University: California State University Fullerton

City: Fullerton

Country: United States

Continent: North America

Field of study: business administration

Study type: semester abroad

I spent my semester abroad at California State University Fullerton from August to December 2018. The university was recommended to me by a friend and I’m glad I chose the university. Check jibin123.com to see Semester Abroad In Griffith College Dublin.

University:

The university is really a great university, from the range of courses to the lecturers and the campus. The courses are chosen in advance, but you often have to “crash” courses in the first two weeks, which means that you often don’t get the courses you want, so you have the opportunity to take the courses during these weeks swap or enroll in others. I was unlucky to have only been assigned one of the four courses I needed, so that in the first week from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. I asked in each course whether there was still a place available for me in the course. But after a week I finally got all the courses I wanted.

My course of study is Business Administration, i.e. very classic business administration and I took the following courses there: MGMT 339 – Managing Operations (very popular course, is therefore offered very often, recommended but a bit more demanding), MGMT 350 – International Business and Management (as Management course a bit more demanding but interesting), MKTG 485 – Multicultural Marketing (absolutely recommendable course, German lecturer, super interesting course content and what I personally thought was great, we had many guestspeakers who talked about their lives and marketing) and COMM 352 – Media Planning and Advertising(here we had to develop media plans for two brands, a lot of work, but it was fun.

The lecturers are also all very nice and helpful, especially if you are an international student. The campus is really big, but after a few weeks that’s no longer a problem and you find your way around easily. Otherwise, a super nice and modern campus with its own food court, large shop where you can buy university merchandise and plenty of seating for learning and meeting friends.

Accomodation:

I lived in the Oxford North student residence, about 10 minutes away by bike. If you decide to go to Oxford North, you should definitely buy a bike, otherwise you will waste a lot of time. The apartments were renovated in late 2017/early 2018 and are therefore really nice and modern – there are older apartments, so I would recommend everyone to pay the small surcharge for a renovated room, it’s definitely worth it! The huge advantage of this accommodation was that it also has a restaurant with really good food. Unfortunately, it has now been closed after the fall semester of 2018. Otherwise there is a pool and a gym, which is also super practical, since you have to pay money for the gym at the university. Big disadvantage: There is no WLAN and if you want to watch TV, you have to find a provider yourself.

Leisure:

In your free time you can hardly get anywhere without a car, that’s for now. Nevertheless, I decided not to rent a car like some of my friends, because I rode my bike to the university because you have to pay a lot for parking and the parking lots were always full anyway. If we did something nearby, we always drove with Uber, Lyft or friends (who had a car), Uber in particular is very cheap if you drive with several people. And if we wanted to go further away, for example towards Los Angeles, San Diego or Las Vegas, we rented a car. Here’s a tip: Don’t go to Chico, the Mexican that some others may also be reporting about – in the end he’s not that cheap and a little strange. So I can recommend booking rental cars via Check24: Here is a comparison example: We paid $160 for 2.5 days at Chico for an old VW (which we also had a flat tire on) and a brand new SUV at Check24 for seven days 379€. This is definitely the better and safer option.

Other tips:

• Mobile phone contract: I was on the Telekom family plan, which I can only recommend. Get in a group of 5 and you’ll only pay around $30 each for texting, calling within the US and best of all – unlimited data!
• Flights: Book through STA Travel, they have good service and good prices
• International health insurance, etc.: I also took out through STA Travel and paid a total of around €450 for international health insurance and travel cancellation with termination.
• Be open! Approach people, dare to make new contacts – Americans are such open and friendly people and always very interested in international students.
• Last tip: even if it’s an expensive time, take the step and decide to study abroad, it will definitely be the time of your life (no exaggeration) and you won’t regret for a second the experience.