new people with different backgrounds and perspectives, and who could introduce me to more opportunities. I was able to attend a wide range of events, including hackathons (there are plenty of great ones), club events, international student events, careers events, sports events, and events organised by other Georgia Tech offices. Careers and academic events allowed me to network with students and industry professionals and showed me the wealth of opportunities available at the university, in and around the city, and throughout the country. Social events, particularly sporting events, had a fantastic atmosphere and got members from all types of areas in the school involved, like being part of the chamber choir singing at some of them. The college has some fantastic traditions that were fun to learn and get involved in, and overall was great fun to be a part of.
Academic Development
I found that Georgia Tech offered a plethora of different subjects and electives for me to take, so it wasn't hard to find subjects I was interested in and met the requirements for. I found that in most subjects the workload focused on more frequent and consistent assessment pieces, as opposed to just a few large ones (e.g. almost every single subject had a mid-sem exam, a final, and some sort of regular smaller assessment work). I found most of the higher-level classes were reasonably small, so it was easier to get to know other students as well as the professors. The classes I took were very practical, and Georgia Tech has tonnes of different resources available for you to use (e.g. many disciplines get their own makerspace). There was also a heavy emphasis on participating in other extra-curricular activities (and some can count towards your credit hours), and there there are a variety on offer, both academic-focused on your field or activities such as music and sports. I personally was interested in cybersecurity and music, so took subjects in information security, reverse engineering, malware analysis, cyber-physical systems, and participated in the Chamber Choir. I found the subjects I took were run really well, with great professors, and the Chamber Choir a blast to be a part of.
Professional Development
I found the skills I learnt in my subjects were very practical. Many of my subjects were run by professors who either were, or had, worked in industry before, and had insight into the tools and software used, and provided us learning content and access to them. Tech offered tonnes of career, recruiting, and networking events with industry professionals, who were great to talk to and discuss career paths and opportunities in and around the country and the world.
Costs
I found that the biggest expenses I incurred were travel costs. Whilst you're at the university, if you're living on campus, they have campus busses that can take you to most necessary places (groceries, around campus, food, department stores), but then travelling outside of that was a little harder. Travelling between states and around other cities as well, I found the costs racked up pretty quickly (flights, interstate busses and trains, ubers). Visa and mandatory fees such as student health insurance also cost quite a lot, as for the Visa you must travel interstate for the interview, and the student health insurance is mandatory. If you live on campus, then not only will you get the best uni life experience, but it's probably going to work out the best financially as well, I found it cost similarly to many areas surrounding the campus. I found that handling all food and groceries myself helped me to save a lot of money, as opposed to purchasing a meal plan. This does eat into your everyday time though, which I found manageable, but you can save time by using a meal plan if it suits.
Funding
I was lucky enough to be awarded the Frank Joseph Murphy scholarship, which helped cover my costs for international flights, housing, and health insurance expenses, which were the main large purchases I had to make throughout the exchange.
Accommodation
I stayed on-campus at the North Avenue apartments. Staying on-campus is a great way to get in and amongst the college community. You can make friends with your roommates (I had great ones), and you'll discover more and more people living near you as you meet more of them. There are busses around campus consistently, so you can travel to meet your friends at their places to even if they're over the other side of campus. I found the facilities fine, and the cost the same if not lower than the surrounding third-party student accommodation apartments. I did find that most classes and things I was doing was over on west campus, which was far away from me, so it can be helpful to have a look at where some of the regular activities you want to participate in are located before selecting your apartments. I visited many other on-campus apartments around the campus and they are all mostly the same.
Highlight
The college life and academics were both highlights. My subjects in malware reverse engineering and drone security were some of the most interesting ones I have taken to date, and the awesome college events are great to be a part of. The college sport games were super fun to go to with a great atmosphere. The university holds plenty of events that were fantastic, some held at tourist attractions around Atlanta, like the Georgia Aquarium or Six Flags, and these were super fun to turn up to. Getting involved in a club or extra-curricular activity was also one of the best decisions I made, the Chamber Choir was such fun to be a part of. It allowed me to make tonnes of friends and have experiences I wouldn't have had otherwise.
Advice/Top Tips
Do EVERYTHING! Get involved with as many activities as you can, they will almost always be worth it. Stay on campus, and make sure to budget beforehand so some of the costs don't scare you. Look up as many things as you can before you go so you can see what you may like to participate in so you don't miss the dates. Getting involved in an extra-curricular activity or club is also a great way to meet people and make connections. Academic wise, get plenty of subjects pre-approved before you go, as many subjects have high waitlists and all of them have a cap on the amount of people allowed in them. What many students do is enroll in as many subjects as they can in the first week, and go to as many classes as possible to get a taste test for what the classes are like, and then drop classes until they are only enrolled in the ones they want. This makes the Friday on the first week very hectic as many people are on adding and dropping classes. So if a class is full, enroll in it anyway and add yourself to the waitlist and turn up in the first week to see what it's like, as there's still a decent chance you may get it.
