I recommend a semester abroad in California to everyone, but if I had the choice again, I would prefer another university rather than California State University Fullerton. I studied business administration (management, marketing, accounting and microeconomics) at the CSUF in the fifth semester. Note: according to iamaccepted, CSUF stands for California State University Fullerton.
California State University Fullerton:
The first impression of the California State University Fullerton was great. The campus and the business administration building are very beautiful and cannot be compared to most German universities.
The people from the International Office of California State University Fullerton tried very hard and made it easier for you to start the semester through events and personal discussions. The choice of course posed a major problem. A list of favorites had already been sent to the International Office from Germany, but only very few received the chosen courses. Instead, you had to “crash” courses you wanted to attend in the first few weeks. This means that you first take part in a course and at the end of the lecture you ask the professor to continue to attend this course. Since almost every international student was in the same situation, the chance of getting the course that you had previously chosen was very slim. I also had to compromise on two out of four courses.
Most of the professors tried very hard to integrate the foreign students. I have only seen one professor who preferred local students to foreign students and who openly admitted that. But that was only an isolated case.
I had taken four courses (all 300-400 courses). In the course of the semester it became clear that every course involved a lot of effort. As previously suspected, the level of the courses is much lower than in Germany. I would say that 80% of the course content represented pure repetitions for me. All the more annoying that you had to do group work, housework, case studies, etc. almost every day and had little free time.
The grading at California State University Fullerton is initially strict, so that (by American standards) it was assumed that the final grades were relatively poor. In the end, however, the grades were all greatly improved because the average in the course was not very high:).
I regularly exchanged ideas with friends who had spent a semester abroad in San Diego or San Francisco. Your grades were identical in the end, but the effort was less.
The city of Fullerton (suburb of LA) actually has nothing to offer. In a couple of pubs in the old town you will find a few opportunities to go out to party. However, we often drove to downtown LA to go out in the evening. Due to the heavy traffic, you can plan two hours for the trip.
I would advise everyone to buy or borrow a car during your semester in California State University Fullerton. I bought a car with my roommate and we both decided in the end that it was the best decision we made. Without a car there is hardly any possibility of leaving Fullerton. The buses rarely run and are not reliable.
We often drove to the beaches or other cities by car. As soon as we didn’t have to do anything for university, we left Fullerton;). Personally, I went to San Diego very often because the city has a lot to offer. LA has a few nice corners and locations, but the city is by and large not a beauty.
As you can probably guess, I would have preferred to spend my semester abroad in San Diego or San Francisco (I was there for a few days before the semester abroad). I like the cities better and you have a lot more options than Fullerton. The accessibility of the beaches and good bars is also much better there. In return, I would accept the higher tuition fees.
About the accommodation:
With the help of the International Office, I was able to find accommodation very quickly. It was very important to me to live with Americans, so I decided with another German to move in with an elderly local lady. I had my own room there and shared a bathroom with the German. The apartment was clean and I felt very comfortable. The mood was great! Talking to my “host mother” enabled me to improve my English. Although the apartment was a bit away from campus, I would always move in there.
