University: California State University Fullerton
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: business administration
Study type: semester abroad
The organization
At an information event at my home university, I became aware of the possibility of a semester abroad in California, which is organized by MicroEdu, early on in my studies. About a year before the start of the semester abroad, I applied to CSUF via MicroEdu and received an acceptance within a few weeks. The employees at MicroEdu were able to answer questions that arose during the application process very well and in detail. See existingcountries for University of California Riverside Review.
MicroEdu also provides you with an overview of when you should deal with things such as flights, accommodation and the like. In May 2016 I applied for my visa at the Frankfurt consulate. Contrary to all the horror stories on the internet, I only spent half an hour there. The visa came home a few days later with the passport in the post.
The accommodation
The topic of accommodation is listed here again as a separate point. I was traveling to the semester abroad with three other fellow students. We knew from the start that we wanted to move into accommodation together. We finally decided on the University House Fullerton. Here we had the opportunity to live in an apartment where everyone has their own room. It was also important to us that the accommodation is fully furnished. Over the entire period I can say that I would recommend University House, there is enough peace and quiet to study, but there are also enough typical American house parties that you can attend and the price-performance ratio is also right.
The University
For a semester abroad, the choice of university plays a not inconsiderable role, which is why you should deal with the study program in advance. CSUF offers a wide range of courses in the field of economics. The business school is one of the largest and best in the California State University network.
In addition to teaching, the location of the university is of course also important. Here I felt Fullerton as a perfect starting point for any activity. The beaches of Newport, Laguna or Huntington Beach can be reached in 25-40 minutes by car. San Diego is 90 minutes away and Hollywood is usually 45-60 minutes unless you’re stuck in the famous Los Angeles traffic jam. The university is typically American, with lots of sporting events such as soccer, basketball and baseball. It also has a real campus where around 40,000 students study.
Courses
ACCT 201B – Managerial Accounting (Randy Hoffman)
This course is between controlling and internal accountingclassify The course is a basic course for American business students, which is why half of the event takes place in a large lecture hall with around 160 students. The other half consists of group work in small groups of maximum five students. The effort for this subject is not insignificant, homework has to be done every week, this can take over 4 hours. The difficulty is rather manageable for German students who have already taken accounting courses. The course is mainly about staying on the ball and learning enough during the semester. Unfortunately, you have to buy online access, which, like all other books, is not exactly cheap. Access cost about $150 in my semester.
ECON 202 – Introduction to Macroecomics (Feng Xiao)
This course by Ms. Xiao is recommended if you want to take a basic macroeconomics course. Regular tests are written, but these can be passed with good grades without much effort. Ms. Xiao also structures the lessons in a way that is usually used in German lectures. Slides are presented and the lecturer asks questions. In addition to the exams and tests, you also have to submit a term paper and make a short presentation on an economic topic. The course is not only used by business students, which is why the difficulty is not particularly high.
FIN 340 – Introduction to Investments (Ahjay Bhootra)
The course with Mr. Bhootra was the most interesting course for me. Despite his Indian accent, you can follow him very well. It’s generally about investing in stocks and building stock portfolios. You should already be interested in stocks and investments for this course, otherwise it could be difficult to follow the content or to motivate yourself to learn for the subject. You should also be willing to actively read financial news. Part of the course consists in managing a stock portfolio. In addition to the exams, this project is also included in the final grade. The exams are quite fair and consist of mostly multiple choice questions and sometimes a calculation part.
All in all, I would recommend this course if you want to deal with the topic of stock investments, so that you can perhaps trade stocks privately.
FIN 440 – Business Valuation M&A (Victor Dosti)
As the name suggests, this is about company valuations in the context of transactions or company acquisitions. Of my courses, this was the one that required me to do the most in my free time. If you are really interested in M&A and don’t shy away from working on a case study for a few days, you’ve come to the right place. Mr. Dosti is a former fund manager from Newport. He comes from practice, which perhaps also explains his unusual teaching style. I didn’t write exams in this subject, but we had to work on several case studies, in groups and alone. The lesson also included a presentation. The content is really “only” valuation of companies with different valuation methods as well as the difference in the valuation of public and private companies. Most of the students are about to graduate or some are already doing their master’s, which explains the level. I would recommend the course to anyone who has some Excel affinity and is looking for a challenge in M&A.
Local life
Of course one of the most important points is the local life. Orange County offers the perfect region for students. The traffic isn’t as heavy as in Los Angeles, but you still have the big city right outside your door. Disneyland is a few minutes drive away, as is Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim (baseball) or Anaheim Ducks (ice hockey) stadium. The LA Galaxy stadium can also be reached in just over 40 minutes. There is a huge choice of beaches, but I liked Laguna Beach the best.
Fullerton is also an ideal base for exploring inland. For example, I was in Death Valley, which is only a day trip away. Vegas is also relatively close with about a 3-hour drive. Which brings us back to the topic of cars. This is actually a must-have in Fullerton if you want to see something. Even the ride to the nearest beach costs about $30 each way with Uber. I rented a car from Dirty-Cheap Car Rental in Sun Diego with several people. Don’t be put off by the name, the cars are very good for students and they don’t charge a surcharge for drivers under the age of 25.
For friends of partying, Fullerton Downtown offers enough possibilities at the weekend and the Brians and the Rems Sportsbar have also established themselves among the German exchange students for the Bergfest on Wednesday. Shopping is always part of life, of course, and you should plan enough money for that in California, the supermarkets there are significantly more expensive than in Germany and going out to eat is also not a cheap pleasure. What you pay too much for foodyou can save on clothes in one of the many outlets, for example the Citadell Outlet on the way to Los Angeles.
Otherwise you experience so much during this time that you can’t summarize it here so briefly. It was definitely a unique opportunity that I wouldn’t want to miss. I would recommend the university and Fullerton to anyone as the perfect place to study. I would also use MicroEdu as a placement partner again and again.
With that in mind, good bye and don’t be afraid to ask questions.