University: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA
City: Santa Barbara
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: engineering
Study type: semester abroad
First a few words about me, I’m 24 years old, male and I’m studying mechanical engineering at the TU Kaiserslautern in the 8th semester. In 2014 I completed two quarters at the University of California in Santa Barbara (UCSB), which is one of the most exciting and beautiful experiences in my life. You have to take care of it very, very early on, 2 years before it is best and then 1 year before it gets really serious, but it is really more than worth the effort and with the right help, for example from MicroEdu (CC), not superhuman either Perfomance. See mcat-test-centers for Riga Stradins University.
I made the decision to go abroad during my studies while I was still at school. Our high school had an exchange program with a high school in Wisconsin, but unfortunately I couldn’t take part due to the limited places. The desire to go to the US became more and more concrete during high school, I had some American friends who lived in my village because their parents were in the US Air Force and worked at the nearby airbase.
Then I started to study mechanical engineering at the TU Kaiserslautern, slowly it got serious. I pursued this goal more or less meticulously for the first few semesters, collecting a bit of information. It quickly became clear that it would be a huge effort, unfortunately the mechanical engineering students at the TU KL are not blessed with a university that maintains numerous exchange programs where you are practically taken by the hand and everything is arranged for you. Instead, it was time to tackle things yourself. The agency MicroEdu proved to be particularly helpful here, they arrange foreign contacts from universities and colleges all over the world, including UCSB. In the 3rd semester I was able to get a friend interested in my project and so we planned and implemented everything together, which was done with the help of MicroEdu, the DAAD,
Since it was already clear that it should be the USA, we still had to find a university, which is not that easy. In the USA there is mainly the semester (2×5 months per year) and the quarter (3×3 months) system. You have to find out which university offers what and how that fits into your own curriculum, the UCSB was outstanding here, since the Spring Quarter, which we wanted to start with, started about a week before the end of the winter semester at the TU KL and we still do able to write most of the exams. In addition, UCSB was one of the cheaper universities and last but not least, just google it, it’s the most beautiful university you can imagine, right by the sea in Southern California, it doesn’t get any better (almost?).
After choosing the university, we got started. We contacted College Contact and the information package was quickly sent to us free of charge. By the way, you don’t pay anything to MicroEdu for the help and it’s really an immense help, you not only get a super good guide with all kinds of tips, but the advisors are also there to help and advise you Problems, write to the university. At this point, many thanks to Katharina Freitag!
You were good to go, I mentioned earlier that you really have to get started 1 year in advance, the number of places for exchange students at UCSB is limited (I think 125 per quarter) and it will be on a first-come, first-serve basis awarded, so you have to send the application about 7 months in advance. easy right? No, not, before that you have to pass the TOEFL test with at least 80 ibt points (approx. 200€) and prove that you have sufficient financial means (approx. $11000 of which the Bafög can vouch for approx. $6000, if you have any receives). You should also get a passport at this point. If, like me, you depend on student loans, you have to apply much earlier (processing can take up to 6 months!), which should not be underestimated.