University: San Diego State University
City: San Diego
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: business administration
Study type: semester abroad
MicroEdu
The biggest problem you have with small universities or technical colleges is that they sometimes don’t have good partnership agreements with foreign universities. MicroEdu is something else. Huge selection and support with the application. You can actually ask anything and you will be helped as best as possible and also given useful tips. Of course you can also take everything into your own hands, only then it can get complicated and there is usually no time to take care of something like that. In my opinion, MicroEdu is the ideal solution for someone who wants to do a semester abroad. Also because many American universities that have cooperation agreements with German universities still charge fees. So you don’t have to be limited by your university when making your selection, you can go anywhere. See ehuacom for vocational training in Slovenia.
It is also important that you clarify this in advance with the responsible professor at your home university whether it is possible, whether you take a semester off but still get the things credited (that’s how it worked for me) and which subjects you want to take there. Course offers can always be found on the respective websites of the universities. Course descriptions, if available, can be forwarded to you by MicroEdu.
If you plan everything well in advance and take care of everything in good time, the whole thing is easy and stress-free. But if you put everything off until the last second, like I did, you can easily break a sweat. Everyone has to know for themselves how they want to deal with it. In principle you get all information about MicroEdu, even with a schedule, when you have to have something done. I’d recommend sticking to that schedule and maybe getting everything ready a bit early because you never know what might get in your way.
Apart from all the forms, I had already selected courses that I wanted to take. Feel free to pick out a few more and not just four and an alternative course. Crashing the courses will cost you a lot of nerves and time. I also gave my list to my professor and talked to him about the priorities to set.
Arrival & apartment search
When you finally arrive in San Diego, you first go to a hostel and then look for an apartment from there and organize everything. Many are right on the beach in the hostel and are always commuted by car (comfortable and fast) or bus and trolley (long and again long). We decided to stay close to the uni and moved to the Ramada Mission Valley(Grantville Station Trolley) one station in front of the uni. From there we looked for apartments and went to university. We were there around mid-August and the course started towards the end of August. By then we had something in mind. Unfortunately, we were canceled about 3 days in advance. Unfortunately we were already in San Francisco and couldn’t do anything from there. When we got back, we had to extend our stay in the hostel for better or worse.
All I can say about the situation is that it depends on each individual. Living on the beach is more expensive and you always have to drive there and back. Living at the university is not much cheaper, but it is more relaxed when you get there and you have no travel expenses. We lived at the university and were very lucky with the apartment because it was really cheap. If you want to party, you can do that here too and it is probably the same problem as on the beach that house parties are always broken up by the police. We recommend the party buses that drive from the SDSU to downtown and sometimes get you to the clubs for free.
I will only touch on the topic of cars briefly. We got a car late to do a little tour of the west coast. But it is best to buy one right away or rent a car for the whole time. On the one hand it is cheaper and you are on the safe side. In addition, you don’t have to transport things from IKEA to the university with the trolley and don’t have to explain to the people in the trolley what we’re actually doing there.
University
SDSU’s campus is huge. You need 15 minutes alone to get from one side to the other. Be careful on the bike paths, it often happens that you get caught by a bike or skateboard. There are a lot of students on the road. For me, who only knows a small FH, it was really a bit too much. The sun was almost always shining. The level is lower but the content is much more than you are used to. Especially since you already have intermediate exams. Don’t underestimate the cost of books either. Most of the time you should find a group where you can share the book or copy it from someone for a small fee.
The most important thing is crashing the courses. I’m just saying don’t give up and keep at it. It’s really annoying at the beginning and you don’t understand the world anymore when you compare the organization of the university with that in Germany. Business graduates in particular have a really hard time because the courses are simply overcrowded and the responsible office unfortunately did not calculate the number of students beforehand and therefore had too few places. The first week is hell. It is best to make a plan beforehand when you want to go to which course. The second week is a bit quieter. Unfortunately, some still had no courses and that was really tight. But in the third week you usually get everything together. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard from anyone that he got everything he wanted or was important to him.
Conclusion
In the beginning it was organized really well by MicroEdu and you have everything under control. Everything is easy because MicroEdu really does a really good job. When you are there, the stress with the apartment slowly begins. If you finally have that for sure, you still have to get through the crash. Here I would say is the high point. But once you’ve completed all the courses, it’s a steep climb. The time was awesome and I recommend everyone to have such an experience. The topic of free time is really not neglected next to the university. Depending on whether the timetable is good, you can really experience a lot. City trips, beach, party, amusement parks, football, basketball & baseball on the weekends. There is a lot to see and even here you should think about what you want to explore beforehand.
- New York (Empire State, Liberty Island, Central Park, 230 fifth Bar,etc)
- San Diego (Zoo, Sea World, Coronado Beach, PB, Old Town, Ivy, Sports, etc.)
- San Francisco (Golden Gate, Pier 39, Cable Cars, Alcatraz, Lombard Street, etc.)
- Los Angeles (Walk of Fame, Universal & Warner Studios, Beaches, Downtown, etc.)
- Las Vegas (everything)
- Hawaii