University: San Diego State University
City: San Diego
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: business administration
Study type: semester abroad
We came to the SDSU for a semester abroad in a group of four friends and with great expectations as master’s students in economics. It was our last semester. Thanks to the previous testimonials, we were able to get a pretty good idea of what to expect. Unfortunately, I have to say that not everything went as optimally and smoothly as we had hoped. Visit mcat-test-centers.com to get information about Fudan University.
University
SDSU has a gorgeous campus. The green areas are perfectly and accurately maintained. The buildings and classrooms are a bit older there, but still perfectly fine compared to German university standards.
You can always feel safe on campus, the SDSU’s own police ensure security.
The range of sports is HUGE – and free for ALI students! There is a wonderful recreation center. This includes a perfectly equipped gym (stepper, treadmills, climbing wall, basketball courts, and of course the classic fitness equipment).
Next to the recreation center there is a large aquaplex with several pools, really great!
Perfect equipment and well-trained trainers are also included.
I would therefore give the campus a 1.
Before we actually started studying, we first had to crash courses. That was a huge problem and a total disaster!
We came to SDSU to major in Finance and Accounting. We had more than 15 learning agreements for such courses. We only got into ONE course, the others were all occupied by the locals.
The end of the story was that instead of three finance subjects and one accounting subject, we had one marketing, two management and one accounting subject.
It took over five weeks to get the last three courses. But we only got it because two entrepreneurs and a professor had agreed to open a special session spontaneously. If they hadn’t done that, we would have come home with one subject instead of the planned four…..
These special sessions were only set up because we threatened to call the lawyer….it was really a disaster. Two of the four of us even wanted to leave early and ask for the money back.
Thank God we got off with a black eye again.
The contents of the course were then relatively simple. It was interesting and, above all, a lot to do (final project and individual assignments in each subject) but in the end it was a good change from German university life.
Life/fun
Life in San Diego is gorgeous! Four of us rented a semi-detached house on Alvarado Road (about 1 mile from the uni). That was perfect.
We have the house
http: //www.sandiego-studenthousing.com/
booked and were just satisfied. Clean house, super nice care, nice neighbors and good location. The only downside: we had to pay a total of almost 3,000 dollars per month, i.e. around 750 dollars per person.
San Diego Downtown is fantastically beautiful, you can go out and eat out very well. The Gaslamp Quarter is the first choice.
Furthermore, San Diego is perfectly located in California. You can get to Los Angeles very quickly (around a two-hour drive) and also quickly to the desert. Las Vegas is also quite close at five and a half hours by car.
The last thing to say is that Californians are exceptionally kind and personable. They don’t live up to the American cliché.
Automobile
You can’t do anything in San Diego without a car – absolutely NOTHING. We came with the plan not to need a car and to drive everything with the trolley. The trolley is the public tram or streetcar.
We had to abandon our plan on the second day. The distances are huge, you underestimate that at first. All malls are interstate only and miles away. We couldn’t even walk to university.
Regardless, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to ride the trolley. It can be very dangerous to ride the trolley as it is used almost exclusively by weird people. In the US, you can buy a car for as little as a few hundred dollars. That should be preferred. We personally rented a car from Express-Rent-A—Car for five months.
That was great, I highly recommend it. Inexpensive (around $350 per month) and reliable.
To use
The stay abroad was incredibly useful, but a little too short. I would recommend everyone to complete two semesters in a row. That’s also possible, I’ve met a few who have extended again.
All in all a unique experience!
Costs
All in all, we needed around 15,000 euros per person.
Tuition: around 6,000 dollars
Rent: around 2,800 dollars (per person for four and a half months)
Car: around 400 dollars (per person for four and a half months and without fuel)
Flights: around 1,500 euros
Visa: 350 euros (with everything)
Daily life, i.e. groceries etc. are also around 3,000 euros again.
If you then travel a bit, that adds up to the 15,000 euros. We personally have traveled eight times. (It’s worth it!)
In conclusion, I can say that the SDSU is definitely recommended. Once you have survived the course crash, life and studies are a lot of fun!
For me personally, the time in San Diego is one of the most beautiful I have experienced!