Thread: MGU or St. Petersburg State U

Hi. Has anyone gone to either MGU or St. Petersburg State. I'm trying to decide between them. It seems St. Petersburg State is about half the price of most classes. Is there a reason for that?
thanks,
Jen

which campus in petersburg? Ive studied at the university on the embankment and at smolny institute. Both are part of the university. I heard hertzen is a wing as well. If its on the embankment or smolny, i would definately recommend them.

The St. Petersburg State University Department of Philology. They offer Russian classes. I'm not sure I've heard of the other ones. http://www.russian4foreigners.spb.ru/index.html

Have you any information on this peticular class?

yeah, same location i was at, its right across from the hermitage. I was only there for a month in the summer, but it was good. It was through a university, so different program, but probably similar teachers. The nice thing about the philogy department, is that you will be in a building with russian students. Some schools separate the buildings.

I did another semester at smolny, which i would recommend also. I liked it more, that was through ciee, but will cost a lot more since its a whole program and easier to transfer college credits. I know you can directly go through smolny too, im not sure how, but they would probbaly just put you with a group. Not bad, but you could get stuck with an all asian group that didnt speak english or something, as there seemed to be a majority of asians there.

As far as moscow or petersburg? Petersburg will be cheaper by a little in almost every aspect. Moscow is a lot larger, and petersburg is easier to get around, but so is Moscow once you get the hang of it. The location of spgu is great as well, on the tip of the island, right by the hermitage, 10-15 min walking distance to the main parts of nevsky prospekt.

I went to MGU, and whilst I think the uni is great and can be a cool place, the teaching was rubbish. I learned more on the street. I found it very frustrating and old fashioned. Moscow, though, is much more lively than St. P I think, and more student culture.