University of California Los Angeles Review (30)

University of California Los Angeles Review (30)

North America

University: University of California Los Angeles

City: Los Angeles

Country: United States

Continent: North America

Field of study: communication sciences

Study type: Summer Sessions

Preparations

Unfortunately, since a semester abroad could not be combined with my studies, I decided to use my semester break this year for a 6-week summer session. The USA was my favorite country from the start. Most Summer Sessions begin in June/July. Since my semester breaks start a little later, most of the universities fell out of my schedule right from the start. A lot of information about the Summer Sessions can be found directly on the homepages of the universities. I also received more detailed information about the individual universities and their requirements from MicroEdu. From the beginning I was flirting with UCLA. Thanks to Summer Session C, which was perfectly timed for me, I was actually able to make this dream come true. Visit existingcountries.com to get information about California State University Long Beach student review 2.

My application to UCLA went smoothly with the help of MicroEdu. I was able to clarify any questions that arose at any time by telephone or e-mail. You only have to make sure that you have a valid passport, sufficient language skills ( proof of English ) and of course the necessary change. After receiving the confirmation from UCLA, all I had to do was get my visa Apply at the American Embassy in Frankfurt. Normally you should plan enough lead time for this, since the dates are very popular and quickly booked up. However, I was lucky and was able to get the whole thing done within a week. Since my outward flight was right in the middle of the holiday season and I finally decided on the Summer Session very late, I unfortunately had to dig a little deeper into my pocket for my flight.

When you are abroad, you should always be financially secure in at least two ways. I opted for a credit card and a checking card from Deutsche Bank. With the latter, thanks to the partnership with Bank of America, you can withdraw cash free of charge in the USA.

Accommodation

With regard to accommodation, you could choose between on-campus and off-campus or look for accommodation yourself. I opted for the latter with the hope of a family connection. Once in Los Angeles, my decision to live with a “host family” turned out to be a hit. Connecting with family, tips and tricks for life in LA, but above all, living in a family has definitely made many things in everyday life easier for me. For example, there was a printer that I could use at any time. Of course, having a car makes life in LA so much easier. Excursions to the beach and all the attractions and outlets are no problem. As long as you avoid the rush hour traffic, you can get from A to B very quickly.

University

UCLA ‘s campus is in Westwood and is quintessentially American. The many green spaces between the buildings invite you to outdoor learning sessions. Despite the large size, you can actually find your way around the campus fairly quickly. One of my courses was even held in the famous Royce Hall. There are numerous fast food restaurants and cafeterias on campus, as well as the UCLA store, where you can buy UCLA clothing, for example. Both Hollywood and Santa Monica can be reached by car in about 20 minutes.

Course choice

I decided to take the two courses “ Negotiation ” and “ Social Networking ” from the Department of Communication Studies during my summer session. Both courses were very interactive, which made it easy to get in touch with other students.

The negotiation course consisted of many practical negotiation exercises. For example, there were single-issue or multi-issue negotiations as well as individual and group negotiations. After each negotiation, a debriefing took place, in which we analyzed our experiences, among other things. By using various theories, we have improved our individual negotiation style and our negotiation strategies. For the Negotiation course we needed the two books Negotiating Rationally (Bazerman & Neale) and Negotiation (Lewicki, Saunders, & Barry). In order to be able to prepare for the course, I had already bought one of these in Germany. Unfortunately, the book Negotiation could only be borrowed from the library as a reference stock for a maximum of two hours at a time.

In the Social Networking course, among other things, we carried out network analyzes and determined how we can use these networks for our business, for example. What I found particularly interesting in this course was the theory of diffusion (viral marketing). The professor of this course has put all the readings (very many) online for us. This means that there are no additional acquisition costs.

Although both of my courses were quite labor intensive, I really enjoyed them. I would not recommend taking more than 2 courses per summer session. In total, I wrote eight term papers and two exams during my session. My professors were very nice and helpful and were happy to answer any questions during their office hours. I found the many practical examples of the professors very interesting. For example, my social networking professor had a funny and relevant Hollywood story ready every hour.

Conclusion

In summary, I really enjoyed the Summer Session at UCLA. I can only recommend everyone to take advantage of this great opportunity. A summer session is a great alternative, especially for students for whom a semester abroad is out of the question. In the summer, many students from all over the world come to UCLA. About a third of the students in my classes were UCLA students. Everyone I met during my time at UCLA was very nice and above all very helpful. In order to be able to keep in touch with other students during your stay, an American SIM card is highly recommended. You can buy these very cheaply on a monthly basis and even with a data flat rate. Since I was very busy with all the housework, even on the weekends, I only went on a tour of the western United States after the session. In the end I made a lot of new friends from the USA, but also from other countries like China and Belgium. So I brought a lot of interesting experiences and great friendships home with me.

University of California Los Angeles Review (30)