University: California State University Long Beach

City: Long Beach

Country: United States

Continent: North America

Field of study: business administration

Study type: semester abroad

About MicroEdu

I found out about MicroEdu from a notice at my home university. Since I need a semester abroad for my studies, it was clear to me from the start that I needed help with the application process. MicroEdu supported me as best they could. Questions were answered immediately over the phone. The contact to Long Beach was arranged by the MicroEdu team. I only had to take care of my visa, a few certificates and filling out the forms. Of course, the service offered is also free of charge. Check act-test-centers.com to see UCD study abroad opportunities.

Take care of the documents in good time, both for the visa and the application documents. I was in Frankfurt for my visa interview. Everything went smoothly for me. However, I noticed that a lot of people didn’t have all their documents with them and that can be uncomfortable because the employees seem to be easily irritable.
On the Internet you can find out which documents are really required. Just stick to it and you’ll be on the safe side.
If you have any questions about the CSULB application documents, simply call MicroEdu.

Living in Long Beach

I got my room from Germany because I was in contact with another German who was already there. We lived in a house with 5 people. I had my own room and had to share a bathroom with my roommate. The prices in California are not to be underestimated. I paid $750 for a small room with an old rickety bed. But the fact that we had our own house with a beautiful garden, an orange tree, in a super quiet area made me overlook the price. Other prices in our house:

• $1000 for a very large room (was occupied by 2 people)
• $800 for a room with a private bathroom
• $700 for a garage room

California State University Long Beach

In my opinion, the CSULB cannot be compared to a standard German university. The campus is beautiful and huge. There are palm trees everywhere and the sun shines all day. The range of courses is huge.
I only took business administration courses because I mainly needed business administration courses. Since 4 subjects are required, I chose Marketing, B2B Marketing, Business Finance and Accounting. Actually, one shouldn’t speak of voting, since it bordered on torture that I got these courses. The first 3 weeks at the university all International Students courses had to crash. This means that we had to go to the professors to beg them to offer us a place in the courses. But since the American students had enrolled months in advance, all courses were of course already full. And the exact number of students per course must generally be adhered to exactly, otherwise there would be stress with the Fire Department.
In any case, it wasn’t fun for us not knowing what we could study at some point. Nevertheless, it worked out quite well. (Note from MicroEdu.com: Since the spring semester 2009, it is no longer possible to take courses in the fields of business administration and economics.)

Free time in Long Beach

First of all: You can’t do anything in Long Beach without a car! I didn’t have my own car, but my roommates did. So we had 2 cars for 5 people. The bus connections in Long Beach are very annoying and that makes it really stressful to go shopping or whatever.
There is of course a lot to see in the Long Beach area. Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Malibu, Santa Monica, San Diego, Six Flags Magic Mountain, San Francisco, Las Vegas and so on. All of this should definitely be explored.
My personal highlight was definitely San Francisco, where we spent 5 days over New Year’s Eve. There is great shopping there.
Long Beach also has tons of great malls to visit. Cover yourself up with Hollister clothes and enjoy the price difference to Germany. I’ve already left a lot of money.

Costs

As already mentioned, the cost of a room is enormous. And if you don’t want to share a room, then you have to factor in my prices. Personally, I found the prices in the supermarket for food that I like to eat to be very high. Unfortunately, when it comes to healthy food (fruit, vegetables), you have to dig deep into your pockets.
In any case, take care of foreign student loans as early as possible.
If you are funded, you will get a flat rate of 1000 euros for the flight and the tuition fees. Of course, there is also a little money to live on every month.

Conclusion

The time in Long Beach was worth every euro. I’m really glad I decided to do this. 3 years ago I was an au pair in New Jersey and that was really awesome. But of course California impresses with its great weather and great beaches.