Why I Chose Universidad de Europea in Madrid as my Exchange School

Madrid 2011 - Photo by Luke Bibby

As I already mentioned in the previous post in Finnish, my exchange period in Madrid has been confirmed :) I'm currently studying Business Administration, European Management in Metropolia UAS and the exchange year is compulsory. It is a part of the double degree and like the name already suggests, I will graduate (in 2015) with two degrees - my tradenomi degree from Metropolia and a BBA from Universidad de Europea - two bird with one stone ;) I kinda feel like i'm cheating here a bit ;D



So anyways, our degree programme has five exchange partner universities we had to pick from:

-University of Wolverhamption (England)
-École Supérieure de Commerce de Rennes (France)
-Universidad Europea de Madrid (Spain)
-Berlin School of Economcs and Law (Germany)
-École Supérieure de Commerce de LA Rochelle (France)

Each school only has five free spots, and as there are 25 students in our programme, you can imagine the amount of competition... I have been wanting to learn to speak Spanish properly so I had chosen to apply to Madrid even before getting admitted to my degree programme! I was fairly content with getting in Madrid because 1) I was super motivated getting in (which you'll probs notice from my motivation letter) and 2) I had put a lot of effort during the first year of my studies so my GPA was pretty high - thus, I had a good advantage into getting picked.

However, if only Spanish would be spoken in Berlin I wouldn't had doubted a second where to apply...! I think Berlin is a fucking cool city with its art and club scene and amazing street art EVERYWHERE. It's super liberal and yet everything seems to work so efficiently and effortlessly. Man. I would LOVE to live there - it just feels like MY place - and one day I hope i'll get to experience Berlin as a resident - if only for a short while :)

But anyway - learning a new language - Spanish - was my priority which was why I was super keen on hearing I had gotten accepted to my first choice :)

I did write a 2 page motivation letter.. HOWEVER seems like it was all for nothing as we only needed to submit a 1000 CHARACTER (_including spaces_) motivation 'letter' in the application e-form.. I was going to paste my proper motivation letter here but as I haven't yet sent it for the school (if i'll ever need to) I think i'll save it for later (so that no sneaky classmates of mine would steal this! ;) ) I think I will save it for later. Not to mention that it might be a bit too long...

So here, my 1000 character motivation 'letter':

UEM offers me everything that I’m looking for in a double degree partner: It gives me the opportunity to fulfill my dream of becoming fluent in Spanish and the option to specialize in the field of marketing. Becoming fluent in the World’s 2nd most spoken language will open placement opportunities, enrich my traveling experiences and broaden employment possibilities. Mastering marketing will not only give me the chance to be creative in a versatile field and learn the psychology behind marketing but also offer me relevant knowledge for my career as an entrepreneur. The importance of marketing is increasing and as a future manager it’s relevant to know marketing as managing comes with the responsibility of marketing. Marketing will not only give me the skills to market my goods and services but also the skills for me to market myself effectively. I believe that Universidad Europea de Madrid offers the best value for the exchange year and would thus like to apply to your university.

-Can't believe I fit everything in 1000 characters!-