One of the various study abroad programs offered by University of Nottingham gives students the opportunity to spend part of their degree studying in countries such as Brazil, South Korea and the USA. Pia Schäfer is a second year International Media and Communications Studies student and one of the very few candidates who successfully gained a place for the Autumn 17/18 semester at McGill University. Here she shares her experiences with the application and living abroad in Canada…
When and why did you decide to take advantage of the opportunity to become an exchange student in Canada?
To be honest, I didn’t really want to go abroad at first because the program is really competitive and I thought I wouldn’t get in. I think the Study Abroad fair was in November and the deadline for applications was in January. After attending the fair, I had a look at the universities and I could choose up to three for which to apply. But in the end, I only chose McGill University in Montreal which is also said to be one of the hardest ones to get into.
What were the requirements you had to cover in order to be accepted?
One of them is to have a reference from a teacher, so my personal tutor wrote me a recommendation letter. Then, you have to write a motivational letter in which you have to answer questions such as “Why did you choose this university”, “How do you think you are going to overcome issues that you might face”, etc. For this specific university, I also had to have an average of at least 70% from my first year, but different universities require different grades, so some of them required only 60%.
Did the whole experience live up to your expectations?
Montreal is a bilingual city – they speak both English and French – and for that reason I expected it to be more English but it was the opposite. The city’s architecture was quite Western and French-like, and there were lots of French restaurants which I didn’t expect.
Are there any differences between the education in the United Kingdom and Canada?
The studying there was harder because they gave us continuous assessments such as quizzes, tests and exams almost every week, whereas here in England we have a few essays/exams per semester. However, the quality of the content was not any harder or different than here.
Something else is that in Canada you can choose any modules you want even if they might be from completely different departments. For example, one of my friends there is doing Chemistry, but also Arts and English classes. The biggest difference and the thing I really liked is that the classes there were more practical rather than theoretical. For instance, in one of my modules I learned how to code a website with HTML and in another one, we did a communication plan for UNICEF.
What is the thing that you most loved about your experience as an exchange student?
The people that I met; I lived in a house with other exchange students who were just incredible. They were super interesting and very intelligent, so connecting with people from different cultures was amazing. The second thing that I won’t forget is travelling as I was going places almost every weekend with my friends. We visited cities such as Vancouver, Toronto, Quebec City, New York and many national parks.
Is there a big difference between both cultures?
Culturally-wise, there is not a huge difference between England and Canada but I personally think that people there were way more friendly, open and generous. What’s more, the food there is definitely cheaper if you know the right places. The living costs are roughly the same though.
What is one thing this particular experience taught you for life?
I learnt a lot from the people that I met in terms of their way of living and handling problems. I also met lots of people from Australia and their culture is quite laid-back and open so I think I sometimes need to be more chill and not take everything so seriously.