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Albert van der Meer's Evaluation from Fall 2006

Name: Albert van der Meer
Home University: Erasmus in the Netherlands
For questions: Albertvandermeer@gmail.com
Master Programme: Finance and Investments

At the start of this report, I will tell you a little bit about myself. Five years ago I started my study Business Administration. Many courses passed my way and all went well. I don’t think it’s a hard programme, and I think that students have enough time to develop themselves in other ways. Two years ago I received my Bachelor diploma and I decided to do the master programme Finance and Investments. It was a good choice and liked the programme very much, but…

I really had the feeling that I missed something. Or in other words, I had a strong feeling that my current position as a student of an international-oriented organization was the best chance ever to go abroad. The opportunities we have as students is great, the organization is present and the combination of study and going abroad is a very good one.
I was convinced that I should go abroad and the support of my girlfriend and everyone else (everyone was enthusiastic!!) made it an easy decision. And now, after my exchange period in the United States I can say more strongly than ever, go abroad!!

The choices for an exchange spot are great. There are so many different countries and places. Barcelona would have been nice, but time was too short to learn Spanish and actually I wanted to improve my English language skills. Australia was the second spot I considered, but there was only 1 spot there, so my chances were not so high. And as I really wanted to go abroad at that time, I chose some other places. Canada and Sweden were in my top 5 list; all good business schools and English programmes. But going on exchange was popular last year and I couldn’t go to one of my favorite places. However, I have a new favorite place now, Illinois!!

I was selected for an exchange at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the United States of America. Maybe I’d once heard the name ‘Illinois’ before as one of the States in the USA. But I will never forget this name again. It still feels like home a little bit.

Methods of education in the United States

Studying in the USA is quite different from studying at the Erasmus University or in Europe in general. The way teachers give lectures, grading, the number of exams and the amount of homework are all different. The teachers are very, very nice people at UIUC. I don’t know whether I was lucky with my courses or it was my background which made the difference, but I really liked these people. They always made time for me and were always willing to explain something. They were never arrogant, while some had the reason to be arrogant :) and the most special thing of all, they really tried to remember the names of each student and to call us by our names.

The level of education I experienced was similar to the level I was used to at Erasmus. We got a lot of homework. For every course I had to do many assignments; this was one of the things that European people needed time to get used to. But after a few weeks you can handle that as well and you can be proud of all the things you already learned. You need to be disciplined during the whole semester, but you don’t need to stress about the final exam as much as in Europe. The final exam is not as important as the one in Holland, because the final grade includes all the assignments you have done. Also, each course often has more than one exam, so your grade is not dependent on the final exam only. That is relaxing, I must say.

Participation is much more valued in America than it is here. In one of my courses the teacher supported participation by offering a “participation dollar” every time someone asked or answered a question. And it worked very well. People were not afraid to ask questions, and it all led to a better learning climate. It also led to competition in class. The participation bills worked because the teacher gave equal opportunity to everyone, but it is a form of competition! Also, grading is much more competitive. Grades are given on a scale that is dependent on the level of the whole class. If you’re doing bad in a course, but the rest of the class is doing worse, you still get a high grade because you’re competing against your classmates!

Courses

As I already completed both the Master elective and free elective for my master programme, I had a free choice in the courses I would take. Of course, they needed to be useful; I preferred some finance courses and maybe psychology or information technology courses. One thing you need to be aware of is that not all courses will be offered during the semester that you are there. Before you go you need to prioritize the courses you want to take. If you want to change the courses while you are there, you can do this through the international office. In some cases there are pre-requisites for courses that you will need to have completed. Be aware of that.
The courses all start with a number, 1 to 5, which specifies the level of the course. 100 to 300 courses are quite easy, while 400 to 500 courses become more difficult. 400 and 500-level courses are considered to be graduate level. It’s usually quite easy to change courses because of the friendliness of the people at the secretariat/departments and the international office.
To search for courses online you can check courses.uiuc.edu

FIN 461: Financial Intermediation
Description of the course: Survey of the structure, functions, regulation, and risk management activities of financial intermediaries; central banking and monetary policy effects on financial intermediaries.

Workload: 3 hours (which is comparable to 6 ECTS)
Staff: Morgan Lynge
Literature: Financial Institutions Management, by A. Saunders
Method of teaching: Lectures (2 * 1 hour and 20 minutes each week), (group)project, 2 assignments, 3 exams.
Number of hours of study: As always, you get as much as you put in. I never missed a lecture. To make the assignments and the project you had to use the lecture sheets and the book. I haven’t read the entire book, but still learned a lot because I was using it throughout the semester.

I liked all my courses as they all added something to my knowledge of finance. This course was given by a professor of Danish origin, a really nice man and excellent teacher. He knew my name after two weeks. As with all courses, I was in a small class, around 30 people. The course was about financial institutions and the differences between them with respect to balance management, regulation etc. I really think I know more about the American FED and regulation now than about the Dutch or European regulation. One thing you should keep in mind is that this course is focused on other countries. This course might be comparable to Bank Management or Risk Management.

FIN 513: Financial Engineering I
Description of the course: The course provides an introduction to modern techniques for pricing options, swaps and related financial instruments; the use of such instruments in managing financial risk; and the measurement and management of their risks.

Workload: 4 hours (which is comparable to 8 ECTS)
Staff: Neil Pearson
Literature: Principles of Financial Engineering, by Neftci
Method of teaching: Lectures (2 * 1 hour and 20 minutes each week), (group) project, homework every week, 2 exams
Number of hours of study: Because you needed to hand in homework every week, this course took a lot of time. It was the most difficult one of my courses, so it was necessary not to fall behind schedule too much.

I never missed a lecture of this course, as this one was the most interesting course I took. It’s not comparable to any other course at Erasmus, so far I can imagine. It’s a good course for people that want to specialize in the use of financial instruments, derivatives, stripping of cashflows etc. The instructor was really a nice guy and pretty funny too. He was inspiring, and I really liked his course. I can recommend this course to all finance and investments students.

FIN 512: Financial Derivatives
Description of the course: Introduction to options, futures, swaps and other derivative securities; examination of institutional aspects of the markets; theories of pricing; discussion of simple as well as complicated trading strategies (arbitrage, hedging, and spread); applications for asset and risk management.

Workload: 4 hours (which is comparable to 8 ECTS)
Staff: Martin Widdicks
Literature: I used the book Hull: Fundamentals of Futures and Options Markets
Method of teaching: Lectures (2 * 1 hour and 20 minutes each week), 3 assignments, 2 exams
Number of hours of study: For this course I didn’t work that hard, because it was very similar to the course ‘Derivatives’ that I took at Erasmus. But still you have to do your assignments of course.

I took this course because I didn’t have such a great grade in my Derivatives course at Erasmus. Because I really like this stuff, it was fun to follow it again and to learn some new things. The teacher was from England and was young. He was very good in explaining things and took the time to explain more after lectures. The course was pretty basic, but was very clear and useful for everyone interested in derivatives.

FIN 434: Employee Benefit Plans
Description of the course: Studies the purpose, structure, and financial aspects of employee benefit plans, including pensions, health insurance, life insurance, and disability plans.

Workload: 3 hours (which is comparable to 6 ECTS)
Staff: Jeffrey Brown
Literature: Reader with articles
Method of teaching: Lectures (2 * 1 hour and 20 minutes each week), 5 assignments, 1 group project, 3 exams.
Number of hours of study: I went to all lectures, did all assignments, and did the project. Together it made me well prepared for the exam. Of course, preparing for exams is when I studied the most.

This course was very different from the other finance courses I took. The things we were talking about were completely new for me. The way the teacher explained things so clearly made me very enthusiastic. The teacher was very, very good and already had a great career in his field. He had gone on tour with President Bush and was on some federal social reform committees. His experiences added something special to the course. The course is all about pensions and social schemes. It’s all focused on the US system. However, this does not need to mean that it is not interesting for foreign students interested in this field.

ESL 113: Introduction to Academic Writing
Description of the course: Review of the fundamentals of paragraph writing and introduc-
tion to the multi-paragraph essay; instruction on basics of library research.

Workload: 3 hours (which is comparable to 6 ECTS)
Staff: Justin Kim
Literature: No literature; sometimes a text to read.
Method of teaching: Discussions (3 * 50 minutes each week), several assignments.
Number of hours of study: You had to hand in about 4 assignments, which took some hours to work on that. The instructor was quite flexible with the home works.

I really wanted to improve my English language skills and this course was for non-native English people, who came either for an exchange or graduate programme. It was even mandatory for some graduate students. Because I stayed only one semester I was not obliged to take this course. However, I wanted something to improve my English and I decided to take this class. It was such a nice group. It was really fun to go there, and we also learned the basics of English writing, including practical things such as the choice of specific words and the structure of an essay. The instructors were young people, which made the social aspect of the group even better.

Student life at UIUC

In this second part I will share my experiences with respect to transportation, costs, fun, places to visit and other practical things that I think will be useful for you.

Transportation

What about traveling to the United States? There are many airline companies you can fly with to Chicago. I took KLM, which was perfect. The flight takes about 8 hours to Chicago and 7 hours back.
The easiest way to travel from Chicago O’Hare Airport to campus is to make a reservation with Illini Express before leaving home. The ride takes about 3 hours. If you don’t make a reservation ahead of time, it might still be possible to get a ride if there is room.

Although the campus can be considered a small village, it is not necessary to have a car or even a bike. When you live in Sherman Hall or Daniels Hall, where the majority of excahange students usually live, the distances to the center of the campus and the main buildings is small. Also, the bus system is free during the semester if you pay a $40 fee.

To go to downtown Urbana or Champaign you can use the bus system, which covers the whole area. Shopping malls too can be reached by bus.
If you plan a trip, it is quite easy to rent a car. There are some rental companies on campus, but the cheapest one is Alamo. It’s close to the football stadium. Be careful; you may need an international driver’s license. Dutch people can buy such a license at the ANWB. Also, insurance is often not included in the rental price. As the USA is known for its judicial system and everyone is sued, I always purchased additional insurance. This all adds up, but when you rent a car with some other people it isn’t that much. The cars you get at Alamo are really good.

To get to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, you can take the Illini Express again, but when you go to downtown Chicago you can take another bus from a company called Greyhound. Don’t expect too much from it, but it is the cheapest option. It takes between 2 and 3 hours to get to Chicago. The train (Amtrak) is also possible, but is more expensive.
When you arrive in Illinois it will soon become clear which opportunities you have because all the other exchange students have the same questions, and everyone is willing to help you.

Accommodations

It is possible to register for a place in a graduate dormitory on campus. There is a big difference between the graduate and undergraduate dormitories, but as an exchange student you will most likely get a room in a graduate dorm. This is either Sherman or Daniels, which are both good places to live. I lived in Sherman and it was great!! I lived there with more than 400 other students, mainly exchange students. There were students from all over the world, which made it a great place to live. Also, the young staff, made up of all American students, were nice and social activities were organized from car trips to the shopping mall to the foundation of an European soccer team. I don’t think it makes a big difference whether you would live in Sherman or in Daniels.

The rent is quite high. I paid about $2000 (it depends on the exchange rate of the dollar how cheap or expensive it is) for the fall semester. The rooms are really small (maybe 9 m2), but are clean and have the furniture you need. There is no kitchen in your room though, so you are not able to cook. There are two kitchens in the building that you can use. You do have a microwave in your room and it is possible to eat in the undergraduate dorms. You pay $5.50 there and can eat as much as you want. Some things you will need to buy for your room are a pillow and a blanket. Try to get a room on the 13th floor to have a really nice view ;)

You can also try to get a room in a “normal” house on campus. There are fraternities and sororities if you want a room in an all male or all female house. They always organize a lot of parties and I think you can consider those more as typical student houses as we know them in the Netherlands.

Costs

After my exchange I can confirm that the costs were higher than expected. There are always things you don’t take into account when making a budget. Small things like a pillow and blanket or larger things like a $190 fee to the university for small maintenance on campus. Anyways, there are some huge amounts of money that you will spend: visa, flight, housing, trips etc. But, keep in mind that you otherwise would have to pay to live during this same time in Holland.
To give you an idea of the amount you may spend, I will share the amounts I paid during my semester:
Expenses (in €):
1. Flight 1104
2. Housing (rent) 1603
3. Cost of living (4,5 months) 2000
4. Local transport 100
5. Costs for study, such as books. 470
6. Visa 184
7. Insurance abroad 415
8 .Trips, sport. 1100
9. Other costs (such as souvenirs, mobile phone, small furniture) 400

Total Expenses : 7376

How to Save Money During an Exchange

- Apply for the A.A. van Beek Fund, which gives most (if not all) exchange students a nice amount of money. I got €575 from them. At least you need to hand in a budget of your costs and a letter of application. It is easy and a good place to start your funding.
- There are some other funds that can be applied for but they all have different rules. When you go to the States, some European funds are dropped off of the list. Check the eur-site for students going abroad for special funds.
- You can save on your mobile phone costs by using Skype and a computer programme called ‘Freecall’. When you have a laptop and microphone you can use this to call for free to the Netherlands (first 30 calls to landline numbers in Holland are free with Freecall)
- How much you will spend on the flights depends on the airline. If you choose for KLM, it is much more expensive than American Airlines for example. Choose your airline carefully.
- If you don’t bring many expensive things with you (such as laptops), you probably won’t pay as much for your insurance as I did. Lippmann Group offers a special ‘Insurance Passport for Students’, which is the cheapest one for this purpose I believe.

Places to visit

Of course this is the nicest thing to write about. As I had never been to the United States before, everything was new. It’s such a nice feeling to get to know another culture and other people; it really broadens your horizon. All the places I visited were new for me, and I have good memories of almost all of them.
Some places to visit on campus: campus is not like campus in Holland. As I said before it’s a small village with all the things you need including all kinds of shops and many different restaurants. Some places I can recommend to you are I-Hop (just to eat typical American food such as pancakes), Chipotle (lovely Mexican food) and The Noodle Company, where my Japanese friends felt like home. Of course we cannot forget Starbucks for a great coffee after dinner.
With respect to going out on campus, the Irish Pub is one of the most popular places, especially for European people. Thursday was called ‘Thirsty Thursday’ and all European people came to the pub to meet each other. It was great fun, every Thursday! There are some other hot spots on campus to go out, but you will see them as soon as you arrive.
To go out shopping, go to Chicago for the best shopping.

I made a lot of trips during the semester. I really wanted to make use of this opportunity to see some of the famous places in the States. I would recommend this to everyone. It’s nice to study in another country, but meeting other people and experiencing a completely new culture is just as important, I can now say.
I will describe some of the things you really must see when you study at UIUC:
- Chicago: It is our ‘home city’. During the semester you will meet many people who are from Chicago. It is one of the nicest cities I’ve seen in the US. It’s alongside Lake Michigan, which makes it an attractive city to visit and live. There is a beach, a famous and modern business center, beautiful architecture, the 3th largest tower in the world, Chicago's Magnificent Mile with hundreds of shops, and it has some beautiful parks which makes Chicago a complete city.
Try to get some tickets for the Chicago Bulls; you must see this spectacular event.

- St. Louis: I went to St. Louis for a weekend. We rented a car and drove about 3 hours south. St. Louis is one the most dangerous cities in the USA, but downtown is safe enough. The Arch (192 meter) is a must to see, and it gives you a magnificent view of the city. You can look into the new baseball stadium where the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series. I also went to one of their games and it was great! I never watched baseball before but it is fun, even if you don’t like sports. All the sporting events in the States are spectacular family events and typically American.
- Detroit: Don’t go to Detroit! It is not fun, especially not when you are lost in the suburbs (and you must know, Detroit is the most dangerous city in the States). Nothing is happening there on weekends. Only when the Detroit Tigers (baseball) or Detroit Red Wings (ice-hockey) are playing are there people on the streets in the weekend. We went to a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert and a Red Wings game. Both things were really cool to see.
- New York and Washington: During Fall break (1-week holiday because of Thanksgiving Day) I went to New York and Washington with my Japanese friend Naoki. All exchange students either went to the West Coast (California) or the East Coast (Boston, New York, Washington). We paid about $90 to fly to New York (from Chicago) and $150 to fly back from Washington. We reserved two places on the Greyhound bus to go from New York to Washington, which was a 4-hour drive.
I don’t need to say much about New York. If you have never been there before it’s amazing. All the lights, shows, and people! Liberty Island is nice to see, especially because of the great view you have from the boat. Other things like Ground Zero, the NBC studios, Central Park, the Empire State Building, Broadway, and Wall Street are attractive places.
- Washington is the city of monuments. All the former presidents are honored in this city. Don’t spend more than 2 days in Washington; that’s enough. It is a nice city though. There is enough to see including the White House, the Capitol, the many parks, Arlington National Cemetery.
- Indianapolis: If you like basketball, an alternative to Chicago is Indianapolis. It’s 1-2 hours away from Urbana by car. The Indiana Pacers play their home matches in the huge stadium. Also, the race court that is used for the Indy500 and the Formula 1 (at least this year) is nice to visit. You can take a tour around the court.
- In the final week of my stay, the week after the final exams, I took a road trip with 3 other guys. We rented a car (which was so luxurious!) and took a trip to Houston. It was about 1600 kilometers away from Urbana-Champaign, but we really wanted to take such a trip. It’s typical American to drive on the long, straight highways for hours. It’s boring as well 
Every day we stopped in another city, so we saw a lot along the way. In Oklahoma City we saw the place where, in 1995, a bomb killed 167 people. We also saw the place where Bill Clinton grew up and became president, which is in the State of Arkansas. In Houston we visited the NASA Space Center, which is a national protected place now. It’s impressive to see the Mission Control Center where the first signals from Neil Armstrong arrived when he landed on the moon, and also the test center for astronauts. We also went to the Southern coast, where we felt the water of the Gulf of Mexico.
We also crossed Memphis, Tennessee, where we visited Graceland, the place where Elvis Presley lived and is buried. It’s amazing to see his collection of golden records and to see the place where he really lived. Many, many people are attracted to this place.

Advice and suggestions

- Try to get your visa as soon as possible. Take a day off to get it. You can expect a long line. Do all the things you need to do beforehand; it saves you a lot of time. The discussion about what you are going to do there is easy and takes less than a minute.
- The weather is more extreme in Illinois than in the Netherlands. Even in November there were still some hot days (I was walking in shorts), while the temperature went down to O degrees a few days later. The winter can be cold, but January and February seem to be the worst. When you go in the fall semester, you don’t need to worry. You can buy warm sweaters all over campus.
- Don’t expect to eat healthy in the States. You need to go to the shopping mall, 25 minutes away, to get fresh fruit and vegetables. So, it isn’t that easy to eat healthy. However, there are great sport facilities on campus, from swimming pools to fitness to squash courts.
- Visit sporting events, like our own Illini Football team (it feels like the Dutch National soccer team is playing when 60.000 orange people are yelling ) or Illini basketball team. The 4 big sports are American football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey; you should see them all.
- Boston seems to be a nice city. I didn’t tell you about this city because I didn’t go there, but many exchange students were enthusiastic about this city.
- It’s important to study I think, but it’s even more important and useful for your own development to broaden your horizon by meeting other people. Join social activities!

Well, this is all I have to say. If you are in the position, take your chance and go on exchange. For me it was the best semester of my study. It has broadened my horizon enormously. I still am in contact with many international friends, which is very valuable. This opportunity to go abroad is unique, and I’m sure it will be good for you as a person.

I have a website with all my experiences and some pictures: albertindevs.waarbenjij.nu
Take a look if you want and for any question you can always send me an email: albertvandermeer@gmail.com

Have fun!
Albert

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