Student Report
Name of the University: University of Minnesota – Carlson School of Management
Exchange semester: Fall 2015
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
The whole process of applying for exchange through BI was fairly simple. I had an
application form and a letter of motivation that had to be submitted before 01.04.15. I
received the final acceptance letter from Carlson late May and booked my appointment at the
American Embassy the following month. This process is more time consuming, as many
documents have to be filled out and submitted to the Embassy before receiving the J-1 Visa.
Students should make the reservation in good time before planning to leave for the U.S.
I filled out a learning agreement at BI before leaving. One important thing to notice about
Carlson is that you wont be able to apply for classes before arriving at the first week of class.
This applies for all Carlson exchange students, not only those from BI. The whole process
worked out fine for me, as I was able to sign up for most classes I wanted.
Travel
I travelled around a bit before arriving in Minnesota. I chose to fly Norwegian direct flight
from Gardermoen – LAX and stayed in California for two weeks. It’s smart to book round
tickets, as they tend to be cheaper.
When arriving at the airport in Minneapolis students are offered a service called “Gopher
Chauffeur”. This is a free service provided by the University, transporting you directly to
campus. However, I chose Uber from the airport because I didn’t have to wait for the Gopher
Chauffeur to arrive. When using Uber, make sure to use Uber X and not Uber Black, as it’s
way cheaper.
Housing
I would suggest not staying in University provided housing. I stayed my first 3 weeks in
University Village (The “best” University owned housing option provided by the UoM)
before getting a contract release. University housing is generally far more expensive, and the
quality is lower than other housing options on campus. At University Village I had to pay
$1000 a month for single bedroom/shared bathroom. Paying $1000 would be fine if the
quality was good, however that’s not the case. I realized after meeting other students and
visiting their apartments that the exchange students were being ripped off paying $1000 for a
$450-500 quality apartment.
After getting my contract release I moved in to “Radius apartments” in Dinkytown. This is a
brand new apartmentbuilding built in 2015. It has a nice gym room, big jacuzzi, printers and
study rooms available for students. They charged me $870/month for a short-term lease.
Dinkytown is a popular area near campus with nice clubs, bars and restaurants. Here you also
have a Target store 3 minutes from the building.
Costs
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
NOK 7700
NOK 1200
NOK 5000
NOK 1000
NOK 4000
Living in the Minneapolis at my point of stay was fairly expensive. When I left in December
2015, 1 USD was 8.8 NOK. I would still say that food, drinks, transport and general living
costs are cheaper than in Norway. I would recommend everyone to buy the “U-pass” in the
beginning of the semester. The U-pass the Minneapolis transportation pass. This costs around
$100, and can be used for public transportation throughout the twin cities.
When it comes to books, I would strongly recommend renting them online. Books are
generally more expensive in the states, ranging anywhere from $70- $500. Selling back your
books at the end of the semester can be hard. I rented most of my books from Amazon.com.
Carlson also have a “buy and sell academic books” FB page that students can use.
Culture and language
I did not have any trouble with the language. Students and teachers complimented me and
most of them thought that I was a native American. Most other exchange students were also
fluent in English, as you need to pass language tests before being accepted for exchange.
I love the American culture. Americans and generally way more open and friendly compared
to Norwegians. They are also more eager to talk to you, and not shy to say what’s on their
mind. Coming back home to Norway I was actually shocked about how cold Norwegians tend
to be
Minnesotans have a way of being called “Minnesota nice”, meaning that they are nice but that
they doesn’t always mean what they say. Being here for 5 months I could notice that some
Minnesotans friendship and niceness was is a little “superficial”. The U.S. also has a more
commercialized culture than Norway. Minnesota has one of the biggest malls in America,
called “Mall of America”.
The student culture on campus is amazing. There is always something happening, whether its
sport events with the “Golden Gopher” teams, frat parties in fraternities or “game nights” at
the local bars. The sports culture is really big in Minnesota. Minnesotans love the “Minnesota
Vikings” (their American football team), as well as baseball, basketball and hockey. As a
student you can buy a season pass or normal tickets to watch American football games at TCF
Bank Stadium, icehokey games at Marriuci Arena and basketball in Willams arena. You can
also watch live NFL, NHL and NBA games close to campus.
Looking back at my stay I don’t think I have changed a lot as a person. I have however
learned to be more polite and open to different cultures and new thinking. I have also gained a
new perspective comparing Norwegians to Americans. I think that many Norwegians are too
impolite, not very open and too judging when compared to American people.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
The UoM Campus:
The University of Minnesota is the biggest in the state, with over 60.000 students. The
University is recognized throughout the U.S. for their education and research. The UoM
focuses on experiential learning, international education and maintaining strong ties to the
business world. Carlson School of Management has strong ties with lots of fortune 500
companies, located in Minneapolis (like 3M, Target, General Mills etc)
The campus is located on the Westbank in Minneapolis, only 15 minutes away from
downtown Minneapolis. What’s unique about the campus is that it’s split in two, with the
“Mississippi river” splitting campus in the middle. Carlson is located on the west bank of
campus. The campus is huge and includes everything from stores, restaurants, bars, café’s,
clubs, theatres, concert hall and a huge gym. Minnesota and the UoM campus have great bike
paths. Minnesota has been called the most bike friendly city in the U.S. There is also lots of
campus shuttle busses that can take you anywhere on campus.
The Carlson school:
Carlson offers different credit level courses (1, 2, 3, 4, etc) depending on the amount of weeks
the courses last. Generally, a 4-credit course last for the whole semester. I took four 4-credit
courses. 4 credit courses are transferred as 8 “Norwegian” student points, not 7.5. Carlson has
special academic division in accounting, finance, information and decision science,
marketing, strategic management and organization, supply chain and operating, as well as
work and organizations. Carlson is well-known for their MBA programs, with an average
MBA graduate earning of more than $100.000.
Course registration
As mentioned earlier, I filled out a course preference list before arriving, but no exchange
student could register for classes before the introduction week. Carlson will set up meetings
with academic advisors that will help you with the registration process. During this meeting
you will register your courses online. Graduate students had to have a member from the
faculty that helps you with the registration. Master students take MBA classes at Carlson.
MBA students can chose between courses for full-time and part-time students. Thus, the
courses might be held during the day or night.
All students have approximately 2 weeks to add/drop classes.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
Any special events/holidays:
August 15.
August 31.
December 18.
December 7. – 18.
Thanksgiving,
November 28. (differs
from year to year)
Arrival
I felt that both the Globe buddy week and Carlson was well preparing for our arrival. I met
many good friends during the introduction week, with lots of fun activities organized and
planned. Here we got to meet all of our exchange buddies and saw the Minneapolis – St. Paul
area.
The International Office
Carlson School of Management has their own international office called Globe. I needed
some help from them to make sure I got my mandatory “business strategy” course from BI,
and they where really helpful and fast. University of Minnesota also has an international
office called ISSS. They are the ones who make sure your visa status and everything legal is
up to date.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Every incoming exchange student except for Norwegians has to sign up for Boynton Health
Service, health insurance. This is a fee that costs $1000. Norwegians can chose not to sign up,
and rather keep your health insurance from Norway. Boynton is the university health clinic
where you can go at any time
Promoting BI and Norway
I participated in Carlson’s exchange fair to promote BI. Here there were many good
universities Carlson students could chose from, many of which were far better than BI. After I
recommended my Globe buddy to come to Norway for exchange, she decided to go on
exchange to BI the following spring semester of 2016. I promoted BI and talked about BI in
other social events.
Social activities
There was a really good social environment among the students on campus. In the beginning
this was mostly due to Globe, who arranged parties and happenings throughout the semester
for exchange students. In my opinion, most of the students were outgoing and nice, making it
easy to make friends and to feel part of the group.
Many of the exchange students chose to hang out mostly with other exchange students. I
chose to meet other students as well; this was part of the reason I decided to move out of the
university provided housing.
There are many student groups at Carlson, with different purposes and themes. Exchange
students are welcome to participate.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The classes are smaller than the normal classes at BI. Most classes have on average 15-60
people. The professors are really good. All of the professors I had were far better than most
professors I’ve had at BI. The academic level at Carlson is also better than BI, with more
active students and exceptional professors.
The teaching style is more “student centered”. The teachers focus on learning through
reflection and in-class discussions. I prefer this learning style over the Norwegian “teacher
centered” one, where professors are just standing and talking to you, expecting you to be quiet
and take notes. To me it seems that the learning method at BI and in Norway is out of date
compared to Carlson and the U.S. I actually feel that I’ve learned more on my exchange
semester than in my first 2 years at BI.
I have here listed some of the biggest advantages I see with the “student centered learning”:

Learning through cases from real-world situations, which are interesting to read. These
gets discussed in class. Most classes at Carlson have cases from Harvard Business
Review. Students generally gets handed a cases a couple days before class, to read and
prepare with a few questions.

Professors are focused on learning through class discussion. The participation grade
helps in getting students to participate and be more active. More active students =
more discussion in class.

Several minor grades lead up to your final grade. At Carlson you have midterms,
quizzes, papers, presentations etc which all count towards your final grade. My biggest
final exam only counted 40% of my final grade. All students have to work harder
throughout the semester in order to get a good grade. It also easier to learn and show
what you’ve learned when you get tested on “chapter 3-9” for a midterm, rather than
chapter “3-21” at BI for the whole final exam, which normally counts 100%.

When working throughout the semester you will receive valuable feedback in all of
your courses. This makes it easier for the professor to tell you what you need to work
on to get an A.
Course materials
Most of the course material was cases and articles that students had to purchase for a small
fee. All cases had a high academic level. We also had books in all of my courses.
Exams
As previously mentioned, the course load is spread evenly throughout the semester, and as a
result of that, there might not even be any exams. In one of my courses we did not have a final
exam, just a presentation.
At Carlson students are evaluated at short case write-ups, presentations, class participation,
midterms and exams. The exams were based on the course material and on the lectures, and
were quite informal, with the students sitting next to each other in classrooms. As mentioned,
none of my finals counted for more than 40% of the final grade, and the professors focused
more on attendance, participation, and group presentations. However, it all differed from
course to course.
Library and technology
The University of Minnesota has several libraries throughout campus. The one closest to
Carlson is the Wilson Library. There you can find any books or articles you might need for
the Carlson courses.
University of Minnesota has a policy that you have to pay to print, but Carlson is the only one
that has free printers for all Carlson students. In Coffman, you can access a Mac room if you
should need to use a Mac for a presentation. Otherwise you can find computers to use
throughout campus.
Description of courses
Course code &
name
Integrated
Marketing
Communications
Master/
Bachelor
Bachelor
Exam form
Prerequisites
Approved as
Comments
90 minutes
written exam
None
Elective
Negotiation
Strategies
Bachelor
No final
None
Elective
Business Strategy
Bachelor
2 midterms
and lots of
minor grades
None
Mandatory
course from
BI
Very interesting course,
theoretical course. The
professor is highly
skilled in her field. I
would recommend this
class for students
interested in marketing,
I loved this course. The
professor was very good
and has valuable
experience from real
world negotiations.
Every week we had inclass negotiations that
we had to prepare for.
The professor in this
course– Ann Cohen, is
the best professor I have
ever had. She worked
part time as a business
consultant, working
with business strategy
New Business
Feasibility and
Planning
Bachelor
Writing a
business plan
None
Elective
for big companies in
Minneapolis.
In this course we
learned how to get from
the idea phase to
actually starting up a
company. We covered
everything from funding
to marketing. The
professor was very
good, and had valuable
experience from taking
his doctorial degree at
Stanford.