University of California Los Angeles Review (27)

University of California Los Angeles Review (27)

North America

University: University of California Los Angeles

City: Los Angeles

Country: United States

Continent: North America

Field of study: natural sciences

Study type: Summer Sessions

Overall, I can only recommend the Summer Session at UCLA in Los Angeles to everyone! The six weeks there were really great and even exceeded all my expectations.

Applying to UCLA was easy and straightforward, and MicroEdu helped my friends and I immediately with any questions we had and were told exactly what certificates, forms, etc. we needed to send them for the application. Due to the favorable dollar exchange rate in May 2008, the summer session was really not particularly expensive for us, because food (15 meals a week, which is really quite enough), living in the Sproul Hall (which in my opinion is much better than in an apartment, because you get to know new people so much faster) and a course with 5 credits (which was enough for me, but I’ll come back to that later) cost about 2000 euros for a 6-week stay. Visit existingcountries.com to get information about Thompson Rivers University student review.

So the decision to stay at Sproul Hall with a roommate or two was definitely the best. Most of the time you can arrange things with the roommates, I haven’t actually heard of anyone who didn’t get along with their roommate at all or had a fight, you get along better with one than with the other, that’s just a matter of luck. The rooms were also well furnished and as Sproul Hall has just been renovated the shared bathrooms were really nicely done too. The only downside: some girls always messed up the showers with their dark hair, which of course wasn’t great, but I think all the bathrooms were actually cleaned once a day, so it wasn’t that bad. Overall, the food in the Dining Hall was quite ok. At the beginning I was still totally enthusiastic about burgers, fries and pizza, but over time my hunger for them subsided a bit. But there was also a large salad buffet every day, pasta or rice and a large dessert buffet (where I usually found what I was looking for). If you didn’t feel like going to the Dining Hall at all, you could also go to the Bruin Cafe, which is right next to Sproul Hall. There, for example, there was Cafe Latte a la Star Bucks or tea and a “pastry” (cake, bagle or muffin) for breakfast or warm or cold sandwiches with a soft drink or smoothies for lunch, which were also really tasty.

Because I plan to go to medical school, I took the Life Sciences 2- Cells, Tissues and Organs course at UCLA. When I found out there that I would have 2 hours of lectures three times a week and an additional 3 hours twice a week either in the laboratory or “discussion” (the material from the lecture is repeated again), I was quite surprised. It would have been better if I had found out more about the course in Germany, so I can only recommend to everyone: it’s best to check in Germany how often and how long your courses take place and if you have fun in LA, too just don’t take too many courses! Despite all the work, I really enjoyed the course and it was really worth the money:

The UCLA campus is really impressive, nothing is missing there: There is a swimming pool, a gym, tennis courts, a soccer field, basketball courts, several UCLA stores where you can buy almost anything with a UCLA label, several libraries, fast food restaurants and coffee shops etc. In LA you can actually get everywhere with the buses, it just always takes a very long time. If taking the bus, make sure to take the “Metro” buses as they are the fastest. Of course, it’s more convenient to drive, you can even rent one at UCLA from the age of 18! There is a lot to see in LA, such as the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, the Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach, Zuma Beach in Malibu, Rodeo Drive and of course the movie premieres with many stars, which often even appear in Westwood (the part where UCLA is). For shopping I can recommend the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, the Beverly Center in Beverly Hills, the Grove and of course the outlet “Camarillo” (approx. 1.5 hours north of LA). It’s best to take plenty of pocket money with you, because going out in LA in particular costs a lot of money, but more so for the men than for the girls, who often don’t have to pay an entrance fee. The bar, however, where we spent most evenings, was fairly cheap and entry was free. Her name is O’Harras, and she’s pretty close to UCLA, so she’s pretty popular with a lot of UCLA students.

Overall, I had a great time at UCLA and could well imagine going there again for a summer session!

University of California Los Angeles Review (27)