591 reviews
4.09 / 5 based on 591 reviews
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Matthew M
Expenses
Main source of funding:
Personal savings
Other sources of funding:
An ERASMUS grant
Work opportunities:
I didn't want/need to work
Personal spending habits
things are more expensive than in australia. also I tended to go out and travel a lot so that meant I spent a lot of money
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Food, Telephone, Housing, Nightlife, Travel, Overall:
was more expensive than at home.
Accessibility of student needs
Second-hand household items
Personal comments
avoid some of the swanky madrid clubs - 20euro cover charge and 8euro drinks sometimes! there are plenty of cheap bars around and they are often more fun
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Matthew M
Academic
Course recommendations
Courses at this university are a joke. Don't bother doing any important subjects, you won't learn anything. Just take a few electives.
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My academic experiences
Interaction with teachers
Interaction with international students
Interaction with local students
Personal comments
Facilities are very old and dilapidated eg: library small and poorly resourced, computers are out of date (10 years old some of them!) and constantly broken. They could be much better organised at this as well. Enrolment is not until the third week of semester and there are no timetables so it is utter chaos to begin with and hard to work out where the hell the classes are. They force you to get your student card from one of the banks on campus which takes over a month which is bloody annoying since you can't borrow library books/do research until you have it.
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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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Matthew M
Overall
I wish I had known...
i wish I had have known a lot more about finding accomodation and the classes I would be taking
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In my opinion:
Stay home.
Important factors in my choice
(1) Unimportant – (4) Very important
Personal recommendation
Madrid and Spain are great but this university is terrible. Badly organised, and don't care about their international students (especially if you come from a country where they don't get many students). They don't have any kind of orientation to help you settle in/find your classes/meet people (very unusual - I studied abroad in mexico and there were heaps of parties and information sessions at the start of semester). The locations sucks as well - way north of Madrid, over 40mins train ride from the central station.
At the end of my studies they sent the wrong academic transcript to my home university so I haven't been able to get credit points for the courses I did yet. I have tried contacting several professors and administrative staff at the autonoma but they are not very responsive (a teacher from one of my classes rudely ignored me entirely) and so they have still not sent me the correct over six months after I got back home. NIGHTMARE!
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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
As I said, Madrid and Spain are great, but CHOOSE A DIFFERENT UNIVERSITY IF YOU WANT TO GO. this one is terrible
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Matthew M
Languages
Language of instruction: Spanish
Was learning Spanish a key decision factor?
No, it wasn't.
How much did you improve your Spanish?
My level before: At ease in most situations
My level after: At ease in most situations
Language difficulties
Administrative / Institutional
Personal comments
they offer spanish classes to the erasmus students, although they are badly organised and although i turned up for the entrance exam they didn't let me take the classes.
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Matthew M
Housing
Type of housing: Apartment/House
Arranged by: Independently - I had no other choice
If returning, I would choose: Apartment/House
Why?
apartment is the only choice really. there is an erasmus residence on the campus, but the campus is in the middle of nowhere with limited public transport so it is no good if you wanna go places/have a social life
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Personal comments
The autonónoma didn't give any help to students searching for apartments, only host families, which I thought was quite bad. Finding an apartment to share with other students in madrid was quite tricky since a lot of spanish people live with their parents. The good places fill up very fast just before semester starts. Get to madrid a few weeks before class starts and search online websites like loquo.com and as soon as you see something good take it! cause it will probably be gone within a few hours
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Matthew M
Student life
Describe host city:
Students equally interact with the local and student community
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Activities, Nightlife, Travel: Takes place mostly outside the university/student environment
Personal social experience
Personal comments
plenty in madrid. the area around tribunal metro and malasaña is very student and good for cheap drinks. also there are the fancy/expensive clubs like pacha if that is more your thing
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