Generally:
As part of my dual studies, I studied in the 5th semester at California State University in Fullerton. After choosing this university, MicroEDU took care of all the relevant forms and registrations. This organization was really great. The only appointment that I had to attend to myself was the embassy appointment for the visa. It is worthwhile to arrange this in good time, as this can lead to longer waiting times. Above all, it is important that proof of financing is taken with you.
After the whole application process was successfully completed, I was able to choose courses online. 10 had to be specified, of which, ideally, four should also be taken. In the USA I learned that I only actually received one of the courses. So when pre-selecting the courses, I would advise not to invest too much time. Much can still be clarified on site and the employee for the timetables, Ms. Mir, is really very helpful and cooperative. Visit jibin123.com to get information about study in United States.
Courses:
After having only received one course in advance, I had to go into what is known as Course Crashing. You go to lectures and tell the lecturer that you are an international student and have not been given a course. As a rule, the lecturers then take you into the course. I also didn’t notice that other international students had problems. In the end, I had the following four courses:
- ECON 335 – International Business, Dr. Duella
- MGMT 339 – Managing Operations, Prof. Calabretta
- MGMT 340 – Organizational Behavior, Dr. Pichler
- MKTG 445 – Global Marketing, Ms. Di Franco
About the individual courses:
ECON 335 – International Business: The course is mainly about economic policy issues such as customs duties and trade. A mix between macro and microeconomics would be comparable. The lecturer, English, speaks very good and understandable English. This course is easy to pass with a little effort. The examinations are a total of two exams and a paper.
MGMT 339 – Managing Operations: The course deals with the procurement of industrial goods and critical paths. Personally, I found this course very interesting. The lecturer himself comes from the business world and really knows about it. In the second exam you have to do a lot of math, but it was still feasible. I’m not a math ace myself, but in the end I was able to pass the course with 91%. In total, you write three exams and weekly homework in this course, which only includes answering five questions about the lecture.
MGMT 340 – Organizational Behavior: The Organizational Behavior course with Dr. Pichler was my personal favorite course. Dr. Pichler is a really very good professor who always cater to the needs of his students. The course has a lot to do with business psychologyto do and how people behave within a company. Dr. Pichler tells this from a very interesting point of view. Even for those who are not interested in psychology, this course is still worthwhile. The exams are quite difficult, but it is possible to write a so-called essay version. This is very easy, especially for Germans, as it is reminiscent of exams from home. In the end, I passed the course with 89 points. In addition to a total of three exams, there is a group task that you have to solve in a team (over the entire semester). This task was a lot of fun and you get to know locals so well.
MKTG 445 – Global Marketing: I would be the only one not to take this course again. The lecturer was very uncoordinated and the increase in knowledge was very low. There are a variety of presentations that are graded. Personally, I found the time required to be quite high. Nevertheless, it is relatively easy to get a very good grade in the course. In total there were two exams, three presentations and two papers in this course.
A little tip about group work: Americans have a completely different attitude towards deadlines than Germans. It is advisable to set clear deadlines in advance. As a rule, the exams in the USA are multiple choice, which sounds good at first. But since the answers all sound pretty much the same, this fact can pose challenges for non-native speakers. So I would recommend, in case of doubt, to always use an essay version, if one is offered (ask actively!).
Reside:
As already mentioned, I had a room in a three-person flat share in University Village (UV) (new name: Oxford North). My roommates were a German from my home university and a Vietnamese, who was super nice and helpful. The UV is in the north of the university. All of my courses were in Mihaylo Business College. This is in the south of the university. It’s about 20-25 minutes on foot. The UV is currently being completely redesigned and rebuilt. There are free parking spaces there. The cars are protected by a gate. The staff there are very helpful. Here, too, it is worthwhile simply to ask, often one is helped. For example, at the beginning I couldn’t sleep well on my mattress, then I got a new one. The food was ok and included in the price.
Infrastructure:
The infrastructure network in the USA cannot be compared with that in Germany. There is usually no subway, S-Bahn or similar. Nothing works there without a car. There is an option to get to LA from the Fullerton train station. The day pass costs $ 10-15 and includes the LA subway card. The trains come very irregularly and only seven times a day. The arrival and departure should be planned carefully. Otherwise, we often used the Uber app. This can be used to organize private “taxi rides”. This is relatively cheap and a good alternative. For longer trips we rented a car from Enterprise Car Rental in Fullerton. They were very nice there. Asks for a discount…
Eating:
Eating out in the US is a very expensive proposition. No matter whether you cook yourself or go out to dinner. The only alternative to fill up cheaply are various fast food chains. Highly recommended is definitely there “In-n-Out Burger” and “Pieologie”. Near the UV there is a target (something like Real) and an Albertsons (something like EDEKA / REWE).
Activities on site:
There are also a few things that can be done on site. As a hockey fan, I was often at NHL Club Anaheim Ducks games. A really great experience, even for non-ice hockey fans. You should definitely experience this atmosphere with you. LA can be reached relatively quickly. In any case, you should go to the Griffith Observatory in the evening. From there you have an overview of the whole city. Definitely worth a visit, especially in the evening. It is also recommended to visit the Famers Market in LA. In addition to numerous shopping opportunities, there is a large selection of street food there. My personal favorite place in LA was the Santa Monica Pier area. You can walk to Venice Beach from therewalk. The Paramout Studio Tours are also highly recommended. There you can get an insight into a real film studio. For the amusement park fans, I recommend Universal Studios and Six Flaggs – Magic Mountain. Discounted tickets can be purchased for these two parks in the TITANS Student Union (on the CSUF campus). And of course you shouldn’t miss a game of the CSUF’s own sports team, the TITANS. True to the motto: “Let’s go TITANS!”.
Travel:
Of course, a semester abroad is also there to get to know the country. We highly recommend:
- Palm Springs (including the cable car up the mountain) [2-3 days, overnight on site].
- Las Vegas (Show tip: Paranormal – Mind Reading Magic, Frederic da Silva) [2-3 days, overnight stay on site]
- Yosemite National Park [1-2 days, overnight on site]
- San Francisco [3-4 days, overnight stay on site]
- Washington DC [5-7 days, overnight stay on site]
- Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountains [2-3 days, overnight on site]
Costs:
All in all, costs between € 15,000 – € 18,000 can be expected. Those who don’t value shopping, traveling and eating out can get away a lot cheaper.
Conclusion:
California State University Fullerton offers a state -of-the-art business building, good lecturers and a USA feeling as you know it from the films. It is very good value for money and the people there are very nice. With a little diligence, you can get good grades there and, above all, make lots of new friends. Thanks to the top advice from MicroEDU, everything was organized perfectly and to the fullest satisfaction.
