Details

• United States of America
• MAWiPäd-15
• Graduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months

1. Preparation

Read the factsheet and flyer for important information such as the required language level, housing, orientation days, start of classes (late August for master’s students!), etc. I got a lot of emails from the partner university, most of them repetitive at some point. As a master’s student, you also got all the emails that the undergraduate exchange students receive. Be aware that some information is irrelevant for master’s students (e.g. the add-drop period is earlier since master’s students start earlier). The process was rather chaotic and sometimes uncoordinated. As mentioned, we received a lot of emails. The application process at the university was the same. We had to provide information on three different platforms, and it took some time to get a good overview. In addition, the team responsible for the process was often out of the office and not reachable. If Kelsey (UMD exchange coordinator) is not reachable, I highly recommend contacting the WU International Office for assistance. They immediately helped me when my partner university wouldn’t write me back and I was afraid of missing the deadline. However, once you are done with the application process, everything is easy, and you can always contact the coordinators if you have questions or problems.

2. Accommodation

I applied for on-campus housing since the last exchange students mentioned in their report that it was rather hard to find something off campus for such a short period of time. I got accepted to St. Mary’s House, which is home to the language program. One thing to keep in mind: you get the information whether you got accepted for on-campus housing or not in mid-July, which I found super late. St. Mary’s: I lived in an apartment with four other girls who were also exchange students. There were two double bedrooms and one single bedroom. Luckily, I got the single room. (You can’t specifically apply for the single room, but I think they put the master’s students in the single room and the bachelor’s students in the double room, although I am not 100% sure.) We also had a living room and a kitchen. The location of St. Mary’s was perfect. All three dining halls are within a 10–13 minute walking distance, the business school is 10 minutes by foot, the health center is next to the building, and the gym is 15 minutes away on foot. Compared to where all the other exchange students lived, I would say St. Mary’s is the most central housing building on campus.

3. Academic life at host university

The academic semester for master’s students is split into two terms. Term A starts in late August and ends in early to mid-October, while Term B runs from mid-October to mid-December. To enroll in courses, you need prior approval. During the application process at UMD, you fill out a Google Form with your preferred courses and receive confirmation of eligibility at the end of July. Campus infrastructure: I didn’t spend a lot of time in the business school, mainly because it does not have its own library. I preferred studying in one of the campus libraries, especially the Art Library, which I would highly recommend. The lecture rooms are nice, but not as nice as at WU. Everything is older and a bit darker. Academic culture: From what I have experienced, every student expects an A. This was interesting for me since I felt our professors were very generous in grading. I almost felt like students were gifted good grades, and our professors made sure we all did very well. This doesn’t mean the courses weren’t demanding, but once you completed all requirements, good grades were very common. This was different from WU, where you actually have to put a lot of effort into your work in order to get a good grade. BMGT758Z – Special Topics in Business and Management: Sports Sales and Sponsorship Professor/Instructor: Stephen Sclafani Teaching style: Lecture style with three guest speakers. We had to come up with questions for them, and our professor also asked a lot of questions, so there were plenty of opportunities to participate. I really enjoyed this course. Our professor was amazing. You could tell he has a lot of experience in this field and was striving to motivate us. Workload: Low BMGT610 – Financial Management Professor/Instructor: James Seward Teaching style: Lecture style. He didn’t call us out. Including me, it was always the same four people participating and answering his questions. You could tell our professor had a lot of knowledge that he wanted to share with us, and I did my best to absorb all of it. He was funny, and I really enjoyed the course. Workload: High BUSM706 – Innovation & Product Development Professor/Instructor: Yogesh Joshi Teaching style: Very interactive. Our professor valued participation a lot. We had to read articles in order to take part in in-class discussions. Workload: Medium BUSM754 – Competitive and Collaborative Negotiation Professor/Instructor: Vijaya Venkataramani Teaching style: Very interactive. However, most of the course was reserved for the negotiation exercises that we had to do in class. This was my favorite course of all. It was so much fun negotiating with so many different people, and I really learned a lot, which I believe is very valuable for my future life. Workload: High Something that shocked me was the presenting style. In my Sports Sales and Sponsorship course, we had to deliver a mid-term and a final presentation, and the majority of students either used a piece of paper or their phone with notes, or read directly from a prepared text. What surprised me most was that our professor did not comment on this at all. A similar situation occurred in my Innovation & Product Development course, which I took with MBA students (all of whom had at least six years of work experience and were between 28 and 35 years old) One thing I would recommend is taking MBA courses. I enjoyed studying and discussing with people that already had a lot of work experience. I learned a lot from these discussions and comments they made during the courses. Everyone was super nice, and it was interesting to hear what they were doing professionally before coming to UMD.

5. Every day life in the host country

Life evolves around campus. Since I lived on campus and, in addition to that, had the dining plan, I spent most of my time there. I spent my time at the Eppley Center (sports center), watched sports games, went to bars (also part of campus), studied in different buildings, went to my classes in the Smith School, attended events on campus, and went to the dining hall. We used buses and the metro to get to DC. I also rented a bike from a friend of a friend, which was cheaper than renting one through the university ($40 instead of $75). The bike trail to DC is amazing, and I highly recommend biking to DC at least once during the summer – it was a lot of fun! We took Uber to get to Annapolis, Baltimore, or other destinations (public transportation only works well near DC). We also used a bus to get to NYC. Safety: Everything on campus is completely safe. They also have their own police on campus. Make sure to attend the sports events – football, basketball, soccer, whatever! I loved the game days where you can literally see everyone wearing the university colors (red, black, white) and feel the excitement. Even though our team lost nearly every game this season, it was still fun watching a college football game. Sports options: UMD is heaven in terms of sports. You can literally do anything you want for free. The Eppley Center has a huge gym, basketball and volleyball courts, a large swimming area, cycling and running machines, tennis and badminton courts, a table tennis room, squash rooms, etc. They also provide different classes (yoga, super cycling, barre, etc.). They also have a bouldering area (you can borrow shoes and use the chalk for free).

6. Testimonial

My exchange semester was an amazing experience and something I will always look back on gratefully. I highly recommend going abroad, as you meet so many interesting people, make a lot of memories, and learn a great deal. Choosing the US gave me the chance to experience the college life I had only known from movies in real life. The only thing to keep in mind when choosing the US is that many students will be younger than you. But overall, you will have a great time and truly live the college dream. Once a terp, always a terp!