Carl-Fredrik Causevic
12.06.2013
University of Texas at Arlington
Student Report
My name is Carl-Fredrik Causevic and I have been an exchange student at the University of
Texas at Arlington, spring 2013.
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
Kelli, from the international office at the exchange university, sent me the acceptance e-mail
October 8th. That was the first of many emails I received from the university. Kelli was
friendly and of great support; I probably asked her 100 questions before I arrived in
Arlington. During the last month before I left for Arlington, Kelli sent me all the information I
needed to prepare myself for the stay.
Applying for the visa
You need a F-1 visa to travel to the US. To apply for a visa, you need a lot of information
from your exchange school, so you will probably not apply until mid November. You are
applying online, but you are forced to get an appointment at the US Embassy to be asked
some questions and hand over your passport. The process takes approximately one month, so
start as soon as possible. The visa costs around 950 kroner. They only accept cash; so do not
forget to bring enough cash. In addition, you need to bring a pass photo. This photo needs to
be adjusted to the regulations given during the visa process.
Travel
I travelled with KLM to Arlington. I stopped in Amsterdam and Atlanta and the trip lasted for
15 hours. UTA has its own pick-up service called “Big Howdy”. Kelli will provide you with
all the information you need regarding the pick-up service. They are really friendly and
William, the person that picked me up, even drove me to Walmart for shopping after he had
driven me to Centennial Court. I purchased the flight ticket for 6700kr.
Housing
Housing is not something Kelli can arrange for you; however, she gave me many
recommendations and the application process for housing went smoothly. I stayed at
Centennial Court, as the earlier exchange students from BI. I had my own bedroom and
bathroom, while I shared living room and kitchen with another person. The rent was $595 a
month. Even though you are arriving mid January and leave mid May, you have to pay for
five months. Since Centennial Court only takes domestic credit cards and checks, I will
suggest that you get a domestic credit card at the Wells Fargo bank at the University Centre
located at campus. This will make it easier for you to pay the rent and other goods.
I was very unfortunate that I shared my apartment with a PhD student in physics and I would
strongly suggest sharing an apartment with three persons rather than one. You have the
opportunity to share an apartment with three others at Centennial, but I think the more social
places are Arlington Hall or Campus Edge. Most of the exchange students lived at Arlington
Hall, so that is probably the best place to stay. Take your time, look at the map provided at
uta.edu (the university´s home page), and make a choice. It takes eight minutes to walk to the
College of Business, the building where all your classes are, from Centennial Court, so
Centennial is located close to campus, even though it is know as off-campus housing.
Carl-Fredrik Causevic
12.06.2013
University of Texas at Arlington
Costs
Rent
Books
Food
Transport
Other
3570 NOK
1000 NOK
800 NOK
100 NOK
300 NOK
Culture and language
I got the impression that my English language and written skills were not great when I talked
to Native Americans; however, most of the international students at UTA are from Asia and
South America, so your skills are superior to most of those students. Since you are interacting
with foreign people every day, you have to rely on your English skills. Therefore, they
improve dramatically even the first week. In addition, all the courses are in English as well as
the textbooks. I think it is important to except that the schoolwork will take some additional
hours at first, because there are a lot of new words that you have to learn to make the
textbooks make sense. As a result of the introduction day with other exchange and
international students, those are the people you are most likely to get in touch with.
Cultural and social effects from the exchange experience
You are experiencing that Norway is not as significant in the world economy as you thought,
but most of the students you meet have heard about Norway. I learned other cultures as a
result of my interactions with students from east Asia, in addition to south America. My
exchange experience has influenced my career possibilities by introducing me to the
accounting job I have today. They told me that my exchange experience was an important
factor when electing me as their accounting assistant.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
The university of Texas at Arlington is located in Arlington. Arlington is a part of the US´s
largest metropolis with 13 cities connected. Arlington has not a downtown or city centre, but
it is only 30 minutes by car to Dallas or Fort Worth downtown, which are well known as great
cities. With that said, it is too expensive to purchase a car and renting a car is not cheap. To
get anywhere in Arlington you need a car, because of the large distances. There is no public
transportation. Get a friend with a car and get it fast. If not, it is difficult to travel outside
campus. In the matter of the school, it is divided into a lot of colleges. There are 35 000
students taking a degree at the university and the campus is of a significant size. However,
this year it was only 21 exchange students at UTA. UTA is known to be the most diverse
campus in the country.
Course registration
As a new student at UTA, you are not allowed to register for courses before arrival and that is
a problem. The reason why, is when you get an appointment with a student advisor, most of
the classes are already fully booked. During the introduction meeting, you have to pay close
attention to know what to do before being able to register for classes. The registering for
courses happens after you have seen a student advisor at the college of business building, first
floor. They will help you to elect classes, but remember to pick at least ten courses at your
learning agreement before departure, because many of the classes at your learning agreement
Carl-Fredrik Causevic
12.06.2013
University of Texas at Arlington
are already fully booked. I think that the deadline for adding courses are January 30, and
dropping are in the middle of the semester; however, I strongly encourage you to be done with
this process before classes start.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
Any special events/holidays:
January 8th
January 14th
May 2
May 6-10
Spring Break
Arrival
There is a mandatory introduction day you have to attend to. This is your first interaction with
the administration and the international office. Kelli is giving you the information needed
long in advance of this day. They have two different dates, so you can pick the date that suite
you the best. My advice is to take the early date, because of the difficulties electing courses. A
downside with the international office is that they do not have any sort of introduction week
or gathering for the exchange students. You have to find the exchange students yourself, and I
used a couple of weeks to get in touch with more than three exchange students.
The International Office
There is an international office and they are very helpful if you have any questions or
difficulties.
Promoting BI and Norway
To promote their exchange program, UTA has its own international week with a lot of
different activities. I was promoting BI at the student exchange fair.
Social activities
The relationship with native students is poor. Many of the Native Americans had a full-time
job, in addition to school, and they lived off-campus. Luckily, I had a couple of group projects
that gave me the opportunity to get to know some of them. The relationship between the
exchange students was good, but most of the exchange students are from East Asia and it took
a while for me to be a part of their group. Meanwhile, I had two guys from Guatemala and
one from Ecuador that I met almost every day. There are a lot of student organizations to be a
part of, even though most of the exchange students were not a part of them. The only
gathering for exchange students was a trip to a stockyard. It is a fun trip and it gives you an
opportunity to get some new friends.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The teaching style can be compared to high school: class size of 40-60 students, the teacher is
mostly using PowerPoint, and the blackboard. All the lectures are in English. The level is not
higher compared to BI; however, the amount of work is ridiculously high compared to BI.
There is homework to almost every class, hand-ins, pop-up quizzes, group projects, and three
or four midterms in every course. As a result, you get a good relationship with the teacher. A
Carl-Fredrik Causevic
12.06.2013
University of Texas at Arlington
part of your grade is participation, so you need to participate during class. In addition, the
teachers want you to show commitment during the semester. You will get to know your
classmates during group projects and in-class exercises.
Course materials
Most of the professors are testing you only in topics that have been discussed during class, so
you have to attend classes and pay close attention. They are also relying their lectures on
PowerPoint’s, which is important to print out and bring to class. You have five courses
compared to four, which is normal. You have a textbook to every course, and they can be
bought online or at the many bookstores around campus. I would strongly recommend buying
used books online to save a fortune. Since you have a huge workload, must of the classes are
in depth and details are important.
Exams
The exams are both based on the course materials and the lectures. It is important to attend
lectures, if not you might miss a discussion, which is important for the exam. The teacher are
most likely giving you a review of which pages that are covered on the exam, but that is only
a couple of days in advance. The courses were evaluated differently. Homework, pop-up
quizzes, in-class exercises, midterms, group projects, oral presentations, simulations, class
attendance, and class participation are all methods to test your knowledge.
Library and technology
Students have access to two different libraries; however, one of the libraries is first of all for
the engineer students. The main library is nothing like BI and is both old and lack of electrics
output for your laptop. Furthermore, they have a lot of stationary computers and they have the
same solution with the printer as BI.
Carl-Fredrik Causevic
12.06.2013
University of Texas at Arlington
Description of courses
Course code & name
Master/
Bachelor
Bachelor
Exam form
Prerequisites
Comments
MARK34141
Approved
as
Common
Two large
midterms, six
pop-up quizzes,
in-class
exercise, three
take-home
assignments and
a large group
project.
MANA 3325
Entrepreneurship
management
DR. Crisp
Bachelor
Two midterms
with 50
multiple-choice
questions.
Group project
with oral
presentation.
Four hand-ins.
ORG12101
Common
Bachelor
Four midterms
ORG12101
Common
If you are
thinking
about
starting
your own
business,
this is the
perfect
course for
you. Learn
it from the
persons that
invented
entrepreneu
rship.
Great
course to
prepare
yourself for
your future
job search.
MANA 3320 HRM
DR. Baldwin
OPMA 3306
Operations
management
DR. Prater
Bachelor
Two midterms,
simulation,
quizzes.
MET 11901
Elective
BCOM 3360 Business
Communication
Michael Buckman
Bachelor
Three midterms
with 50
multiple-choice
questions each.
CLUE reviews
due in every
Wednesday
None
Common
MARK 3324 Buyer
Behavior
DR. Yang
This was a
demanding
course with
a significant
workload. If
you like
marketing,
you have to
pick this
course.
Remember
to pick DR.
Yang as your
teacher.
This course
is
mandatory.
DR Prater is
the best
teacher I
have ever
met. Pick
him as your
teacher.
If you want
to improve
your English
skills, attend
this class
and pick Mr
Buckman as
your teacher.
Carl-Fredrik Causevic
12.06.2013
University of Texas at Arlington