Anyone out there familiar with St. Louis in Madrid?
Good?, Bad?, Otro?

I'll be going to SLU Madrid this fall as a grad student, but haven't heard much about it outside university info...

I thoroughly enjoyed the SLU-Madrid experience. I was only there for one semester (it was spring) and it was, without a doubt, the best 5 months of my life. Madrid and Spain, in general, are obviously great.

As far as the school/academics went - the school is quite small, but had a good mix of Spanish, American, and International students. 3 of my 6 courses were taught in Spanish, the other 3 were in English. They take good care of you and I highly recommend any side trips offered as part of a course (Spanish Culture and Civ) - good way to see this beautiful country with other students. As most people recommend, converse and interact with others (especially non-English speaking students) to get the most out of other cultures - I did not go to St. Louis Univ in the U.S., and I remember a lot of those kids that did kept to themselves - try to avoid this.

There were hardly any negatives - like I said it was a small school and limited on resources (when I was there in 1999, the computer room was very small and always cramped.) Besides the occasional touch of home-sickness, I would highly recommend SLU-Madird for a semester, or two, studying abroad.

Wish I could go back... Good luck!

My experience with SLU was with the undergraduate program and it was "fenomenal." Although this was many, many years ago (Spring 1981 - yes, I was there for the 23-F ), it was a top notch program then and I've only heard positive things about it to this day.

I'm not that familiar with the graduate program at this time but I think the feedback on this board has also been positive.

Good luck!

marilisa

I am writing this in the computer lab at SLU in Madrid. I am a grad student and take classes in their summer program here. I enjoy the classes, the professors are great and the school is in a great location and has plenty of services to help you get acquainted with Madrid if you are unfamiliar and also has two dorms on campus here. There is a mixture of students from all over, including other European countries, USA and Spain. As mentioned in a previous post, there tends to be groups who speak only in English and stick to themselves. If you can avoid these people, then you can have an excellent experience here. The academic side of it is great and I have gotten a lot out of the classes I have taken in the two summers I have spent here. If you have any more questions, feel free to post them or send me a private message or email.

I studied at SLU-Madrid for my first 2 years of university. I went to a very large high school, and the university was smaller than my high school, so I felt a bit overwhelmed by all the individual attention. All my professors knew me, who I was dating, what I was learning in class, when I skipped - and sometimes, even knew where I went to skip! I did not do so well with all of this individual attention, since I went to Spain to escape too much pressure by my parents and family. The last thing I needed was the attention!

I also had problems with a couple of the host families, one of which I know is no longer connected with the university. There was some major shifting of housing directors at the time, and I more or less got caught in the middle of it. I finally did end up with an amazing lady to live with, and had a very positive experience. The majority of my friends had very good experiences with their host families too.

The college was just not a fit for me...I'm a large school person, with the huge football and basketball games and the academic competitiveness. SLU-Madrid was more of a party school than I would have liked.

Despite all these initial struggles, I still loved my experience at SLU-Madrid. The closeness of the professors really was a blessing during the hard times, and I'm still in close contact with some of them. Many of them are Americans who are also dealing with cultural barriers, and they completely understand what it is like to move to Spain and try to live a normal life. I have friends who are still at SLU, and they are so happy with how their college experience is going. Plus, what I learned outside of the classroom is just invaluable. Also, having the school on your resume looks awesome...it shows such determination, initiative, etc. And the friends one gets out of it are just great - I have friends in all parts of the world now, thanks to SLU. Overall, the experience a person will have there completely depends on that person's ability to take their own initiative to overcome their personal problems and find their niche in a small school.

[originally posted by meencantaespana on 08-30-2005 06:39 PM]

Super Lau? Or anyone...about how much was it for u for 1 year for everything? room/board..books, tuition..u know..the necesities..

[originally posted by villa on 08-30-2005 07:44 PM]

Hi
I live in Madrid so maybe I am wrong about the prices of some things. I have heard about rooms in good neighborhods with DSL and all that from 300€/month, and colleges from 600€ on. I think that you can eat cooking yourself for 5€/day. Having lunch in the campus can cost about 5€ too. Good luck!

The website has all the info...for US residents, yearly costs are around $160000 for tuition and $8000 for room/board (more or less). I know some students who have received work study and/or financial aid (US Federal aid applies for US residents).

I'm at SLU for a MA degree, and tuition is around $3000 a quarter - $500 per credit hour. Most grad students receive work study which begins at a 15% tuition discount, with the opportunity to do more throughout your time in the program.

I think if you have the opportunity to go there, do it - it's a good, well known Jesuit university (which always impresses people); I'll also receive a degree from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid with the program I'm in. And how often do you get the chance to study abroad in Madrid for as little as one semester, up through 4 yrs of undergrad (or 2 yrs of grad study)?