130 reviews
4.02 / 5 based on 130 reviews

Useful |
0
jlittle
Housing
Type of housing: On campus
Arranged by: Host university
If returning, I would choose: Apartment/House
Why?
There would have been less hassle with other residents, subwardens, and porters to deal with.
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Personal comments
They only provide accommodation for first year and international students, and it's pretty poor at that. The student 'village' where they put you is pretty far from campus and the staff is not the most helpful in the world.
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Useful |
2
jlittle
Student life
Describe host city:
Students interact with the local community without much university involvement
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Activities: Takes place mostly within the university/student environment
Nightlife, Travel: Takes place mostly outside the university/student environment
Personal social experience
Personal comments
The U of A student union is really nice and I would recommend going there at least once. The Priory is an experience, especially for Aerican students who ahve never seen a church renovated and turned into a nightclub!
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0
jlittle
Academic
Course recommendations
You can't take 3000 and 4000 level couress with 1000 and 2000 levels. In addition they only offer one section of each course a semester and so many courses timetable out other courses.
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My academic experiences
Interaction with teachers
Interaction with international students
Interaction with local students
Personal comments
Continuos assessment is a good thing, but don't expect it at U of A.
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My opinion of the university assessment
Exams throughout the course
Essays and/or projects at the end of course
Essays and/or projects throughout the course

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0
jlittle
Languages
Language of instruction: English
Was learning English a key decision factor?
No, it wasn't.
Language difficulties
Administrative / Institutional
Personal comments
English is my first language, and although they swear they speak it here, I found it sometimes difficult to understand the accents.
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Useful |
8
jlittle
Overall
I wish I had known...
I can't do research and take classes at the same time so I had to add on another year of study at my home university.
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In my opinion:
Most people loved it.
Important factors in my choice
(1) Unimportant – (4) Very important
Personal recommendation
The university itself needs to be more organized and less fickle in attitudes towards students. For instance, they they stress that students should be more responsible and act as adults and that they aren't goig to be lead by the hand all the time, but then they do things like check homework and take attendance in classes. The subwardens in accommodations do nothing as far as community goes and residents are largely unmonitored, resulting in loudness at all times of the day, misuse of kitchen areas, drug use, and other things that don't happen as often or as blatantly in US dorms.
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During my experience abroad, I ...
(1) Never – (4) A lot
Became familiar with another culture
Met people from other countries
Experienced a change in life
Advanced my studies & career
Final comments
Invest in a young person's railcard if you're going to be traveling by train - you get 30% off tickets. Also look into airlines like easyjet and ryanair because they can be quite cheap. STA travel and some other larger travel agencies are good at getting student discounts as well.
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Useful |
0
jlittle
Expenses
Main source of funding:
Government assistance
Other sources of funding:
Personal savings
A private grant
Work opportunities:
I didn't explore any work options
Personal spending habits
The oil industry has driven the cost of living up here in Aberdeen and so goods and services cost more. I also had to pay for a cell phone (the alternative was to pay for a land line) which I don't have to at my home universtiy. Accommodation was catered but they only provided breakfast and dinner, so I had to pay for lunch everyday on top of what I paid for housing/meals already. Normally I wouldn't travel in the State, and if i did I would do it with friends... here I traveled a lot but by myself and on trains.
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Food, Telephone, Housing, Travel, Overall:
was more expensive than at home.
Nightlife:
was the same price as at home.
Accessibility of student needs
Second-hand household items