London Rocks, Arcadia not so much Past Review
By Josh_1490 (International Relations and Economics, Tufts University) - abroad from 09/10/2012 to 12/22/2012 with
Arcadia: London - Arcadia in London
How to live abroad and travel well. Yes absolutely, but not much thanks to Arcadia.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | None |
Review Your Program
|
* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Pretty poor courses at the Arcadia London Centre. I was able to take two courses (for a fee) at a local university's business school, which were pretty good. One (Principles of Finance) was one of the best courses I've ever taken and was a great experience given that I go to a liberal arts school. The other was subpar, and the lecturer was miserable. |
|
* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Fine, not much to say. They did a basic orientation and not much else. |
|
* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I lived in a great neighborhood - Notting Hill - in good accomodations. The RA was weird and middle-aged, thus did not understand American twenty-somethings experiencing Western Europe for the first time. |
| * Food: |
The stereotypes of London are all wrong - top-notch international food if you know where to find it. Definitely download TimeOut London app. Watch out - everything is extremely expensive (plus the exchange rate sucks) |
|
* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
The program did absolutely nothing to integrate us, except their staff had British accents. Overall pretty terrible effort in this regard - I would have liked to see more integrative programming with local students. |
|
* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
|
| * Safety: |
|
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
|
Finances
|
* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
London is not the place to go if you're looking to save money or live frugally. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | $300 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Don't go shopping |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | No |
Other Program Information
|
* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you take classes with?
Select all that apply |
|
| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? | 0 |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
|
| * What could be improved? |
|
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Arcadia does not provide much but you pay for what you get. |
Reasons For Studying Abroad
| To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you. |
The Outright UrbaniteA social butterfly, you're happiest in bustling cities with hip people, and took advantage of all it had to offer. You enjoyed the nightlife, and had fun going out dancing, and socializing with friends. Fun-loving and dressed to the nines, you enjoyed discovering new restaurants, shops, cafes, and bars in your host country. |
