Undergraduate
Student Experience
[Netherlands] Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University 2017-1 Azaria Kevin Kristandy
2017.08.10 Views 3414 경영대학
Europe Experience Report
RSM 2015120458
Hello. My name is Azaria Kevin, an exchange student at Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) Erasmus University for Spring 2017. The reason why I chose Netherlands and the RSM was because it is one of most prestigious business school in Europe with many excellent management programs that I found attractive. Also, Netherlands's strategic geographical location and beautiful spring garden adds up to its charm. Here, I wrote an experience report based on my daily life.
1. Preparation and Visa
Like all the other European countries, getting Netherlands visa is not as simple as it seemed. However, the school will help and guide you in settling your visa step by step basis. If you try to send them emails often to keep yourself updated, your visa will be checked frequently, and the process will be done quickly. At this time, they would send you a list of courses you can take while you are enrolled in the school. You can find the detailed course description in the school’s website. Back to the visa, there would be a money transfer process which is considered as the most important as it determined your visa issuance. The total remittance was € 3,907 for an estimate of four month stay. After entering the Netherlands, you must go directly to the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) office near Rotterdam Central Station, register your address and take a photo and do your biometrics. I recommend you to do this as soon as possible.
2. Housing
Getting a short-term accommodation in Rotterdam can be quite a hassle as it is well known there has been housing crisis for the university students there in recent years. The increase of the school’s popularity among the local and international students made it worse as students have to fight competitively for the best location and best price. If you do not secure your place yet, I would strongly recommend housinganywhere.com as a solution to your problem. The site is easy to use and secure for students to use. Moreover, they have experience handling exchange students as well. Before you proceed with the booking, it is better that you do site survey and see if the place suits you. Be mindful if the price displayed on the website has already included the utilities, etc. For me, after looking at the site thoroughly, I have decided to stay together with a local Dutch family to let myself experience the Dutch housing life. The family is friendly and nice as they provide good food and we organize outings a lot with 2 of their dogs. It is a place worth staying!
3. Description and evaluation of courses
In Netherlands, the university adopts a trimester system, which is different from a semester. During your semester exchange, you are allowed of completing the trimester 2 and 3. As I arrived at Netherlands only in March, I took all the courses in trimester 3. There are no restrictions to the courses you take, so you are free to choose any course available as long as it is within the course list given. Then, I studied these following courses:
Consumer Behavior and Marketing Action
This course is an extension of Marketing Management course mixed altogether with psychology and human behavior analysis. It is the most fun course I took during the exchange, perhaps mainly because of the professor. The course grading consists of final exam and a group portfolio report. While the final exam touches mainly on the fundamental concepts of consumer behavior, the group portfolio report took a lot of effort to achieve the professor’s expectation. But if you put a good effort in it, I can guarantee you will score well. In overall, I recommend you to take this course during your exchange in RSM.
International Marketing Research
This course requires a deep knowledge of statistical analysis and good teamwork. If you take this course, I recommend that you team up with local students who have experience with advanced statistics and have taken the advanced statistics course in previous year. For the final exam, I recommend to review the summary notes and some exam questions to familiarize yourself with the concepts tested. In general, this course can be quite difficult for some people with little credit transfer.
Innovation Management
As it may have already been figured out from the name, the course is all about innovation and innovation process. The course grading mainly consists of 4 big assessments and final exams. The subject is interesting, but there's a lot of academic literacy to do. You will be required to review a lot of academic journals to answer the questions in the assignments. They also use Coursera and MOOC platform to aid online learning for students. I would like to recommend the subject of a person who is interested in the subject and likes to read a lot. Passion in reading is key for this subject and it guarantees your survival for the final exam.
Economics: Welfare and Distribution
This is a class that incorporates business economics and economics strategy. In addition to the prescribed tests, sessions called PBL is prepared. It can be challenging for students who do not like public speaking as the class is of small group of 10 people. Each student will have their own turn to act as chairman for the day and present their ideas for the whole session. This is also reflected in the test scores, so you should participate in a lot of discussions during the discussion process. There is an instructor for the course but mainly the students direct their own way of learning. Since it is difficult to only learn the materials on class, most students tend to study out of classroom during the trimester period. I think the pass is not that difficult, but if you let go too far during the trimester, you won't be able to relax because it's a lot to catch up later. I remember that the test was mixed with descriptive and objective expression. It is a subject worth learning as it equips students with economics tools to think strategically and make better decisions.
Financial Accounting
This is the most advanced financial accounting class in the school and it can be quite challenging for people who do not have foundations in accounting. You should have at least complete intermediate accounting I to take this class as the subject requires sophisticated financial accounting understanding. The grading only consists of the midterm and final exams so make sure you do well for the exams.
Macroeconomics & Institutional Context
Submit your homework and take a test. You have to read quite a bit of text to take a task and a test. The lessons learned in class were not very interesting. It was beneficial to read articles, articles, etc. while reading the paper. Learn the concepts well and review past year exam questions too.
Because of the exchange student status, you will eventually receive the results as pass or fail for all classes. If you have a score of 10 or more, you must score a score of 70 or 80 to pass because they have guessing factor. It is a grading concept that most European schools adopt and I will be happy to elaborate it to you if you want to know more about it. Just be mindful of the passing grade as it is not as easy as it seemed, so you need to prepare well for the exam. Attendance in classroom is not that strict as they focus more on quality of your self-learning and results. However, to make sure you are following the course, I recommend that you still go for the lectures and class sessions.
3. Life in Holland Rotterdam
The Netherlands is a popular country, known for their well-designed bike paths and bicycles everywhere. As Netherlands’ trains and subways systems are also well-developed, it makes it even easier and enjoyable to travel around. You can comfortably travel around the city or even intercity with your own bike. In the case of you are interested to travel to the urban side, it is highly recommended that you buy a bicycle personally. For about 50 to 150 euros, you can already get yourself a decent bike from Facebook pages like Commodity Market Rotterdam.
For food, it will be easier if you can cook yourself as most of the stores in Rotterdam are close by 5pm. As I love cooking myself, it is not much a problem for me and cooking can actually save a lot of money too. So, if you are looking for ingredients, I would recommend that you go to local supermarket like Dirk and Lidl, and if you are looking for special and exotic ingredients you can find them in Blaak market in the heart of Rotterdam. It’s a lovely place to visit!
As an exchange student, I learned how to deal with academic and life problems myself calmly by myself. It has become a valuable experience for me as a student, living alone yet met various people who have similar struggles and passion as me. I have met many amazing senior citizens, seniors, juniors, and street strangers that keep motivating me and teach me in a lot of lessons in different ways throughout this meaningful time. Thank you for reading my email, and if you have any more queries, feel free to drop your questions on my email address and Kakao Talk ID.
Mail Address: aza-k@hotmail.com Kakao Talk ID : azariakevin
RSM 2015120458
Hello. My name is Azaria Kevin, an exchange student at Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) Erasmus University for Spring 2017. The reason why I chose Netherlands and the RSM was because it is one of most prestigious business school in Europe with many excellent management programs that I found attractive. Also, Netherlands's strategic geographical location and beautiful spring garden adds up to its charm. Here, I wrote an experience report based on my daily life.
1. Preparation and Visa
Like all the other European countries, getting Netherlands visa is not as simple as it seemed. However, the school will help and guide you in settling your visa step by step basis. If you try to send them emails often to keep yourself updated, your visa will be checked frequently, and the process will be done quickly. At this time, they would send you a list of courses you can take while you are enrolled in the school. You can find the detailed course description in the school’s website. Back to the visa, there would be a money transfer process which is considered as the most important as it determined your visa issuance. The total remittance was € 3,907 for an estimate of four month stay. After entering the Netherlands, you must go directly to the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) office near Rotterdam Central Station, register your address and take a photo and do your biometrics. I recommend you to do this as soon as possible.
2. Housing
Getting a short-term accommodation in Rotterdam can be quite a hassle as it is well known there has been housing crisis for the university students there in recent years. The increase of the school’s popularity among the local and international students made it worse as students have to fight competitively for the best location and best price. If you do not secure your place yet, I would strongly recommend housinganywhere.com as a solution to your problem. The site is easy to use and secure for students to use. Moreover, they have experience handling exchange students as well. Before you proceed with the booking, it is better that you do site survey and see if the place suits you. Be mindful if the price displayed on the website has already included the utilities, etc. For me, after looking at the site thoroughly, I have decided to stay together with a local Dutch family to let myself experience the Dutch housing life. The family is friendly and nice as they provide good food and we organize outings a lot with 2 of their dogs. It is a place worth staying!
3. Description and evaluation of courses
In Netherlands, the university adopts a trimester system, which is different from a semester. During your semester exchange, you are allowed of completing the trimester 2 and 3. As I arrived at Netherlands only in March, I took all the courses in trimester 3. There are no restrictions to the courses you take, so you are free to choose any course available as long as it is within the course list given. Then, I studied these following courses:
Consumer Behavior and Marketing Action
This course is an extension of Marketing Management course mixed altogether with psychology and human behavior analysis. It is the most fun course I took during the exchange, perhaps mainly because of the professor. The course grading consists of final exam and a group portfolio report. While the final exam touches mainly on the fundamental concepts of consumer behavior, the group portfolio report took a lot of effort to achieve the professor’s expectation. But if you put a good effort in it, I can guarantee you will score well. In overall, I recommend you to take this course during your exchange in RSM.
International Marketing Research
This course requires a deep knowledge of statistical analysis and good teamwork. If you take this course, I recommend that you team up with local students who have experience with advanced statistics and have taken the advanced statistics course in previous year. For the final exam, I recommend to review the summary notes and some exam questions to familiarize yourself with the concepts tested. In general, this course can be quite difficult for some people with little credit transfer.
Innovation Management
As it may have already been figured out from the name, the course is all about innovation and innovation process. The course grading mainly consists of 4 big assessments and final exams. The subject is interesting, but there's a lot of academic literacy to do. You will be required to review a lot of academic journals to answer the questions in the assignments. They also use Coursera and MOOC platform to aid online learning for students. I would like to recommend the subject of a person who is interested in the subject and likes to read a lot. Passion in reading is key for this subject and it guarantees your survival for the final exam.
Economics: Welfare and Distribution
This is a class that incorporates business economics and economics strategy. In addition to the prescribed tests, sessions called PBL is prepared. It can be challenging for students who do not like public speaking as the class is of small group of 10 people. Each student will have their own turn to act as chairman for the day and present their ideas for the whole session. This is also reflected in the test scores, so you should participate in a lot of discussions during the discussion process. There is an instructor for the course but mainly the students direct their own way of learning. Since it is difficult to only learn the materials on class, most students tend to study out of classroom during the trimester period. I think the pass is not that difficult, but if you let go too far during the trimester, you won't be able to relax because it's a lot to catch up later. I remember that the test was mixed with descriptive and objective expression. It is a subject worth learning as it equips students with economics tools to think strategically and make better decisions.
Financial Accounting
This is the most advanced financial accounting class in the school and it can be quite challenging for people who do not have foundations in accounting. You should have at least complete intermediate accounting I to take this class as the subject requires sophisticated financial accounting understanding. The grading only consists of the midterm and final exams so make sure you do well for the exams.
Macroeconomics & Institutional Context
Submit your homework and take a test. You have to read quite a bit of text to take a task and a test. The lessons learned in class were not very interesting. It was beneficial to read articles, articles, etc. while reading the paper. Learn the concepts well and review past year exam questions too.
Because of the exchange student status, you will eventually receive the results as pass or fail for all classes. If you have a score of 10 or more, you must score a score of 70 or 80 to pass because they have guessing factor. It is a grading concept that most European schools adopt and I will be happy to elaborate it to you if you want to know more about it. Just be mindful of the passing grade as it is not as easy as it seemed, so you need to prepare well for the exam. Attendance in classroom is not that strict as they focus more on quality of your self-learning and results. However, to make sure you are following the course, I recommend that you still go for the lectures and class sessions.
3. Life in Holland Rotterdam
The Netherlands is a popular country, known for their well-designed bike paths and bicycles everywhere. As Netherlands’ trains and subways systems are also well-developed, it makes it even easier and enjoyable to travel around. You can comfortably travel around the city or even intercity with your own bike. In the case of you are interested to travel to the urban side, it is highly recommended that you buy a bicycle personally. For about 50 to 150 euros, you can already get yourself a decent bike from Facebook pages like Commodity Market Rotterdam.
For food, it will be easier if you can cook yourself as most of the stores in Rotterdam are close by 5pm. As I love cooking myself, it is not much a problem for me and cooking can actually save a lot of money too. So, if you are looking for ingredients, I would recommend that you go to local supermarket like Dirk and Lidl, and if you are looking for special and exotic ingredients you can find them in Blaak market in the heart of Rotterdam. It’s a lovely place to visit!
As an exchange student, I learned how to deal with academic and life problems myself calmly by myself. It has become a valuable experience for me as a student, living alone yet met various people who have similar struggles and passion as me. I have met many amazing senior citizens, seniors, juniors, and street strangers that keep motivating me and teach me in a lot of lessons in different ways throughout this meaningful time. Thank you for reading my email, and if you have any more queries, feel free to drop your questions on my email address and Kakao Talk ID.
Mail Address: aza-k@hotmail.com Kakao Talk ID : azariakevin