University: San Diego State University
City: San Diego
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: marketing
Study type: semester abroad
Hello potential prospects,
I’ll give you a little insight into life and study in the sunny south of the USA.
The university in San Diego is huge! 40,000 students, a large campus and everything in one area with its own rail connection. See andyeducation for Hawaii Pacific University Study Abroad.
The sports facilities are great, SDSU has 3 football fields, 2 baseball fields, 4 soccer fields, a water park and a gym! A lot of value is placed on sport in the USA, many of the US fellow students have a scholarship because of the sport. The athletes of the school teams also enjoy some privileges. For example, they don’t have to attend the lectures if you have training at the same time!
What was stressful in the first few weeks: course crashing!
Visit the various professors and courses from morning to night and try to get signatures from the lecturers to get into the courses! But mostly it was said that the US students have priority and as an exchange student.
However, you don’t have to be afraid of not getting any courses, if necessary courses are offered by the American Language Institute. This is essentially MicroEdu’s affiliate.
I personally studied business administration courses there, but I have to admit that they were literally overrun by Germans! In general there are many Germans and other Europeans in San Diego. You can also make friends quickly, which is not only to be rated positively because it is difficult to make friends with the locals!
The courses are of a simple level, it’s easy to keep up and the lectures were fun too! However, the style in my courses (Direct Marketing, Selling Strategy, Economic Problems and Business Career Development) is different than at home. In my opinion, the scientific aspect was not very pronounced. It’s more reminiscent of the way I graduated from high school.
The general effort for the course itself is low, attendance is compulsory in most courses and homework is assessed, but even the lecturers don’t take it very seriously!
The exams are multiple choice tasks, so the language is more difficult than the content!
To Living in San Diego: Move to the Beach! Rarely in life do you have the opportunity to live as well as in San Diego! I advise you Mission or Pacific Beach! This is a tongue of land between the sea and the bay. If you are looking for an apartment, write to me. I have a good relationship with my old landlord, who prefers German to US students to come into his home.
About 80% of the area consists of students and young people under 30. However, it is difficult to find a place and then there is the problem of financing. In general, you have to budget from $600 (trailer park) to $1200. We paid $1000 per person for a house in said area, which was totally average! But the beach is in front of the door and all discos are within walking distance! Don’t move near the university, all fellow students regretted that because nothing is going on there and they always had to come to Mission/Pacific Beach to party and for the beach.
In general, life in the States is very expensive. Fruit and vegetables cost about twice or three times as much as in Germany. But fresh meat is cheap, alcohol about as expensive as in Germany.
You should also get a car, public transport is not only poorly developed, but also a means of transport for the lower class! However, cars are hard to find, expensive, but bargains can be had! Buy a car locally and not from Germany over the Internet. In general, you don’t have to be afraid of being mugged in San Diego. What is much more to beware of is the local police! The penalties for the smallest offenses are exorbitantly high and the police will quickly take action, lock you up or, in the worst case, send you back home!
Regarding leisure activities: San Diego is called America’s finest city, and rightly so in my opinion! Always great weather, lots of surfers, great beaches, a beautiful landscape… Discos are good to very good. There are two mainstreams, the expensive downtown clubs and the student digs in Pacific Beach. You should also watch a Padres game (baseball), the Chargers (NFL) are great too! The Lakers play like the Kings or Ducks (ice hockey) just two hours away. The Americans are crazy about sports, try it out in the numerous sports bars!
In addition, you should definitely go to Vegas (about 6 hours by car) and from there to the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam. Of course, you should also take the opportunity to drive to San Francisco and then take Interstate 1 on the way back! By far the most beautiful road I’ve used!
Los Angeles is big, dirty, loud and few like it! Take a picture with the Hollywood sign and drive back to Diego, the town is much nicer!
In retrospect, I can recommend it to everyone, take the step, the city is great, life is expensive but worth it! Probably the best time of my life.