University: California State University Chico
City: Chico
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: business Informatics
Study type: semester abroad
Application process
If you have MicroEdu’s checklist and work through it, you shouldn’t have any problems. Even if you have to be aware that you will have the most work with the USA due to the VISA regulations. For this you may z. B. drive a day to the embassy (Frankfurt or Berlin) to have a short conversation there. See toppharmacyschools for Canada higher education.
Getting there
Flights should be taken care of early, especially if, like me, you want to go to the fall semester, which starts in August and is therefore in the holiday season. When I got there, I met up with other students from Chico and we rented a car together. Traveling by train there is much more expensive than driving a car and much slower. In Chico we had a room in the hotel for the first few nights so that we could look for an apartment on the spot. It is best to get a list of brokers that you can work through. But my tip is Campos Rentals, because we don’t need a guarantor here (which of course we didn’t have) and we were able to make a contract for 6 months. Annual contracts are typical, where after your semester you have the task of finding someone who will take over the contract. Otherwise you keep paying.
place of study
Chico is a small town in northern California. It can get chilly here towards the end of the year, so don’t think that California has 30 degrees everywhere all year round. But the place itself is perfect for socializing and doing things. The people were all consistently more than friendly and helpful. If you don’t live at the other end of Chico, you can also cycle all the ways without any problems. Believe it or not, everyone here in Chico bikes or walks. Of course, many also have cars, but you can walk or cycle to the university or to the bar in the evening.
The town has many pubs and bars where there is something going on almost every day. I never experienced dead or boring days in Chico.
Campus
Chico has one of the smallest campuses of any California State University. But I see that as an absolute advantage, because you run into people all the time and always stay in touch with your friends. In addition, the campus looks extremely beautiful with lots of green spaces and seating areas.
Study content
Since I was a little further along in my studies, I no longer had the greatest selection of courses, but as a business IT specialist you at least have the advantage of being able to choose courses from both departments. I chose International Management, Operations Management and Survey of Marketing. You cannot choose the courses in advance, you have to go to each professor during the first week with an add-form and ask for admission to the (mostly already full) course. So the first 1-2 weeks will be very stressful and you also have to be a bit flexible in terms of the courses.
In addition to the normal courses, you also have to attend a certain number of weekly hours of ALCI courses, i.e. English courses. If you already speak reasonably good English, that will not be a problem. Was always divided into the most difficult level, did more or less nothing and still got an A every time. However, the elective subjects such as slang or history are quite interesting. The ALCI also offer different activities every week that you can join voluntarily. Especially the excursions, such as to an NBA game, are very cheap here.
Costs
At this point, you probably already know that a semester abroad is not cheap. However, Chico has relatively low tuition fees and the cost of living is also very low for California. The further south you go, the more expensive it gets. Anyone who wants to save money and has a car or knows someone with one buys their groceries at WinCo. Also, many bars have buck nights, which means you can get beer there for $1 on a given night. If you take all the buck nights with you, you’ll be out all week.
Conclusion
If your focus is less on the courses and more on learning the language and gaining life experience, Chico is a perfect choice. Don’t get me wrong, the courses weren’t bad, but it’s not an elite university either. I would go back to Chico every timeand highly recommend this uni to anyone who likes to have fun and is looking for a good time.