Abroad101: Study Abroad Reviews

Making international friends April 17, 2024

By (Computer Science + Mathmatics, Middlebury College) - abroad from 09/12/2023 to 12/12/2024 with

University of St. Andrews: St. Andrews - Direct Enrollment & Exchange

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
I learned how ignorant the Americans are and how compassion and genuine interest can go a long way. Experience was totally worth it. Thanks mom for giving me the nudge!

Review Photos

University of St. Andrews: St. Andrews - Direct Enrollment & Exchange Photo University of St. Andrews: St. Andrews - Direct Enrollment & Exchange Photo University of St. Andrews: St. Andrews - Direct Enrollment & Exchange Photo

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.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

Payment and enrollment was a bit confusing. Did not have clear instructions for applying or what information was needed / missing. However, they were very helpful if you reached out to them directly.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Very satisfied. I lived in an on campus flat in a single in a suite with 3 flatmates.

* Food:

Food was good, but could only get 1 main course at dinner and seconds only right before closing. My dinning hall (DRA) did not have lunch so I bought a meal deal every day in the physics cafe.

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Made a lot of great friends in the dining hall, in my flat, and on the frisbee team.

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

* Safety:

Campus felt extremely safe. There was a bit of a walk back to my dorm (DRA) from town (approx 15 minutes), and even walking alone at night I felt safe.

If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? Yes

Met an incredible community abroad. Made a lot of friends from Scotland, Sweden, Hong Kong, Romania, US, etc. I had a blast playing on the frisbee team, engaging in pub culture, or learning about Scotish/English traditions and cultural icons from my flatmates. The academics were rigorous but I never felt that there was busy-work. Would totally do it again. I considered staying for a second semester but decided I wanted to take full advantage of what my home university had to offer.

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)

4 - Needed to spend money for lunch (meal deal was approx $2) every day, and dinner on the weekends. Other than that, the dining hall was perfect and sufficient. Largest expense besides food was drinks.

Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? $60 ?
Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? Go to the Aldi and buy food for lunch, but especially weekend dinners. Much cheaper than hannafords.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? No

Direct Enrollment/Exchange

* Did you study abroad through an exchange program or did you directly enroll in the foreign university? Direct Enrollment

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Dorm
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Local Students
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Local Students
  • Americans
  • International Students
About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? 10+

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?
  • Friends
  • Acedemics
  • Social Culture
* What could be improved?
  • Dining services
  • Easier renting of a bike
  • Better host university communication
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? Big new perspectives of the US and our culture compared to other countries.

Individual Course Reviews

Course Name/Rating:

Operating Systems
Course Department: Computer Science
Instructor: Ryan Kirkpatrick and Chris Brown
Instruction Language: English
Comments: Incredible class. My professors were incredibly passionate about operating systems and how computers work. The assignments were challenging yet fun. I felt that the standards for evaluation were not super clear (causing me to take a few grade penalties), but the course overall was my most interesting class and I hope to further study lower level programming. 10/10
Credit Transfer Issues: No
Course Name/Rating:

Sustainable Development
Course Department: ES
Instructor: Adontis Vradis
Instruction Language: English
Comments: Similar to a freshman seminar. Very introductory (ex a lecture on "how to write a paper"). Rotating professors from different Environmental Sciences professors kept the content wide reaching and engaging. 3 essays over the whole course. Not my biggest interest so I often struggled to pay attention in large lectures.
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Computer Security
Course Department: CS
Instructor: Simon Dobson
Instruction Language: English
Comments: Fascinating content. Would have liked to study more of the lower level side of security (ex there was only one day on kernels and buffer overflows), but the theory was incredibly interesting (pub key crypto, crypto, secure computing, iot, etc). Awesome professor.
Credit Transfer Issues:
Course Name/Rating:

Combinatorics and Probability
Course Department: Math
Instructor: Prof Colva Roney-Dougal and Dr Michail Papathomas
Instruction Language: English
Comments: Incredibly interesting course taught by two incredible professors. Weekly problem sets. Big lectures with 150+ kids, and a twice-monthly "tutorial" where we went over the problem sets.
Credit Transfer Issues: