Academic experience
I did electrical courses at Purdue which were ECE264 Advanced C programming (CSSE2310 at UQ), ECE270 Introduction to digital system design (CSSE4010 at UQ), ECE301 Signal and system (ELEC3004 at UQ) and ECE362 Embedded system (CSSE3010). Since I had to do 15 credits per semester to meet the UQ criteria of being a full-time student in America, I did Bowling - PES115 which was one credit.
Being one of the top 10 engineering university in America, Purdue has well-organized engineering courses and brilliant professors. They split assessments into 16 weeks evenly so that you do not have much weight for the final. The final exams are usually worth 15%-30% which is quite different from UQ. However, you will have to do lots of weekly homework even daily homework for each subject. There is no lecture recording at Purdue for most courses so attending every lecture is very important and I believe those lecturers will never let you down.
Personal experience
I went to Orlando at the end of the semester. Orlando is famous for its theme parks. Since I am a big fan of Harry Potter, I went to the Wizard’s World of Harry Potter in Universal Studio. They make everything so real, you can buy a wand in Ollivanders which is located in the Dragon Alley. You can also get butterbeer easily from those corner shops and street bars.
Accommodation
I lived on campus at the Hawkins Hall. I chose to live in a double room with AC which meant that I had a roommate. So I have more communication with local people. Turns out we became good friend. There was also a gym in the basement of Hawkins. The budget for the accommodation for one semester is about 2500 USD and you do not need to take care of bills.
Costs
As mentioned in the previous section, the accommodation fee is about 2500 USD. I chose 13 meals plan for one semester cost about 2400 USD. These are the main cost throughout the whole semester. The travel free was about 5000 USD. Hence, the overall budget was around 10000 USD.
Challenge
I thought that joining the American culture would be a huge challenge for me but turns out that America is a culture mixed country and I fitted in there just well. There were two main challenges for me. The first one was the study load at Purdue. The weekly assessment took me most of my spare time and I also had to do pre-reading for every subject I do. The second challenge was the bad weather in Indiana state. I experienced the eighth university suspension because of the extremely cold weather and that was the first time lived in -36℃ in my entire life. Everything was covered by snow and everyone was staying in their dorm.
Professional Development
I learned how to step out of my comfort zone. Facing a lot of challenges and making friends with new people can make you grow up faster. Those courses that I was taking required a lot of teamwork and interacting with professors. You have to push yourself to communicate with other people and work with them professionally.
Highlight
The highlight of my exchange was when the Purdue men’s basketball team got into the semi-final in the NCAA. On that night, even though we had a lot of homework and everyone were preparing for final exams, everyone were watching the basketball game and supporting Purdue. I also went to the sky tower in Los Angeles to see the beautiful night view of the city.
Top tips
Here are some tips that I would like to share with people who want to go for an exchange to Purdue University. First of all, be open to meet other people and try to understand their culture. Secondly, be a master of your time. Try to manage your time properly so that you can have time to socialize with Americans and also explore this country. Lastly, Stay warm!
