The program is terrible, country is great! Past Review
By A student (Anonymous University) - abroad from 08/14/2017 to 12/21/2017 with
IES Abroad: Quito - IES Abroad in Quito
I learned a lot from my peers at the university, and loved Ecuador. The experience outside of IES was worth is, but IES Quito itself was really problematic and has some serious systemic issues.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 6 months+ |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The professors were terrible, and very creepy. They were predators and also had unfair grading systems. Highly don't recommend. If you like not knowing your grades until finals are over this program is for you! Leadership within the program changed, and the quality has taken a dip for the worst |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Administration was broken, with recent staff changes this semester. Program administrators did not handle sexual assault responsibly and blamed victims. Honestly very unorganized and terrible. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
My host family was nice overall, but my living conditions were relatively poor and my host family borrowed money from me and used food money for the house instead. Was not fed well, and other students were not fed enough |
| * Food: |
Food was great when I bought it, but at home many host families had financial problems and used food budget for other reasons |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
USFQ is really great and I had the chance to interact with alot of students. Direct enrollment is definitely better because you have more of a chance to interact with students and have cultural interactions. The immersive program within the program is really isolating and not worth it at all. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
Overall I received all the help I needed. But the program did not assist in cases where students were sexually assaulted and also did not have any resources for help in mental health. They told us to find god instead |
| * Safety: |
A student was drugged while walking in the street but I felt relatively safe. My building didn't have a security system really and one time a stranger was found wondering around our floor. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
The program is completely unorganized and not prepared for students. They couldn't deal with any of the problems students had and also didn't know anything about classes or transcripts. Ecuador is amazing but the program makes it difficult |
Finances
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* 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 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
Food is really cheap here so its easy to budget. Traveling is also really easy and cheap |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | around 30$ |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Plan out your trips and don't spend a lot of money on taxis |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Intermediate |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Intermediate |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | 200 |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | The program didn't really encourage the use of Spanish and we all spoke English together. They also spoke to us in English so it wasn't really an immersive experience |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | That the program staffing had changed from previous years. I looked at this website before for reviews and was really excited but this year was disappointing |
