Good Internship opportunity, China was great, program not for me Past Review
By Jane (Vanderbilt University) - abroad from 09/01/2018 to 12/15/2018 with
CET Shanghai
I learnt that I love being abroad and that I want to go back to China longer term.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 2 weeks - 1 month |
Review Your Program
|
* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The classes varied wildly due to the quality of the professor, but overall, the structure made it near impossible to truly learn. Three hour lectures often were repetitive and took away from time exploring the city. The program does not take advantage of its location as much as it could. Lastly, a lot of students are unmotivated to participate in class so if you're looking for a program where students are looking to learn, this ain't it! |
|
* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The program directors seemed to be very prepared to cater to one type of student only and were generally useless for any non-normal request. |
|
* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
The dorm room was fine, lots of amenities. |
| * Food: |
|
|
* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
All attempts to get involved pretty much have to happen on your own since the program does little to encourage students to go out and experience Chinese culture |
|
* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
|
| * Safety: |
|
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
The type of people it was looking for and the attitude it fostered didn't align with my own goals. A lot of people were only there to get a boost up in their future corporate career and/or get drunk and there was relatively little interest in appreciating or learning about Chinese culture. Also there was significant amounts of racism during the program. |
Finances
|
* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
Transportation is cheap but having to cover food at your own cost on top of daily commute adds up. Like others have said, China is cheap, but Shanghai is the least cheap. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
|
How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
It really just depended on your roommate. Other than that, it was possible to never use Chinese outside of class |
Other Program Information
|
* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you take classes with?
Select all that apply |
|
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
|
| * What could be improved? |
|
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Location is not enough to make a program good |
