Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute

I love that we learn experientially. It is challenging; a lot of work with utility and organization, but in the end it's making me more independent and open-minded. We study frameworks rather than memorizing information. The curriculum is online, but it only adds to the learning.

You have to be very good at time management because it is a large workload. It is also challenging with all the screen time.

Minerva is not like other universities. If you want a more traditional college experience, Minerva is probably not for you. While we don't have a campus, including dining halls, sports facilities, and libraries like other universities - Minerva is set in 7 different cities. While you study you travel the world. This has its challenges since you need to learn how to live your life and support yourself in these 7 cities - but the payoffs are very high. You'll truly become a global citizen and learn a lot about yourself along the way. Minerva is not only about travel, however, but the academics are also no joke. If you are not willing to work at least 50h a week - Minerva is not the place for you. If you are interested in Minerva's innovative active learning method and truly want to learn at uni, however - it's probably one of the few universities in the world where you will actually learn a lot from the class. Overall Minerva can be summarized as it demands a lot, but that exactly gives you a lot.

You should be aware that you will not be protected from the 'real world' like at other universities. You need to cook for yourself, take care of your own financial situation, and find places to work, places to study, and places to work out. And do that all over again every semester as you move to a new city. The finances can be tough, as you have to pay for visa costs, health insurance in every city, and flights yourself. Besides, living costs vary a lot from city to city, starting with one of the most expensive cities in San Francisco.

Minerva is a very unique college experience where students travel to 7 countries throughout their 4 years. I spent my first semester in San Francisco and my second semester in Seoul, South Korea. I am about to go to Taipei and Hyderabad, India, for my sophomore year. Because we are constantly traveling, Minerva does not have the concept of a campus. However, we have a residential building in each city where students live together. Not having a campus is really not as bad as you think. I initially thought that my college experience would be lacking simply because of not having a campus. However, I soon realized that this experience actually made me more willing to explore different places in the city! So, if you are someone who likes the concept "the city is my campus," Minerva is the place for you. Minervans take classes online. Yet, this is not your typical Zoom lecture. We use an active-learning platform called "Forum." Students have to do readings and pre-class works before every class, and we used the 90-minute class time to discuss what we learned. Minerva has completely changed how I approach learning. Because we have to talk about our learning in class and actually use them in our assignments, we could remember the content of our lessons so much better than traditional ways of learning! Minerva really focuses on teaching us skills we can apply academically and practically. I cannot stress enough just how helpful this is for my intellectual, professional, and personal development! I never seriously considered Minerva when I was applying for college. However, in retrospect, I am so grateful that I submitted my application. I realized how much Minerva meant to me when I found myself crying nonstop on my move-out day. The community at Minerva is really like no other. Students are very supportive of each other, and professors are extremely approachable. I would not trade this experience for anything.

Of course, Minerva is not perfect. One downside of Minerva is the lack of stability. We move to a different country every four months, which means by the time you have finally calibrated yourself in the city, it is time to move. This is a sacrifice we all have to make to have our experience, but it does not make saying goodbye and starting again any less hard :( Another downside is that we do not have a dining hall or meal plans. I struggled in the beginning because I did not know how to cook. However, it also forced me to grow up and learn how to cook, so I supposed maybe this downside is not so terrible after all if it led to healthy personal development.