My name is Anaelle, I come from France and I've been studying at IU since September, in the Bachelor's of International Management, and so far it's been great.
Why I chose IU
The fact that it is an online university – like, part online - was better for me. I can stay at home and keep my job too, and do my studies at the same time. And on the other hand, it's an international university, and I always kind of knew that I wanted to do something international in my post high-school studies.
I chose to study online instead of studying at a university in France, because my first experience with a university was pretty bad. The one I chose to study at [before IU] had really bad communication, like with the teachers, or towards the exam, and then I got sick during my first year of university - so it completely pushed me out of this university. The second year I tried business school, but this was way too competitive for me, like… people were really too harsh and not there to learn, they were there to get the degree and be the best one.
The atmosphere at IU
The atmosphere at IU has honestly been great so far. I didn't really know what to expect since I've never learned something with international students, and I've never really studied online either. But it's been great. With the tutorials, on [Microsoft] TEAMS, with the different modules - it's been great. The students are nice, the teachers are actually listening to us and actually answering our questions, which might sound logical but in France trust me, it's not. [Here] when you ask a question and they don't answer, it's just – “well, too bad.”
Overcoming fears and challenges
I study fully online, in the 36-months model – the full-time, three-year model? I also work; my parents have a restaurant, so I work in it all year long. During summer I do like five shifts [a week], so I can't really study in the summer – but that's just two months
How do I combine work and studying? Well, it's a lot of organisation. When I started online studies I thought “this is great, I don't want to have a timetable anymore, I can study whenever I want.” I'm always super busy, but it's great, I’ve been loving it so far.
Honestly, I was a little scared about doing online studies at first, but it's been great, because I've met - well, online-met - other students and teachers and it's great. Yeah, I was a bit scared that maybe no one was ever really going to answer me, like I was going to be completely on my own, but it's not and I'm very happy about it. That [fear] is really gone.
I either put up my questions on the group chat, and we chat together, or we ask a question directly on the live tutorials during the week, depending on the models.
I was also scared that I was going to be the worst English speaker ever. I was scared that because of my accent, people are not going to understand me… but actually, people [at IU come from all over the world], so everyone has an accent, and everyone understands each other.
I especially like the business vocabulary. I didn't have that, the specific terms, but I`ve got a little vocabulary book and I learned through it, so honestly no worries
IU's influence on my career path
What I really like about [studying at IU] is that it's professionalising me in the end - I know that I'm going to get a high chance of getting a job. For example, if I did the same thing in France, I would not get a job because I would have needed to get a Master`s immediately after [my Bachelor's]. Even though I want to do a Masters, it's good to know that with my Bachelor`s I can get a good job for a few years, and then get my Master's and then get a job after [that].
My advice for other IU students
I just think that… you shouldn't be scared of studying online. I mean, I say that now but in September I was kind of sacred myself. But really [IU] is a great university and there's people listening to you always; my questions have never been unanswered, and I'm very grateful for it.