University: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA
City: Santa Barbara
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: Business
Study type: semester abroad
Now that I’ve been back home for three months, I thought I’d write a report on this rainy German Sunday. See mcat-test-centers for Hillsborough Community College.
Application
The application is quite easy and can be easily done with MicroEdu. Language certificates such as the TOEFL should also be easily achievable at the required level. Everything else is administrative steps that involve little to medium effort, but are easily feasible thanks to the descriptions provided by College Contact.
Accommodation
Since the UCSB is quite popular, many topics have already been discussed in detail and I can only agree with the experiences. My personal experience with the accommodation: There are some good accommodations and many underground ones, both of which are unfortunately not always reflected in the price. It’s worth looking early enough, sometimes you just find a diamond in the middle of the night in the UCSB Housing FB group. Regarding that, I can only recommend the Berkshire Terrace Apartmentrecommend, just ask the management, probably. does anyone want to sublet. In principle, everything can be found, from doubles to singles and even your own apartment. All you have to do is search long enough and don’t settle too soon. Larger complexes such as Icon etc. are always good stopgap solutions and can normally also be booked spontaneously on site. not always the best solution. But again from me: look for a room in IV or at least directly adjacent! Bank account was also helpful for me and with appropriate use of the card at Wells Fargo also free of charge, customer service there was also great.
Courses
From an academic point of view, I had three extension courses, you pass them with an A if you don’t fall completely on your head and are well compatible with free time and money. My courses were: 1. Intermediate Accounting : Interesting, a summary of US GAAP, easy to do even with little previous knowledge, involved the most effort and demands, but was still at a pleasant level and still brought you a lot; Global Economics : Lots of politics and global finances, good to let yourself be sprinkled, level is easy to do with a little knowledge of economics; Business Negotiation : Phew, negotiate with yourself again whether you want to take the course wanted, easy, but also little content. In the “non-extension” courses, it was actually more difficult for some to get in and some also required more effort, but in the end everyone had the courses they needed. In terms of price, like most people, I was between 13 and 15 thousand euros, but that really included a lot.
My time in California
But now finally to the most important thing: the time in California. At the end of the day, no one goes abroad to become a Nobel laureate, and if they did, it was hardly time at UCSB. But if you want to walk around with a permanent grin for four months and have the best time of your life, then you’ve come to the right place. If you watch “Soaring over UCSB” on YouTube, you can already see the environment in which you study. Because everything is close together in Isla Vista, you will meet up with friends every day for various leisure activitiescan meet. My everyday life looked something like this (calculated over 7 days): 30% university, 30% sports (beach volleyball, tennis, fitness studio, VERY IMPORTANT: surfing, hiking, etc.), 10% excursions (uses Air BnB and Uber , e.g. Ted’s Mountain House in Yosemite Park), 30% consumption of everything that is unhealthy, including fast food and alcohol; You should bring at least some party mood with you, otherwise the evenings might be. to deadbeats and you’d better go to another university. Actually, my plan wasn’t really to celebrate much, but it’s easy to get in once you’re there, so just do it. In terms of age, it was different for me than some other reports. When I was 24, I was right on average with the Germans and by no means too old, so you can still go there with a few years more on the clock.
My recommendation to you: just arrange the semester abroad so that you have the best possible time and don’t worry whether you hang out enough with Americans (even if some recommend it) or whether you have done any must-do’s from others, should in the end you just go home with such a smile as we do.
Cultural Peculiarities
Here are my three culture shocks at the beginning of the semester: Hardly any woman, no matter what shape, wears a bra, you have to get used to it first. Many rich Chinese send their children there to study, so don’t be surprised if you’re suddenly overtaken on your bike by the Maserati. In my day, the classic mustache became fashionable again; and all of a sudden you found yourself in Beverly Hills Cop.
In the end we can still say: Do it!!! All doubts aside.