University of Mannheim From Nezir Kalkan

Nezir Kalkan
Aug 30, 2017
4 min read

About accomodation, does the university have any dorms for students or do students have to find accomodation on their own? If the university has the accomodation opportunity for students, is it easy to get into the dorms? If the student has to find on his/her own, is there any easy way to search it such as site, application or anything else.

The welcoming university does not help with the accommodation process. However, there are student dorms that students can accommodate and students are responsible to find and register to these dormitories. The dormitories are very difficult to choose from as they have very limited rooms offered for the incoming students. As for private housing, there are several Facebook groups and websites that students can look from.

For students, in order to have no problem while they are going to university, which places would you recommend them to find room?

If this question is specifically directed to the University of Mannheim, I’d recommend looking up for housings in Jungbusch, Neckarstadt or Quadrate. The dorms are generally located in or around the Quadrate, but Jungbusch and Neckarstadt are ideal for youth. If this question is a general question, I’d recommend housings that are more intact with the city life, so that the students can interact and experience the city and the culture better.

According to classes in Koç University, do you think the university you went was harder or not? How many courses you recommend them to take to prevent any difficulty?

Mannheim University is a prestigious university but frankly the courses were not harder than the ones I took at Koç University. I’d recommend 4 courses at a time, as each course tend to have a lot of readings.

Do you think the campus utilities were satisfied? Why?

For Mannheim University, the campus utilities were not satisfying. Because the dorms were very limited and I, personally, couldn’t find a dorm room to stay.

As a student who live in the city that the university is located, how is the life around the city?

Mannheim is a small, cute city with a very crowded foreign population. People are generally nice and helpful. It’s not as clean or organized as the other German cities but it does have a spirit. Mannheim is not expensive, but it’s not cheap either. Food is usually a bit above the average but everything else is fairly cheaper. The University is also a very important, prestigious university with a spectacular educational crew.

What do you think about students clubs? Did you join any of them? Which one is your favorite?

I was not active at all. I didn’t join any of the clubs but the university offers a wide variety of clubs.

Could you tell us about the cafes and dining centers in the university? Did you find any Turkish Restaurant next to the university or in the city?

There are at least 20 Turkish restaurants in Mannheim center. I am not talking about the city, just the center. Also you can find a lot of Italian, Chinese, Thai and Indian cuisines as well. The University offers a small cafeteria and a pretty decent dining hall. They give the students a card called ECUM card, in which you can load money and use for dining. The food at the university is mainly pork, potatoes and pasta.

How was the library? Is it easy to find a spot in average day or in the exam week? What kind of utilities has the library? If anyone wants somewhere except the library, what woulf you recommend them?

I am afraid I have never been to the university library. But as far as I have heard, it’s quite big and nice.

Does the university have any spor clubs? What kind of sports are famous and fun to play in the university? Is there any swimming pool?

Mannheim University owns two sport centers at the city center. One of them is a large gym with tons of equipment and the other is more like a sports hall where students can play basketball, tennis and volleyball. But these are quite far from the main campus building.

If anyone wants to play instrument, could they find any place easily? Is there any instruments that are taught during the semester?

Once again, I was not actively involved in the club activities but there were some clubs offering instrument classes and vocal courses.

For the courses, do we need to buy books or is it any cheaper way to get it?

Only one of my courses required a book and it was around 45 €. The others were using stapled photocopies.

Is there any health clinics in the university? What can students in case of emergency or injury?

The school does not provide any health services. However, the incoming students coordinate is very helpful, they make sure you get your service from the clinics within the city.

Is there any bank automat in the campus? What does a student do if they wanna have bank account? Does it necessary? Do locals in the university area mostly use credit card or cash? Is it necessary to bring some cash with us?

I did not open a bank account. But if I had to, I would choose Sparkasse or Deutsche Bank. Don’t know why, they both sound quite fancy.

During the Visa application, do you have any recommendations or something that is not easily found online that you may share with other students to help them out in this long process? Which parts do students need to focus on?

Well, I was very anxious about the visa application, but as it turns out it’s a very rare case that an Erasmus student gets rejected from the consulate. Just make sure you prove them that you can take care of yourself and make sure you take all the required documents (with at least 2 copies) with you. Also be on time and don’t get nervous.