SMU Review
I’m studying industrial engineering in Germany, and that’s why I attended MBA courses in Halifax. It is positive to report that the SMU makes an effort to fulfill your wishes, in Germany there are quick references to regulations and questions are rejected. In Halifax, they first try to find a solution for the student, but the SMU is not always clever: I was warmly recommended a subject that, as I only found out in the classroom, was taught by a Chinese who hardly speaks English. Not necessarily a recommendation that made sense to me in retrospect or something that brought me. The courses are very easy compared to Germany. Much is given to read, but never checked to see if it has been read.
According to liuxers, the professors at SMU try to get in closer contact with the students. You are addressed directly and the professor usually knows the names of the students.
The other students in the MBA program were in their late 20s to mid-30s, making them significantly older than me.
Important: You are automatically insured by the SMU, which costs $ 600 for a year, there are no smaller units. What I didn’t know before is that you can simply withdraw from compulsory Canadian insurance with a foreign health insurance (e. g. ADAC for around 100 €)! However, you cannot take out this international health insurance retrospectively (i. e. if you are already in Canada), so I threw around € 400 out of the window.
Accommodation
I lived in the RICE residence. One of the on-campus residential buildings and the only one with real apartments with a kitchen, refrigerator, etc. It was definitely the best of the three residential buildings, because without a kitchen / living room life would have been harder. If you don’t live in Rice, you have to eat in the cafeterie, where you can get french fries, burgers, hot dogs and pizza, all at high prices and not really good. The Schenell Service restaurants nearby offer more.
University beginners live in the on-campus residential buildings. They are between 17 and 20. Those who are significantly older should consider whether they want to live there, because for many of the Canadians it is first away from mom and with their own money. The same is then thrown out the window for expensive beer and from mid-November there is no more money. The time until mid-November is not recommended for everyone, but it can be a lot of fun.
You almost always live with a roomate in the same room, which is a bit strange at first. If you like to be alone or need a lot of sleep you shouldn’t move on campus anyway.
The common Canadian is very open to foreigners and is happy to get to know new cultures, even if he doesn’t want to learn too much in the process. Americans and Asians are not that popular, even if the common Canadian is way too kind to tell them that. I had a lot of fun, because I played baseball on the SMU team, I quickly grew in her heart and made many friends. For the past two weeks, I’ve been living with a family at a friend’s house in the dormitory. That was very interesting and kind of like a US TV family. . . whoever can should have had this experience too. Canadians are very straightforward, you can actually say anything straight out without being offended.
