EXPERIENCE REPORT EXCHANGE MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY FALL 2015
E-mail: a.vanbeek@tilburguniversity.edu
Study Program: Organization Studies
Exchange semester: Fall semester
Academic year: 4th year of Bachelor
Host University: Michigan State University
Country: United States of America
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Michigan State University is located in the City of East Lansing in Michigan (USA).
East Lansing is a small city. It doesn’t have many tall buildings, there are mostly houses. The
university campus is directly attached to it, separated by the street Grand River Avenue, on
which various places to eat can be found.
The campus is enormous. It was the first land grand university of the United States,
meaning that they got land assigned where they could create their campus. There are
beautiful older buildings on North campus and newer buildings towards the South. A lot of
green parks and sports facilities are present on campus. Walking from one side of campus to
the other side will take quite a long time, however, there are bike facilities and buses on
campus.
When living on campus you will have to get a meal plan, which allows you to have as
many meals as you want inside one of the dining halls. You can go to any dining hall you
want on campus. The Brody dining hall is even the second biggest dining hall in the world.
So, for a lot of choice in food that is the dining hall to go. The other dining halls have a
different menu every day, which can also be found online.
There are three major sports facilities on campus: IM West, IM East, and IM Circle.
Most sports can be played for free there. However, for fitness and group sessions a fee
applies. Also, some dorm halls have a small fitness room in the basement which can be used
for free, and the Residence Hall Association organizes a couple of free group sessions every
week in each neighborhood, such as Zumba, yoga, or aqua boot camp.
Since it is not allowed to drink alcohol on campus, except on football home game
days, all bars are located in East Lansing. Some of the bigger ones are: Crunchy’s, Harper’s,
Dublin, and Rick’s. During weekdays they will have special deals to attract students, but most
people go out on weekends.
Michigan State University consists of many schools/colleges, which all cover different
study topics, such as the School of Agriculture and the Business College. More than 200
programs of undergraduate, graduate, and professional level are being offered. Also,
Michigan State owns a lot of land which is being used for e.g. agriculture research.
The Spartan community exists of about 50,543 students. These come from 138
countries and all 50 states of the US. There are 39,143 undergraduate students and 11,400
graduate and professional. There are about 5,300 faculty and academic staff members. Next
to that there are about 6,800 support staff employees.
The American system of education is a little different from ours. Their bachelor
(undergraduate) consists of four years. The first two years the students get more general
education, the last two years they will focus on their majors. This makes it possible to
encounter a second year student (sophomore) that still does not know what major exactly to
do.
The biggest difference with Tilburg University is most definitely the size of campus.
The campus of Michigan State is so much bigger than that of Tilburg University, but after a
short period of getting used to it, it feels the same. Also, the residence halls are quite different
from what I’m used to in Tilburg. In Tilburg I have my own room in a house that is shared with
others. In the dorms, however, you have a room that you share with another person. Even
though you sometimes might get on each other’s nerves sharing a room, you will always have
a person to talk to and might even become best friends.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Information before you left
I do not remember exactly when I got the pre-arrival information, but I remember it to
be quite early. They create a package with all the information you need and how you can log
in on their website to activate your account. I first received the information as a PDF
document in my e-mail, and later accompanied by some other forms I also received it in the
mail. It was nice to have had it as a PDF already, so you can already start arranging some of
the things mentioned in it before you have the paper version.
Visa procedure and arrival
My advice for arranging a visa is to start on time. The consulate works with an online
appointment system. You have to create an account and make an appointment. However,
you first need to pay a fee of I think 30 euro to be able to make an appointment, but an
appointment needed to be available within a certain time area before I got the option to make
the payment. The system did not accept Mastercard credit cards, so I think you will need a
VISA credit card. However, there was also the option to transfer money from your bank and
wait for three days until it was registered in the system. That was the option I took, since I had
no working credit card.
Appointments can be available next week or next month, so better be on time when
trying to schedule one. If there is no good time available, you should make sure to check at a
later time. People are constantly changing their appointments, so a more preferred time might
become available if you are not happy yet with the appointment you got.
Also, it is not really said anywhere, but you have to pay another SEVIS fee of about
180 euro to get your visa. You are expected to do this before the interview, but I didn’t know
so I had to do it when I got back home, otherwise I would get my passport back with a delay.
After the appointment at the Consulate, I got my passport with visa back in the mail
within a week.
My arrival I arranged myself. I have some friends living in Michigan, so I decided to
visit them first. I flew into an airport near them and they picked me up. However, I have heard
from other students that they mostly flew into Detroit and there they took the Michigan Flyer
bus. The bus takes you from Detroit Airport into downtown Lansing, so it brings you very
close to campus. Michigan State sends out forms for you to fill out to arrange your arrival, so I
assume they will send someone to pick you up, but I can’t say for sure.
I arrived at MSU by car. We drove to my residence hall to have a look and were
pleasantly surprised that I could already check in. The girl at the reception desk at the dorm
said I needed an Michigan State ID card to enter the building again, so we already went to the
International center where these were being made. However, in the orientation program of the
American Semester Program there is also time made available to get an ID, so it was not
necessary to already get one myself. However, to enter some of the residence halls you will
need one.
The only thing that could have been better is if the girl at the reception desk would
have had a map to give to me. Without a map it is quite hard to find your way in the
beginning. Luckily they were handing out maps at the International Center that day and in the
welcome package of Orientation week was also a map.
Orientation/Introduction activities
Arrival day was on Monday and as of Tuesday morning the orientation program
started. On Monday night also was a pizza social hour in which you could eat pizza and
already get to know some of the other people.
The program consisted of information sessions and some games. Part of the
information sessions were together with the international students that will be doing there full
degree at Michigan State. All kinds of topics were being discussed, such as culture shock,
police, dining halls, and healthcare.
Also, they try to enroll us in as many credits as needed (12) before we get to
Michigan State. However, many students (myself included) were not enrolled yet in 12 credits.
During the orientation we also met with the study advisors of different schools to complete the
schedule. The study advisors are the ones that can enroll us in courses, since many need a
prerequisite, and the advisor needs to judge whether our prerequisite is sufficient and can
enroll us. However, as I found out, you can enroll yourself for courses that have no
prerequisite. I found myself waiting for an advisor to enroll myself into a course, but then the
course was full. So, after that I decided to also try to enroll myself which did work for some
second year courses, and I then sent an email what course I enrolled myself in and asked the
advisor to check whether I had done it right. This way I did not have the risk of the class being
full again. American students can enroll themselves online, since their previous classes are all
in the system. Therefore, there is a chance that some courses will be full in a short period of
time.
The American students arrive a week later, so there were only a few American
students involved. These students were the Ambassadors of the American Semester
Program. We did not get a buddy assigned, but the Ambassadors were the people we could
turn to for all kinds of questions we had, also during the semester. The more official questions
we off course addressed to the faculty in charge of the program.
Housing
To me, the best way to fully experience the American college was to spend a
semester living in the dorms. Michigan State sends out forms on which you can state whether
you want to live in the residence halls or off campus. Michigan State does offer some off
campus apartments, but for most off campus housing you will have to search yourself. I think
the university will give you some resources to aid your search.
Since I chose to live on campus in one of the dorm halls, all I had to do was sign an
online housing contract. I could give some preferences, such as quiet floor or no alcohol
allowed. Also, there are differences in facilities. Some dorms have community bathrooms
which you share with the whole floor, or there are suites where one bathroom is shared by
two rooms (so 4 people). The community bathrooms are cleaned daily by maintenance, the
suite bathrooms you will have to clean yourself.
I got an e-mail with my residence hall, room number, and roommate. I lived in Abbot
hall, one of the older residence halls in North Neighborhood. The building looks beautiful on
the outside (some students describe it as the Harry Potter buildings). The location, right on
Grand River Avenue was very convenient. It was easy to go to classes on campus and it was
easy to access downtown East Lansing. Since the building was very old, the facilities inside
were also a bit old, although it has been renovated. But these flaws are not that bad and the
location made up for it. And when you go live in the dorms you know you cannot expect the
best of the best.
Living Costs
The biggest cost will be the housing and the dining plan, but that will cover the whole
semester. This is more expensive than what I am used pay in Tilburg, but all housing options
are expensive.
I financed my exchange period with the Holland Scholarship, working extra hours at
my job, and using savings money.
I would advise future students to live with the fact that housing, dining, and books will
be quite expensive. At least as an exchange student you do not need to pay the 15,000 dollar
per semester tuition that fulltime international students need to pay. Living off campus might
be a cheaper option, but I loved having so many people live around me so that there was
always someone to eat with. And off course the dining hall with a choice of food, no cooking,
and no dishes.
Travelling on the other hand can be done quite cheap. Gas prices are extremely low
compared to the Netherlands, so renting a car and driving places with a group of people is not
that expensive.
Approximate budget:
- Housing: 2000 dollar/semester
- Dining plan: 2500 dollar/semester
- Bike: 90 dollar
- Trips and travel: 300 dollar/semester
- Flight ticket: 1300 dollar
- Books: 300 dollar/semester (rented), I guess around 650 dollar/semester to buy
Academic Calendar
The official arrival date was on Monday August 23rd, and the orientation program
started on Tuesday morning. The orientation was until Saturday, giving you a few days off
until Wednesday September 2nd when the classes started. The last day of classes was Friday
December 11th, with the final exams week ending on Friday December 18 th. The other exams
were during the semester, depending on the course schedule of that particular class.
There was no week off, but there were some days off, such as Labor Day and
Thanksgiving weekend.
The International Office
Students and Scholars (OISS) and there is the American Semester Program. As an exchange
student you will not have a lot of contact with OISS, but it is the place to go when you want to
travel out of the United States during your semester abroad as you will need a travel
signature to be able to enter the country again.
The American Semester Program is in charge of the exchange students. There are
two program coordinators and some interns. They will help you with whatever problem or
question you encounter. They also organized the orientation week.
Exchange promotion
There was a study abroad fair at Michigan State, however, the international office
only told us a day before that we were welcome to go there, so there was no time to get
permission to miss the classes I had that day.
Instead I decided to talk to students and my friends about the Netherlands and
Tilburg University. I realized that our country is not that well known among the students, as
Amsterdam is not a country, and it is most definitely located in Europe and not in Asia. So, I
tried to inform them about my country and the university I’m from.
I spoke to many sophomores who were doubting whether or not to go on exchange,
so I encouraged them to do it, and to keep Tilburg University in mind when deciding.
Social Activities
The American Semester Program organizes a variety of day trips and even a
weekend trip. These are often for free, requiring you to pay 20 dollars to save a spot, which
you will get back on the trip. Or they are for a very low price, such as 60 dollars for a weekend
to Chicago. These trips are fun and definitely worth your money.
Also, there is a student organization for international students. Basically there is a
student organization for all kinds of things, as Michigan state offers hundreds of clubs.
There is also the University Activities Board (UAB) which offers weekly activities.
They arrange weekly movies (mostly quite new releases), sports activities, and shows.
I did have contact with local students. I already knew a few people from a high school
exchange I did five years before this exchange. That was a help, but definitely not a must. I
met some great girls on my floor who I became friends with and did fun activities with.
Contact with other exchange students is mostly formed during the orientation
program, since basically the whole orientation program is together with all the other exchange
students. Also, they try to place exchange students in the same neighborhood on campus,
however, I and some other people were not placed in that neighborhood with the others.
Which was not a problem since I still got to know exchange people and got to know a lot of
other people.
Together with some American friends and some exchange friends I did some day
trips and weekend trips. I went all over Michigan and to Chicago. Also, I travelled to Canada
for a weekend to go to the Niagara Falls and Toronto.
Culture and Language
I did not experience a culture shock while on exchange. It might have been because I
had been to Michigan before, so I knew quite well what to expect. Also, I did not really form
expectations about my stay in the United States, so in that way I could never disappoint my
expectations.
The culture is quite similar to the Dutch culture, however, Americans are much more
talkative. They like to hug more and they sometimes make the impression that they talk to fill
up the silence which makes them uncomfortable. They say a lot of “excuse me” and “thank
you”, which makes them sound very formal, but I think it is more of an habit.
What I learned about my own culture is that we could say thank you more often. I get
the feeling that it would make our societies nicer if we would say thank you. Also, I learned
that our way of having a fun drink with friends is quite different from the American way. We
can sit at our friends house or go to a bar and slowly have a drink while enjoying the
company. I found out that the American way of a fun drink with friends is more focused on the
drink than on the company you are with.
I think already knew quite a lot about the culture in Michigan, so I did not really learn
a lot. However, I did get to experience my first American Halloween and Thanksgiving. These
were fun experiences.
The only country I traveled to is Canada, which is quite similar to Michigan. The only
differences I noticed were the money and its better exchange rate with the euro, the higher
gas prices compared to the US, and the better roads. The culture, as far as I experienced it,
was quite similar.
I did not experience any language problems during my exchange. I did not follow
language courses during my exchange, and I did not follow the Erasmus Intensive Language
Course.
Personal Development
I think this exchange will affect me in multiple ways. Having lived in another country
and having met people from multiple countries, I think this experience will make me less
judgmental of other people and other cultures. I have spoken to people who do things in
different ways and all believe their way is the right way. Which makes sense, because in their
culture it probably is the best way to do it, but it might not be in another. Also, I now have
friends all over the world, which has already proven to be very useful in the past while finding
an international internship. I think it will also allow me to easier get in contact with people from
different cultures in the future, since I already have some experience with different cultures.
I think this exchange will positively influence my career perspective. I have proven to
be individual by managing myself on the other side of the world, and not to be afraid of risks
otherwise I never would have gone. I have grown as a person on this exchange, more than I
would have had I stayed in the Netherlands my whole education.
What I learned from the people I met is a lot. I off course learned some fun facts
about all kinds of countries, such as that it is illegal to bike with an umbrella in your hand in
Japan. But the most important thing I learned is that everybody is different and different ways
of handling things are not by definition wrong. Also, I have seen how important it is to stay
positive and active even in times you feel a little lonely, because those moments can be
opportunities to make new friends (who might be experiencing the same thing).
If I would do something different I would go on even more trips and participate in even
more activities. I already participated in quite a number of them, but I was still quite focused
on academics. I realized at the end it is possible to truly have the best of both ways during the
exchange, to get good grades and to have a lot of fun.
My best experience would probably be my 21st Birthday. The United States are the
perfect place to be turning 21 years old and becoming of legal drinking age. But above all, I
realized how many friends I had gathered around me that were celebrating with me on a
Wednesday night, even though they had class on Thursday.
My worst experience is probably that for the credits that I was not yet enrolled in,
exchange students were basically the last ones to choose. Most of the regular students had
already enrolled themselves, so a lot of the courses that seemed great to me were full. Also, if
I had known before that I could enroll myself into courses without a prerequisite I would have
done that earlier. Eventually it all turned out fine, but it did require a lot of searching for
courses.
What I will never forget about my exchange at Michigan State are the people. I will
never forget the people I met that made it such a great experience.
The most important lesson I learned about myself during this exchange is that I am
quite good at adapting to different circumstances. I never felt I had a problem adjusting to the
new living situation sharing a room on the other side of the world.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
Academic level at a host university
All of the classes were offered in English, as that is the official first language of the
United States. The courses I took were:
 COM 225 An Introduction In Interpersonal Communication
 EEP 255 Ecological Economics
 PSY 236 Personality
 PSY 200 Cognitive Psychology
The Personality and Cognitive Psychology courses I chose because the subjects were
very interesting to me. I like to learn how people work inside their minds. These courses I
already got assigned before I departed to the US. The other two coursed I got when I was at
Michigan State. One of the courses I got assigned was very disappointing (Power, Authority,
and Exchange) during the first class that I decided to change it immediately. I did not have
much choice left at that point, but the Interpersonal Communication course seemed quite nice
to me, and it is always good to be a little better at communication. The Ecological Economics
one combined the ecological aspects with economics, which sounded quite interesting.
However, that last one was not as good as I hoped.
The courses I would recommend are: Interpersonal Communication and Personality.
These were definitely my favorite classes. Cognitive Psychology was also nice, but Ecological
Economics I did not get the class until the last part where it kind of made sense what the
teacher had been doing.
The level of the classes was in my experience lower. All of the courses I took were
second year courses, but compared to the second year courses I took at home these were
quite a lot easier. However, it is also more common to have many different tests, so your
whole grade does not depend on the final exam as it is with most courses at Tilburg
University. Here you already collect a big part of your final great with midterms, presentations
and some assignments depending on your course. The workload is very spread out, which is
actually quite nice. Instead of cramming for the final exam you now study during the semester
for the midterms, which are a lot smaller in load.
The teaching style depends per subject. Interpersonal Communication and Ecological
Economics used a lot of practical examples during the theoretical explanations. Personality
and Cognitive Psychology also used some examples to make the theories stick in our heads.
So I would say mostly theoretical teaching styles, with a good use of examples.
All of the classes I took were based on lectures. My classes were usually large, the
smallest one being with 100 students. However, the teachers were very open for questions
and discussions, which often took place.
I am quite happy that I aced all of my courses, however, I have to say that they are a lot
easier than at Tilburg University. So, my academic achievements were as good as the
courses had to offer.
Exams
Three of my courses had multiple choice exams, only Ecological Economics had
open questions. Personality had 2 small writing assignments, a lot of quizzes, and 4 exams.
Cognitive Psychology had 3 exams, research participation and 3 quizzes. Interpersonal
Communication had 4 exams and research participation. Ecological Economics had a few
quizzes, 2 exams, and a group presentation.
Other
The library and its resources are easily accessible. Also, the people at the desk in the
library are very happy to help you. There are a lot of computers available in the library and I
think also in some of the other buildings. Each neighborhood has a Resource Center where
tutoring and other resources can be found to aid your studying.
I did not really use any of these resources, but they are there.
Description of Courses
Course
EEP 255 Ecological
Economics (BA)
Prerequisites
None
Exam
Written
ECTS
6
COM 225 Introduction
in Interpersonal
Communication (BA)
PSY 200 Cognitive
Psychology (BA)
None
Multiple
Choice
6
Introduction in
Psychology
Multiple
Choice
6
PSY 226 Personality
(BA)
Introduction in
Psychology
Multiple
Choice
6
Comments
Mid-term, group
presentation,
unannounced quizzes.
First hard to see goal
course.
Mid-terms, online
research participation
credits. Easy. Practical.
Mid-terms, research
participation credits,
quizzes about
experiments.
Mid-terms, small writing
assignments,
unannounced quizzes.
Easy.
Tips for the future students:
I would definitely recommend and exchange period, as for me it has been a great
experience and probably the best semester of my education! I made a lot of friends and I did
a lot of fun activities.
Michigan State University is a great host. The American Semester Program really
does a lot to help you on your way in the beginning and it keeps you going during the
semester. They organize fun trips and keep you updated about other activities on campus.
And off course the campus itself is great.
Prospective students should absolutely not forget their travel adapters. The wall
sockets in the US have a different fitting and the power net had a different voltage. Have a
look at the appliances you bring with you, whether they can stand the different voltage. Most
cell phones have already a voltage converter built into the charger, but I have heard that
some international students blew up their hairdryer or appliances like that. So, it’s probably
better to buy a hairdryer in the US.
A good way to prepare yourself is to look up some information about the university
you are going to and its area. And definitely talk to others who have been there or have been
in the country. Hearing the experiences from others will make it easier to form an image for
yourself of what to expect. I did not talk to the person who has been to Michigan State before
me, but I wish I had.
The Sparty Statue
The Beaumont Tower on campus
My residence hall: Abbot Hall
At Ann Arbor for
the University of
Michigan vs
Michigan State
University
football game.