University: California State University Fullerton

City: Fullerton

Country: United States

Continent: North America

Field of study: business administration

Study type: semester abroad

I had done my semester abroad at Cal State Fullerton. Why the choice fell on this university was due to the following aspects:

• It is one of the most renowned universities in the USA and has numerous top
• Rankings in the areas of finance, business and real estate.
• I also read the reviews of this university on the MicroEdu website, which were mostly rated positively.
• CSUF is also among the cheaper universities in terms of tuition fees.

I applied through MicroEdu in April. I received the confirmation extremely late and only in July. The uNi starts your semester in August. With the acceptance you will receive the I-20 form. Only with this form is it possible to apply for a student visa. I hastily made an appointment at the consulate and filled out many forms beforehand and had to invest a lot of money (about $200-250) to apply for a visa. (Everyone has to do this, no matter what nationality). Luckily, I got an appointment quickly and had the visa in my pocket. The requirements of the visa is that you are enrolled as a full-time student and must therefore be enrolled in 4 courses. Check existingcountries.com to see Hawaii Pacific University Review 2.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a place in the student dormitories, the so-called “dorms”. So I looked for private accommodation in Germany on my own. Luckily I got a private confirmation so that nothing stood in the way. I was enrolled in Business, Finance and Real Estate. In the universities of the USA you have to crash the courses. This means that you go to the desired course with a form that you get in the introductory week and get a signature from the professor in order to be enrolled in this course. The professor will only sign if there are still enough places left on the course. American students have priority, ie it can happen that you don’t
You get courses that you would like to take. After the professor has signed, you have to go to the department with this slip and stamp it. Thank God the crashing worked really well for me. I got all the courses I wanted. As a student you still get login data to log in to www.fullerton.edu and thus have access to the so-called “Blackboard”. With “Blackboard” you can see the enrolled courses, grades for the exams, scripts, information material, etc.

The university is very nice, well-kept and modern. The lectures are quite relaxed. You feel like you are at school. The classes were 30-40 students at most and the subject matter was very simple. All exams are multiple-choice and are very easy. mostly the material from the book, script, lectures is queried. Not really demanding things. In 3 courses I had 2 intermediate exams and a final exam. In the 4 course I had quizzes (small test), 2 intermediate exams, project and a final exam every week. This course had been very strenuous
.

Now we come to the big differences compared to Germany:
If you want to buy something then the prices are without tax. The tax is added at the checkout. VAT varies from city to city. VAT is different in Fullerton than in Los Angeles, New York, etc. If you’re taking a short vacation to Vegas then VAT is totally different again. Only one thing is the same: Tax is NOT included in the price!!! In addition, the food is exempt from VAT! Which items are exempt from VAT depends again on the cities.

Another difference is the units of measurement. In the USA mph is used instead of km/h, oz instead of kg, mg and gallons instead of liters and ml. What many don’t know and shouldn’t know is that alcohol is strictly forbidden in public. Neither drinking nor showing alcohol in the Public. If you buy alcohol, you have to wrap it well in bags and put it in the trunk. If you just buy vodka and walk around with the bottle in public, you can pay a fine. Even if you haven’t drunk anything.

The bus system is a pure catastrophe. If you can afford it, you should definitely get a car. Many reports write about it but do not mention why. I’ll explain it to you. Most buses only run once an hour. It also takes a huge detour. There aren’t many stops. The stops are usually miles apart. Then it usually comes extremely late or extremely early. The stops are NOT announced on the bus!! Only extremely important stops are announced. Conversely, this simply means that the stops have no names. No stops have a bus timetable. You’re standing at the bus stop and don’t know when the bus is coming. I’ve traveled a lot. I’ve been to Los Angeles, San Diego, Newport Beach, Las Vegas and a few other major cities. It’s definitely worth it

All in all, I would recommend a semester abroad to everyone. This semester abroad was one of the best experiences I have had. It was a lot of fun.