Name:
E-mail:
Study Program:
Exchange semester:
Academic year:
Host University:
Country:
Denise Knops
deniseknops@hotmail.com
Psychology
Spring 2014
2013-2014
Pitzer College
California, U.S.A.
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
I studied at Pitzer college in Claremont, California. This school was not even half hour
away from downtown Los Angeles. Pitzer college was part of the Claremont colleges. This
where 5 colleges all located next to each other. To describe Pitzer in one sentence it was the
real Californian lifestyle. Everything was really good organized, perfect weather, nice and
enthusiastic students and an on-campus experience. I didn’t know what to expect with living
on campus, but after this semester I can say it is one of the best things you can do. You can
fully integrate in the campus life. The city itself was not so big, there were some good places
to eat and a few American bars, and really safe! There was not much to see, except for a big
shopping mall, but located half an hour from Los Angeles is of course enough to see. We
made a lot of trips to the different beaches, San Diego, Las Vegas, downtown LA and even
some camping trips. All the 5 colleges were not so big, with not so big I mean around 1000
students at Pitzer only. Pitzer is a college which means that there are only undergraduate
(bachelor) students. We where with 15 exchange students who were only there for a
semester, but there were also 10 other exchange students who already where there for half a
year. First I thought this was not so much, but because you are with not such a big group you
get to know a lot of people very well and you even have the change to meet the American
students.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Because I went with ISEP on exchange you only know your placement a few months
before. I made sure that when I heard where I went that I immediately booked an appointment
at the embassy. The host university was very good in giving us the information we needed on
time and were very quick with answering questions. For me personally there were no
problems at all with this. The visa is something you need to do as quick as possible. For me it
went really fast, I could make an appointment a week after I called, but make sure you call in
time because it can take longer. The visa is pretty expensive so calculate this into your cost.
A really important fact if you go to the American embassy in Amsterdam don’t bring any
electric equipment, so no laptops, Ipads, Ipods or phones! You can’t enter the building with
this in your bag.
Arrival was perfect organized. I sent my flight information to the international office
and they made sure somebody was there waiting for me when I arrived. After that we went to
the international office and there was my host mom waiting for me. We got the contact
information of our host mom a few weeks before so we introduced ourselves already and she
helped me not to forget anything before I came to Pitzer. My host mom was just for the first
few days, because the residence halls only opened at the beginning of the semester. Our
introduction activities where before that. I thought it was amazing that there were host families
who opened there houses for us. I got to know Claremont better and she introduced me to the
real Californian lifestyle. She helped me moving in and after my time with her we stayed in
touch the whole semester. She even offered my friends and parents to come and stay with
her when they were visiting.
The day after arriving my first introduction day was planned, you also could come
earlier to rest a day before starting, but for me this was the best time to go. The introduction
activities were very nice, we got to know each other and they explained everything from
housing, shopping, public transport, dining and computer facilities. The first few days was just
for the new exchange students, we went shopping together for the things we needed for our
room, had dinner together and explored the surroundings. After the first few days the old
exchange students came, this was more informal. The international place was very good,
through the whole semester we could use the living room, kitchen and computers in their
building. They gave us the password if we wanted to come in after office time and we could
just walk in if we needed some help.
During the semester I lived in a dorm. This means that I had one roommate and we
shared the bathroom with the four of us. So two rooms on both sides and a bathroom in the
middle. My roommate was an American student, who assigned to have an exchange student
as a roommate. She went on exchange the year before and wanted to give me the same
experiences as she had. We didn’t need to do anything for housing, the college arranged
everything. The accommodation was actually what I expected and maybe a bit cliché but it is
as you expect from the American college movies. I think having an American roommate
helped me experience the lifestyle even more, she helped me with everything and introduced
me to her American friends. They were all very excited to show me around and make the
most of my semester.
I financed my exchange mainly from working a lot during the summer. It is really hard
to compare the living expenses with Tilburg. In Tilburg I pay 300 euro per month for living and
groceries is another 300 euro. Now I paid 3450 euro for the semester including housing and
meals. We had a 16 meal plan that means you could use this for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
In the weekends there was only brunch and dinner. So you needed to skip 3 meals to have
enough for the whole week. This was not so hard, because you always miss one breakfast or
you just grab a coffee for lunch. They had a greenbox at Pitzer, this was a box you could take
to any meal and you could fill this and take to your room. Most of the time I filled this in the
evening, so that I didn’t need to go to breakfast every morning. Beside the 3450 euro I didn’t
spend a lot on meals except for the travelling in the weekends. But also for this Pitzer had a
perfect solution, if you were going away for the weekend you could ask for gas money. The
student committee at Pitzer wanted to encourage trips, so they would give you money to use
for travelling. Also you could use your meal plan which you would normally use in the
weekends to get food for the weekend. So when we went camping we took a cooling box and
Pitzer filled this with food for the weekend, vegetables, sandwiches, cookies, drinks, salad
and so on.
For housing and meals I spent 3450 euro, books around 250 dollar, transport 200
dollar per month (especially renting a car every weekend). If you make good friends with
American students, almost 90% of them has a car and most of them have no problem with it if
you borrow them. Also remember that before you leave you have a lot of costs, visa (around
250 euro’s), flight, TOEFL test, health insurance. On exchange you have the most costs on
the travelling that you do. I went on springbreak to Mexico, what of course is pretty expensive
(but I think is part of the American culture) and went to visit another place every weekend.
My arrival date was 15th January and the introduction days where the 16 and 17 th.
Classes started at the 21 first of January. Spring break was the 17 th of March until the 23 of
March. Exams where planned in the week of 12 May, but I had it the week before and classes
ended at the 7th of May.
The international office is good organized, with their own building and staff. They
know everything where they can help you with. We could use all of their resources and they
had many activities. We had gatherings with all the exchange students, trips, dinners, and a
international festival. This was a festival where every country had their own stand and made
something to eat that is typically for your country. The whole community joins on this day,
there is a lot of food and special performances. I was really satisfied with everything they did.
On the different activities I promoted Tilburg university, as only Dutch person on campus,
explaining to people that Amsterdam is not the only city in the Netherlands was a pretty hard
job.
The international office and the Pitzer activity committee organized a lot of different
activities, from a 4 day trip to San Francisco, to a day in Disneyland, hiking trips, movie
evenings, and even a two day festival. The best friends I made were the other exchange
students. We saw each other the whole day, studied together, eat, drink, partied and make
trips together. But because I had no exchange students in my classes I made a lot of contact
with the American students, I am glad that I had that opportunity because they can show you
a different side. I travelled a lot during my exchange, from Mexico, to San Diego, Las Vegas,
national parks, Los Angeles and not to forget we went to Coachella.
During my exchange I was the only Dutch person in my group, so speaking English
was the only option. In the beginning this is hard, but after a few weeks you even start
thinking in English. I think there is not a lot of difference between the U.S.A. and the
Netherlands, everyone here especially in California is always willing to help you. The
difference I experienced here has to do with living on campus. I never had a roommate, so I
needed to get use to that the first few weeks. I was very happy with her, but of course
everybody experience this different. The only thing that is worse than in the Netherlands is the
public transportation. It takes a long time to come everywhere that is why we decided to rent a
car almost every weekend. You can rent a car if you are 21. Because I had my host mom,
roommate and American friends I learned a lot of different things from the lifestyle, also the
difference between the east and west coast if really noticeable here.
I learned a lot from my experience especially because I went by myself. I had no
other Dutch students where I could hang out with, so my first challenge was getting to know
other people. I think it is a positive thing if you are all alone, you are open to everything and
get to know people very easy. It made me more independent and learned me a lot about
myself. All the different cultures learned me how I look at different things now. I am very open
in meeting new people and it is for me very important to not have judgments before, I know in
general Dutch people are very good in making judgments. Be open for new cultures and try to
have a positive attitude in every new thing you experience. After a few weeks you can feel
that you are getting homesick, I think almost everybody of us had that moment. At that time it
is important to talk about it with other students be there for each other and that point you
already realize what a good friendships you made in a few weeks.
To finalize this part I can say that actually everything you needed was on campus.
There were 6 different dining halls where you could eat, and there are cafes on every campus
where you can eat a snack or grab a coffee. For a late night snack after studying or a party
there was even a dining hall open late at night (until 2 in the night). Every school has also
their own gym and swimming pool. Pitzer also had a beachvolleybal court and basketball
court. There were even barbeques all over campus which you could use. Also in the
residence halls there was kitchen with equipment, and refrigerators. There were living rooms,
with TV’s and DVD players. Every Tuesday there was snacky night, so you could bring your
green box and get something to eat for free. This was different every week, it could be Thai
food, fresh fruit, fresh baked cake, pizza and so on. This was also during exam time, the
professors and staff from Pitzer would be your waiters then and you could eat for free. Really
everything was taking care of. There were even games organized during the day, that
sometimes took days to finish it.
ACADEMIC INFORMATION
The courses I took where all in English. Because I study organizational psychology, I
decided to take more courses in organizational studies. You could choose almost every class
at the 5 colleges. I took 3 courses at Pitzer and one at Pomona college. Four courses is a lot
of workload and not comparable with Tilburg. The level of the courses at Pitzer was a bit
lower than in Tilburg, and the class at Pomona was at a comparable level with Tilburg
University. The class at Pomona was introduction in cognitive science, and it was mainly
focusing on the theory part. Every lecture we needed to read 2/3 articles and needed to sent
a reading response to the professor. He made sure this way that everybody reads the articles.
At the end of the term we had a presentation where we presented our own research. For this
class we had a midterm and final exam both take home.
The other three courses I had all from the same professor, this were Small Group
Processes, Organizational behavior, and Global Aspects of Leadership. This were three very
good courses but with a lot of workload. I think they are not comparable with Tilburg
University. For all three courses I had homework every week, you needed to hand this in
digitally, I had a presentation by myself for all the classes and two group presentations. These
classes were focusing on the group a lot, I had meetings for my project two times a week.
Three different projects makes this 6 meetings a week besides classes and homework. Two
of my classes were lectures from 02.45 until 05.30 and the other was two times a week for 1.5
hour. I underestimated the workload before I came here, but I really enjoyed the classes.
They use a lot of exercises to put the theoretical part into practical learning. I developed
myself in my presentation skills and confidence level. I learned to be part of a group and
coping with feedback. Both of my professors where really helpful and explained the content in
a good way. I am glad I choose these subjects, but I would recommend for a future student to
maybe take 3 hard courses and 1 easier course. Other students can help you guiding in this
decision.
For two of the courses I had a midterm and a final exam, and for the other two
courses I had just a final exam. They all were take home exams, so the professor send them
via email and you get a few hours time to finish them. I underestimated this, because I
thought I would have enough time, but you really need to know where everything is in the
book and how you can relate this to the content. She also asked a lot of examples from class,
so not going to class is no option. The exams where just 20% of your grade. The rest of your
grade was for writing papers, presentations, homework, class contribution and so on.
Because we had a school card, we had access to every building at Pitzer. If you
needed to print something, study late at night or use a computer everything was available 247 with your card. We had study rooms in our residence halls, but also had a Pitzer library.
This had computers, desks to study on, but also amazing couches (you need to do an effort to
not fall asleep on them).
Course
ORST 135
Organizational
Behavior (BA)
ORST 106
Global Aspects of
Leadership (BA)
ORST 145
Small Group
Processes (BA)
LGCS011
Introduction to
Cognitive Science
(BA)
Prerequisites
None
Exam
Written
ECTS
6
Comments
Mid-term, many
assignments, final
exam, presentations
Many assignments, final
exam, presentations
Organizational
Behavior
Written
6
Organizational
Behavior
Written
6
Many assignments, final
exam, presentations
None
Written
6
Mid-term, final exam,
presentation and
reading responses
I would say an exchange period is the best thing you can do! It is such an amazing
experience you will never forget, I have friends all over the world now. I am more open
minded and developed myself more. If you want to experience the real Californian lifestyle
this is the place to go! The weather, the environment, the parties with red cups of course and
the amazing people you will meet all word it! Don’t forget that you always will spent more than
you think and be prepared for this, try to travel afterwards but also make as many trips on
your exchange as possible. Also try to engage in the cultural you go to and try to meet the
students from that culture that way you can fully life the lifestyle from your host country.