University: San Diego State University
City: San Diego
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: Business
Study type: semester abroad
I went to San Diego State University on January 6th, 2014, after about half a year of previous planning. At this point I have to thank MicroEdu again, who were an incredible help in organizing the semester abroad and made it as easy as possible for me. So for whom the potential planning effort represents a deterrent when planning a semester abroad; this is reduced to a minimum by MicroEdu. You can write or call at any time and help is given immediately by friendly and competent employees, who really help you out. Now to San Diego and San Diego State University. Visit mcat-test-centers.com to get information about Edinburgh Napier University.
First of all:
It was an incredibly great, exciting and intense time! You can have a lot of fun in San Diego and the great thing is that you usually come home with great grades. The whole thing costs a bit (more on that later), but in my opinion it’s worth it. First of all because of the great things you experience there and it’s also worth something for your CV, so you can justify the costs.
It was relatively uncomplicated for me, since I had already searched and planned from Germany. In principle, there is this possibility as well as the possibility to look for something on site and to stay temporarily in the hotel. Both have advantages and disadvantages. If you are already looking in Germany, you are not confronted with the stress of looking for an apartment in the first few days. On the other hand, it is of course possible that you will find a nicer place to stay locally and then be flexible. Everyone has to decide for themselves, but both are easily possible. By the way, normal prices (for the college area) are around $600-800/room. If you get something nicer, e.g. in Pacific Beach, you might get just under $800-900 (living there is fantastic, both because of the beach and because of the many bars and restaurants there in the area. Disadvantage is a relatively long way to the university; 20 minutes by car). Speaking of which, having a car in San Diego is extremely helpful. San Diego is relatively spacious and the public transport is not as good as in major German cities. It is usually best to share a car with two or three people if possible, then the costs are also very reasonable.
University and Courses:
I can mainly report on the Business Courses (BWL) and say a little bit about the General Courses. So first of all, it is important to know that there is an innovation regarding the course selection of the business courses, because this is no longer done like in previous semesters via course crashing, where you had to apply to the professor (in person) and then had to hope for it to be taken by this one. Instead, with business courses, you have to specify a selection of courses at the beginning of the semester, around 6-8 courses, which you can then go to and usually take. However, it is important that you have the courses put on the list, otherwise you are not allowed to come and take the course. If the course is then on the list, but you can also get 90 percent into the corresponding course if the professor doesn’t have any problems with it (eg that he wants/is allowed to have a maximum of 5 foreign students in the course). However, this is rarely the case. The course crashing procedure is still used for the general courses (including the economics courses). When it comes to choosing a course, I can personally advise you to find out at least some information about both the lecturer and the material itself. A good source of information about the lecturers is the website www.ratemyprofessor.com. In retrospect, I would say that the impressions I got on the lecturers’ page were largely confirmed for me. An important difference to studying in Germany is that there is not a big final exam at the end, but by German standards, a relatively large amount has to be done over the course of the semester (lectures, homework, group work, quizzes/exams, etc.). But if you do it regularly and in good time, it’s not that bad and it also has the advantage that you have to study a lot less for the final exam. Overall, by the way, you usually come home with very good grades. Normally, 80% of the grades in a course are between A and B-, i.e. between 1.0 and 2.3 (at least for the graduate/master courses, undergraduate/bachelor courses as far as I know relatively similar).
Leisure:
Although you are relatively strongly involved through the university, you still have a lot of free time because you don’t have any other major commitments apart from the university. And in San Diego you really have a lot of opportunities to organize your free time! Lots of sports to do (they have an amazing gym, swimming pool, tennis courts, soccer fields, etc. and it’s all free for SDSU students). Furthermore, the SDSU offers very cheap surf courses and all kinds of other things like bowling and the like, which are either free of charge or very cheap. Other things to do in San Diego are of course the beach, which is not too far away, sporting events of the SDSU-Aztecs or simply visiting any beautiful places in San Diego (the nature in and around San Diego is gorgeous). There is also a very strong party and night life. There are numerous party bus providers who provide a bus for as little as $15 for men (women usually free) that takes you to the club, brings you in for free and then brings you back home at 1.30pm or drops you off at the university. These party buses are very popular with students, especially the exchange students. You have to know that the clubs in San Diego close at half past one in the morning. particularly popular with exchange students. You have to know that the clubs in San Diego close at half past one in the morning. particularly popular with exchange students. You have to know that the clubs in San Diego close at half past one in the morning.
Conclusion:
Finally, I would definitely like to give an unreserved recommendation for a semester abroad at SDSU. You have a wonderful time and come home with good grades. If you look at the advantages that such a semester abroad offers (gain experience, have fun, improve English, good grades, good for your CV, etc.), then this also very well justifies the costs that such a semester abroad entails. Speaking of costs, these were around €1200 per month for me in the five months (including rent). If you save a little, you can get by with 1000€, but less will be difficult. If you have a really good time, party regularly, go shopping or eat well, you might end up with almost €1,500.
