What to expect at EM Strasbourg!

As winter break was coming to an end and I was starting to pack my bags and prepare for a semester abroad, I began to wonder how different my new university would be in comparison to Ohio State. I would be traveling to Strasbourg, France and studying at the Ecole de Management (EM) Strasbourg Business School. Although we already learned many things about the university before heading off, there were still many questions going through my mind about what to expect. I had signed up to take six different courses while abroad and was both nervous and excited to get started with the first day of classes!

The first difference I noticed came up when signing up for these courses. They were predicted to be 3 hours long. In all honesty, I wasn’t sure how much of this was true (or maybe I just hoped I wouldn’t have to sit through 3 hours’ worth of lecture). But, after my first day at EM Strasbourg, I was reassured that each of my classes would be 3 hours long. However, the good thing about having longer lectures meant that we would only meet once a week, and sometimes every other week for certain classes. This was definitely a big difference in comparison with the classes I was taking last semester at Ohio State. In the beginning, the adjustment was hard to make, considering I was in class for 7 hours each Tuesday, but the positive thing about the 3-hour long classes was that the professors were very lenient in giving their students at least 2 breaks during class time. I found that these breaks helped myself and other students pay attention for longer. We all appreciated the breaks and used the time to grab coffee in the different university conference rooms or go outside for 15 minutes for fresh air. After the breaks, professors would continue with their lectures and soon, before we knew it, the class would be over. The longer class times also made it possible for professors to ignore out of the classroom assignments. That meant there was rarely anything assigned for homework, and if there was, it would be to read an article that would be talked about in the following class. As I mentioned before, each class only meets once a week or sometimes once every other week. This allowed students over a week to get their readings done for the following class meeting. Although I was used to having much to do after returning from a class at Ohio State, I appreciated the more laid-back schedule of this university. 

Another difference I noticed within my host institution, EM Strasbourg, was their grading system. Unlike the US, the French school grade their students out of 20 points instead of 100. According to my new peers and professors it is almost impossible to get a 20 on any assignment. At Ohio State, I have earned many 100s on my assignments, so I was surprised to be told, especially by a professor, that almost none of the students received full points. However, although it might be hard to earn a 20 on any assignment, it was very common to score between 14-19, similar to an A or B. Another variation I learn about was that your final grade would only be an average of about 2 assignments done throughout the course. For most of my classes those two assignments were a group project/presentation and a final exam. However, for one of my courses my final grade was an average of a group project/presentation and a written paper. This is very different from the graded assignments in an Ohio State course because at OSU, students receive an average grade based off many assignments throughout the course. 

Over all at EM Strasbourg, I felt it was easy to get acclimated into my new class schedule and learn how to go about preparing for my courses in order to succeed. Although I enjoyed all the classes I took abroad, I learned the most from my Intercultural Management course. This course focused on comparing different cultures and how they react to certain circumstances. The students in my class came from a total of 13 different countries, a huge variety. When we were split into small groups, it was always cool to hear a different person's perspective on the topics we were talking about that day. I got to hear about the cultures in Brazil, Ireland, Chile, Spain, Czech Republic, Greece, and many more countries! I was made more aware of what was important to each person and their culture, and got to make comparisons between myself and other cultures. This is the main course I would recommend to anyone coming to study at EM Strasbourg, because it truly educates you on how to interact with cultures outside of your own.