Guidelines for writing the exchange report
First name and Surname: Giada Franco
Host University: Virginia Tech
Period of study: Fall 2011
1. ACADEMIC INFORMATION
General information about the host university
 Brief description of the host university
A real American Campus in the middle of nowhere, very well organized with lot of
facilities and able to offer/organize events in order to entertain all the 25 000 students.
 Faculties: Eight colleges and graduate school
 Number of students: 25 000 students
 Study structure: 65 bachelor's degree program and 150 master's and doctoral degree
programs
Teaching situation
 In which language are the courses taught? Any problems?
American English and no problem with those who were a little bit uncomfortable with the
language
 How would you evaluate the level of study in relationship to the level at USI?
Very similar
 Type of teaching: practical or theoretical?
Is a more practical way of teaching, only slides and real cases. Just few classes require
the book, obviously depending on the topics.
 Methods of teaching.
The teachers are more interactive and close to the students. They want to know each
student; they want to know the name, his/her past experiences and they are really friendly
and open to any kind of discussion.
 How is the workload compared to that at USI?
The main structure of the courses is the same (group project and final exam),the only
things that make VT more intense are the individual homework that in some classes are
required.

What is the relationship between faculty, professors, and students?
For my personal experience, the relationship between teacher and student is really close
and in some teacher assistant you can also find a friend. While with the faculty members
in general the relationship is really different. Not all of them are available to help you.
Course description
I have attended 4 classes, 3 from the undergraduate program and 1 from the MBA program
each of 3 Credits.
1. 3324 Organizational Behavior, 3 multi-choices exams, one group project
2. 3344 Labor-Management and Employee Relations, 3 multi-choices exams, one
bargaining and one presentation
3. 4414 Compensation and Performance Resource Management, 2 multi-choices
exams, Fast Cat project with presentation
4. 5444 (MBA) Marketing, Management and the Public Purpose, 2 open questions
exams and one group project
Other
 Brief description of the library
Very well organized, just sometimes too crowded and big spaces able to host students for
group projects
 Brief description of other facilities:
For the graduated students there is a very comfortable structure (Graduate Student
Center) with lots of private and big rooms that are able to host students for individual or
group studies. It also offers a tv room to watch movie with friends and a big room for
shows.
The Squires Center is another entertainment building that offers restaurants, bars and a
recreation space with pool tables, bowling, and other games. It is very important in the life
of the students because it represents a place of meeting for most of us.
Moreover the campus offers 5 big dining centers and small café’ around the campus.
2. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Information before to leave
 Why did you choose this university?
The choice of VT was based on the curiosity of the American culture and its famous
university system. This is one of the biggest universities in US and is a perfect
representation of what an American student life is like.
 How did you collect the information concerning the host university?
Through another Usi student that has been there.
 Which are the relevant application forms? Time requirements?
Important are the transcript of the exams and the motivation letter. The time that Usi gave
us was ok.
Travel
 Means of transport
The closer airport is easy to reach by bus that takes 45 minutes from the campus, but that
is not very well connected to the rest of US and is very expensive. Most of the time the
students take an overnight bus that ride them to Washington DC from where they can
take the train, the plane or other buses to go everywhere.
 Other relevant information
For people who wants to travel and are going to stay there more than 3-4 months, my
suggestion is to buy a car that cost around $4000 that is possible to share with other in
order to save money for the trips!
Arrival
 How was the reception at the university? Introductory activities?
There is a special introductive program for the international students, that allows them to
enter the community and understand the rules. A lot of welcome events are organized
and are all occasions where the students can meet each other and start to build
relationships.
There was also on introductive session at VT hospital where the nurses check out our
medical situation.
 First day?
Trying to understand the place, where to do the essential shopping and discovering the
campus.
 When is it advisable to arrive?
Is better to arrive 4-5 days before the official beginning in order to understand the place
because the campus is very big and there are several offices to visit.
Housing
 How did you find it?
I found my place through the international office, that usually has a list of people that are
renting a room. Otherwise is possible to find a place on Craiglist.
 Where did you live?
I was living off campus, 2 minutes by walk. I was very lucky because I found a really nice
and friendly Chinese roommate. Each of us has her room and with have to share the
bathroom. The house was confortable, everything was working and also the neighbors
were all students very friendly. No bad points!!!
 Any special issues?
If people is looking for a room online, trying to go and see the house before pay because
a lot of places are very old and the pictures are not an reliable representation of the
reality.
Costs
 Description of the most important expenses.
- medical insurance $1000 per semester
- vaccines left that are required from the State of Virginia around $100
- meal plan if someone decide to eat frequently on campus $1600 per semester
International relations office
 How does it work?
Is not working very good because sometimes they are not ready to answer your
questions so you have to wait an email.
 Who is responsible for incoming students?
The only person I met was Shannon Dove, I think was the secretary of the international
office
 Good/bad points
They are not very well informed about you and what you need. They can just help you
about routinary stuff
Social activities
 Relationship with other students/ Relationship with other exchange students/ Are there
any special activities for exchange students?
The Cranwell center organizes a lot of events to allow students to meet and keep in
touch. It try to keep people of different culture in touch and let exchange students to meet
the American culture. It sends every Monday afternoon an email regarding the weekly
activities and possible tailgate for the Football match. We can say that it is a reference
point in the campus for the international students.
Language
 Which are the languages spoken?
American English and there is a massive presence of a Chinese community.
 Any problems?
No never!
 Did you need proof of good language skill?
Yes! In fact for those students who has to stay at VT for more than one semester, the
school required an English entrance test. If you fail it, you are required to attend at your
expenses an English course.
Other
 Would you recommend this experience: yes / no, why?
Yes, but just to those who wants to learn the real American culture, because Blacksburg
is a burg in the middle of nowhere. Is not a city, so you must be easy going and easy
adaptable to any situation to have fun.
 Comments
1. In my case, there was a problem regarding the English certificate that usually was
not required at VT and that has generated a problem in my acceptance. In that
situation i found that the contact between the Usi representative and the
correspondent at VT was really difficult and for this reason was not possible to
solve the problem promptly. I waited one month before my acceptance was
confirmed. In my opinion, in order to avoid possible future problems, Usi should
have a stronger relation with VT.
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2. On December 8 2011, in the Campus there was a shooting and even if
fortunately everything worked out, Usi didn’t contact the 5 students there were
there. I think that once the students are in exchange and a situation like this
occurred, someone from the university should call directly the students, even the
day after, to be sure that everything it’s ok and in order to express the closeness
of the University to them.
3. Once arrived at VT, (me and other 2 Usi students) there was nobody from the
management department that was able to help us regarding the enrollment at the
classes. After few days, we found a teacher that has taken care of us. The
University was not able to register us in the classes we liked because they said
that the classes were full when, before we left Lugano, they told us to wait for the
registration once we arrived there. So at the end we had a very limited choice of
what was left!
I’m at disposal of other students, so that they can contact me for more information:
francog@usi.ch