Olha Zuban | The Wright State Guardian
It has been almost nine months since I came to the U.S. and started pursuing my Master’s in Marketing Analytics and Insights at Wright State University (WSU). During such a long time, I have noticed differences that have made this time positively different from my undergraduate studies in Ukraine.
Course flexibility
I didn’t have a chance to choose the courses I wanted to take when I was getting my Bachelor’s degree. In addition, it was a complicated process if I wanted to change my major.
In contrast, here at WSU, I can build my own schedule with the required courses and electives I want. It gave me an opportunity to meet different students and work with them, while I had the same group I was studying within Ukraine for three years with the courses that were chosen for me.
Lectures and Pilot platform
I was amazed how professors strive to prepare every lecture material and presentation for the class. They want to make students engaged in discussions, asking questions and conducting polls, making everyone solve cases like you are facing the situation in real life.
After the lectures, you can simply find these materials and your grades on the online platform Pilot. It helps you to stay organized and follow all deadlines without worrying that you will forget something that was said during the class.
Soft skills development
Although I was confident that I could stay motivated and responsible during studying, I was able to better develop my time-management and attention to detail skills through the busy class schedule. I had to complete all the assignments before deadlines in order to gain good results in my class performance. These are skills I will be able to use in my future career.
Belonging to the WSU community
Despite the coronavirus situation, I was impressed by how easily I could contribute to the WSU community and communicate with other students. Joining the team of The Wright State Guardian was one of the best decisions that I made even before the start of the classes back in August 2020. I started to be in the center of news and events that were happening at WSU without being actually present on campus.
In addition, online group projects gave me an opportunity to get acquainted with many interesting domestic and international students. Online campus events helped me stay connected as well.
I am thankful to the Wright State Center for International Education (UCIE) and my professors who created such a welcoming environment for my personal and professional development as an international student during the last two semesters.
I was impressed with how hard work paid off in my grades and the knowledge that I gained at WSU, and I can’t wait to see how much more I will be impressed when we all will be studying in person on campus.
