Studying at Montclair State University

Introduction:

My name’s Matthew, and I study Television Production. Being the first member of my immediate family to step into Higher Education, I remember being so impressed by the Bournemouth University’s facilities during the two Open Events I attended open events and felt warmed by the university’s friendly atmosphere and its supportive professors. It is through Bournemouth University that I was awarded the opportunity of (quite literally) a lifetime… the chance of studying overseas at Montclair State University (‘MSU’ for short) in the US state of New Jersey during Autumn 2024!

Reasons for doing Study Exchange included the opportunity to travel somewhere new, immersing myself into a different culture and connecting with new people. I also chose Montclair State University because of its great Film and TV facilities alongside, the support offered there, alongside its closeness to New York City. For instance, you could see the city skyline in the horizon from the university’s campus: It looked especially pretty when lit up at night – the skyscraper lights shimmering and lights up above of the planes flying over. This was also a major step as it was my first ever time travelling abroad by myself.

Settling In and Being Supported:

At first, Study Exchange seemed like a daunting process: arriving in JFK late-afternoon and navigating my way to Montclair via an overwhelmingly busy New York City (NYC) at night, having never been to either of these places before; forgetting to bring the correct type of chargers as the US uses a different type of charging plus to the UK (luckily I was able to get an adapter in the end from Target but I would highly recommend researching things such as what phone/laptop chargers etc. are like before travelling to the US).

The US can be expensive and the area of New Jersey where I studied was especially affluent; not least because of being right next to New York City. Thankfully, Bournemouth University awarded me with the Turing Scheme, a grant provided to those studying or working overseas. Additionally, Amazon was a great website for purchasing items without the extra cost of using UBER. Amazon was also great for sourcing costumes and props for creating content in the TV Studios!

When it comes to cheap shops, The Dollar Tree (a US version of Poundland) is also a great store to go to for buying essentials at a cheap price. Target is slightly more expensive, much like a US version of the Waitrose. There's also stores such as Shop & Go alongside ShopRite. Montclair State University also has its very own Red Hawk Pantry - providing free food to those in need who are studying at MSU, every Wednesday.

Montclair State University helped me with booking accommodation, signing up with their Disability Resource Centre, creating my J1 VISA, guiding me on tuition payments and how food arrangements work. My Medical Insurance was also organized through Montclair State University: You have to pay for medical insurance in the US for your J1 VISA whereas in the UK, we receive healthcare for free via the National Health Service. The university’s Health Centre was always happy to help whenever I had any medical concerns. Additionally, I was able to consult my GP before my Study Exchange about vaccines and they helped to ensure I had enough meds for the start of my US adventure.

For living arrangements, I lived in a university-owned building called Alice Paul Hall, in a complex called The Village. Having most of the exchange student live this accommodation was made it easier to socialize with my them and get to know them better. I lived in a double-room: myself on one side and my roommate, Charles (from Belgium) – the both of us sharing a bathroom and all four of us flat-mates sharing the apartment’s kitchen. Most of the Exchange Student lived in Alice Paul which made it easier to socialize with and get to know them.

A photo of my side of the shared bedroom that I lived in throughout Study Exchange with my Belgium-born roommate, Charles.

Supporting me throughout Study Exchange were my two TV production course-mates, Ethan and Max. This meant that I was coming to the US with two people that I already knew and got on well with which helped me to settle into the US more easily and added a sense of familiarity. I was also able to keep in contact my family / friends fairly easily without needing to worry too much about International Fees. It was really comforting when a few course-mates also contacted me to see how I was doing.

Academic Differences

It was fascinating to see how education is undertaken differently as a result to being in another country. For instance, BA (Hons) Television Production is a course with fixed modules. However, it is worth noting that you do get choices as to what forms of production / theory you want to specialize in during this course.

The hands-on experience made my time at Montclair also very practical and is a similarity with my time at Bournemouth University (BU for short). However, whereas my modules at BU are fixed, US education is much more varied and flexible in that you can sign up for around 50 classes sectioned under the Film and Television. Almost instantly, this created a vast choice and freedom of classes to choose from.

Alternatively, the high number and variety of classes also gave me the opportunity to try something new: Motion Graphics! This included creating 3D graphics, rotoscoping (i.e. animation through drawing), fading from a 2D Title into a 3D title, masking, layering and so many more specialist skills. In doing so, I was able to learn about the fundamentals of such techniques and how to apply them in After Effects and Maxon Cinema 4D alongside how to prepare files for After Effects and in-depth knowledge of how to work between After Effects and Illustrator.

Another difference was that classes were usually 3 to 4 hours long with many of them being in the evening.

At Bournemouth, you would usually research theories and write an essay about them for a case study. However, rather than using this approach for my Story Adaptation class, I learnt how to actually of adapting in the sense of taking something that I like (be it a song, video game, of movie etc.) and adapting it into a series, which enabled me to learn about logline components, series one-pagers versus episode one pagers, pitch bibles, scene plotting (i.e. which scenes are when) and I wrote a 30-page script and types of series.

Alongside this I was able to produce three documentaries. My two favorites were about an Emotional Support Animal (a lot of people with anxiety have Emotional Support Animals in the US) and a man who sits outside his dorm; wishing people nice thoughts and giving out flowers. The class itself also taught me about how to question an idea to test whether it is a strong film/documentary, applying ‘less is more’ when it comes to editing, the value of cutaways as culminating towards an overall story, experimental documentary-filmmaking.

My proudest piece of work was a studio-drama called Lust which is about someone who secretly feelings for his friend. This is because of how I prepared my script (i.e. I wrote it all myself with no AI) and chose my camera shots alongside being able to use a Voiceover (which hadn't been done in that class often). This one of four studio-projects that I underwent (others included newscast, interviews, and demonstrations).

This brings me onto another difference between UK and US education: individualism. In the US, the work was far more individual-based for most of the project instead of group-based. Hence, you would be the producer of your own TV show. At first, I directed other people’s Studio-Production and was the producer for my own projects; when we'd gotten to dramas, I was Producer/Director. With their being 11 people in my TV Studio class (called Intro to the Control Room and Studio) we'd usually need to get through 3-4 productions per week.

Of course, whilst the whole planning would be down to the Producer/Director per show, everything done inside the TV Studio was done as a Production Team. Hence, when you weren't directing or producing, you'd end up doing another role instead. This gave me experience of working in Audio, Camera, Assisting Directing (i.e. doing countdowns, keeping track of timings), Floor Managing, Acting and so, meaning that this class also gave me a generic experience of each studio role which I can take with me for my future career.

Many of the professors there were also very friendly and helpful with lots of in-depth knowledge about their subject and the people at the university were very welcoming, warm and friendly: at the end of the day, so long as you’re doing the best you can, your professors will always be happy to help as they want you to succeed.

Classes also had Teaching Assistants (students who volunteered to assist a professor in their class alongside any students who were struggling). 

Culture and Social Differences:

Study Exchange is also about social / cultural aspects too! Montclair State University has a large student shop where you could rent a book out for a whole semester and where you could get university merch branded with the Red Hawk – MSU’s emblem (students take a lot of pride in their university and are even known as Red Hawks at Montclair State University).

They also have an event similar to Freshers Fair called "Red Hawk Day” which showcases the university’s different clubs and also included fairground rides. It was just like being in the movie Grease!

For Halloween, I attended a Halloween Party dressed as Darth Vader. I’d bought the costume for my studio-class as we had to do live interviews, where I was being interviewed as Darth Vader. However, I accidentally bought a children’s costume instead of an adult’s size! Luckily, my roommate, was happy to do some Vader-costume-DIY which came in handy when I, my roommate and his social circle walked through the Halloween Parade on 5th Avenue in New York City. I was amazed at the sheer mass of people there, which illustrated how much larger things are in the United States; as did the skyscrapers of New York, which towered above me and made me feel like an ant.

Alongside this I stayed-over at my cousins for my first ever time in Delaware via an Amtrak train when I visited them for my first ever Thanksgiving! It was great to meet new family and enjoy a Thanksgiving Dinner (perfect for me, because I can eat loads), watching TV (including live American Sports). I then met more of my cousins afterwards, one of which made me a splendid cup of tea (the US loves coffee and barely drinks any tea) and we also travelled to Philadelphia, where I and posed by the Rocky statue.

I was able to experience many seasonal highlights: arriving when all the trees were a happy green then seeing Autumn transform them into a tapestry of passionate reds and fiery burnt oranges. I remember being taken aback by how warm it was when I first got there; even as late as Halloween and during one day in December. And then then it became colder in November, then freezing in December, when I it snowed just before I left the US.

Enjoying New York through five or visits, I was able to able to walk atop Brooklyn Bridge (see the last photo), visited The Met Museum (highly worth a visit) where I saw paintings by the famous Vincent Van Gough, visited the New York Museum of Natural History (where Night at the Museum was filmed, and don’t worry, the exhibits thankfully did not come to life!), took a stroll through Central Park, Times Square, saw the big Christmas Tree at the Rockefeller Centre, Korea-Town (K-Town) , The Highline (a pedestrian walkway that used to be a railroad track), Chelsea Market, and the World Trade Centre (the new one and it’s memorial).

New foods that I tried in the US included the Philadelphia Cheesesteaks, Burritos, Corndogs (like a hot dog but with cheese instead rather the sausage, and breadcrumbed on the outside then deep-fired) and Agua Fresca alongside more Colombian Food with thanks to the local’s areas high number of Latin-American and Colombian residents (Montclair State University itself is Latino-speaking institute meaning that it can speak in both English, and Latin/Colombian).

Meanwhile, the MSU cafeterias also had healthy foods like noodles, salads and seafood. Campus food was a main source of food for campus life. Anyone not living in The Village would get a meal plan (i.e. they get swipes on their student ID card and would use one to enter a cafeteria to get food / drink).

Another surprising difference was that many places are not very walkable. If traveling to New Jersey, always get the UBER and NJ Transit (who operates trains / buses in and around Montclair) apps before you arrive in the US.

One Final Reflection:

I’m certainly a different person from who I was before Study Exchange! For instance, I’ve been able to make achievements in learning specialist skillsets such as Motion Graphics and have gained knowledge of each of the main roles within the TV studio alongside gaining experience of Directing. Study exchange has also increased my adaptability alongside resilience; I feel more confident about myself and that I’ve also grown socially because of the people that I met in the US.

Having undergone this amazing opportunity, I now seek to travel outside of the UK more. I also look forward to seeing how my future unravels because of the skills and knowledge gained from study exchange; alongside being able to transfer my newfound skillets to my own studies back at Bournemouth University. America’s high-intensity workloads have also made me consider my own limits in terms of overworking myself, making me decide to give myself a little more time for friendships and other social aspects of life too!

Study Exchange is amazing for experiencing a different culture, developing your adaptability / resilience, learning unique skillsets and meeting new people. If anything, it’s not just an academic experience, it’s also a life experience too.