University: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA
City: Santa Barbara
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: business administration
Study type: semester abroad
The decision to go to UCSB was basically quite simple. My criteria were: USA, sea right in front of the door, great weather, fun. I hadn’t been to California before either, so I figured I have to go there. Also, having heard a lot about UCSB as a “party school” before, I knew Santa Barbara would be my top choice. See toppharmacyschools for Auckland University of Technology Study Abroad.
Before that, I organized everything to do with the application process, visa and courses with the help of the outstanding College Contact team. Thank you again for the great support! The contact was great, in addition to the warm interaction, the advice was also very valuable in terms of content. You can tell you’re dealing with professionals, and if there’s ever a problem with no immediate answer, they’ll do everything they can to provide that answer later or to help you in some other way.
With Google Maps you can already guess that the UCSB is located directly on the sea. When Santa Barbara residents talk about their city, they talk about the most beautiful place on earth. However, one should not live in downtown Santa Barbara, but definitely in the college village “Isla Vista”, which borders directly on the campus and also directly on the sea. In addition to daily day parties with a view of the sea, American canned beer and absolutely party-crazy people, you can also spend the day surfing or working out in the university gym. A bed with 2 or 3 people in the room gives for between $500 and $800 per month. If you scan the market on Craigslist a few months in advance, preferably with automatic email notification, then the chances are not that bad.
In Isla Vista there is the so-called Excursion Club. A non-profit surf and leisure club where you can meet lots of people, go on day trips and learn to surf. You should definitely join this club.
I was 2 quarters at UCSB, one is not enough and if you have the opportunity, 3 is of course even better. Many scholarship programs such as “Auslandsbafög” only offer the possibility of funding for a minimum stay of 2 quarters.
Academic:
You have the opportunity to take extension courses:
Advantages: very easy, very good grades, no time investment and therefore a lot of time to enjoy California, cost only 50% of the price of normal courses, admission guaranteed
Furthermore, you can also take normal university courses:
Advantages: only Americans in the courses, which enables easier contact with Americans. (Only foreigners are in the extension course), more demanding study at an academically high level.
Personally, I decided to take all 24 units as extension courses because I wanted to spend as little time as possible at university and wanted to use the time for surfing and travelling. The atmosphere in the lecture was very relaxed due to the small groups and interesting topics. I can definitely recommend the Strategic Branding course in particular. California is known for its expertise in marketing and this was immediately apparent from the instructor’s impressive hands-on experience. In addition to Skype interviews with CEOs of well-known sporting goods manufacturers, sophisticated presentations and a lot of initiative on the part of the participants rounded off the course. If the lecturer Steven Gibson offers another HR course in the future, I would definitely recommend taking part in it.
My recommendations for making the most of your time in California:
– Buy a car (without a car you are dependent on others and would only be able to do 10% of the things you want to do)
– Surf from day one
– San Francisco
– Yosemite National Park
– San Diego (especially the area around Pacific Beach)
– Las Vegas
– LA
– Eating out at the “Malibu Farm” restaurant in Malibu
– Skydiving (about 1 hour from Santa Barbara, organized by the Excursion Club)
– Hawaii (the most breathtaking thing I’ve ever experienced)
After some time I realized that I made the right decision to go to Santa Barbara. Because even people I met outside of UCSB in California envied me for being able to study at UCSB and live in Isla Vista.
This incredible time was over at some point, but friends remain, memories remain. I will still be able to remember this part of my life in 50 years as if it were yesterday. An experience that no amount of money in the world can buy later.