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Help me choose country/university for exchange!

natascha

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Aug 10, 2010
Messages
644
Need some help on choosing the right country and university to do a semesters exchange with under my CEMS MIM (Master in International Management). I need to make a list of my preferences.

So I would love your comment if you know anything about the country or the university in question.

I am currently pursuing a Master in Accounting and Financial Management and trying to do my Law degree. I have lived in South Africa, Spain and Sweden and am fluent in English, Spanish and Swedish. No problem with going to a new country where I don't know the language.

Ok the options are:

The ones I know I am interested in:

The London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom
HEC Paris, France
University of St.Gallen, Switzerland
ESADE Business School, Spain

These I have no clue how to rank, sometimes I feel that it would be great to do Asia other times I can't stop thinking about the toilets in China (I have a problem with the whole squatting business).

National University of Singapore, Singapore
Keio University, Japan
Richard Ivey School of Business, Canada
The University of Sydney Business School, Australia
Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, China
Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo-FGV, Brazil

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University , Netherlands
Louvain School of Management, Belgium
UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Ireland
Università Bocconi, Italy
University of Cologne, Germany
Vienna University of Economics & Business WU Austria

Not really feeling the love with these ones:

Corvinus University of Budapest CUB Hungary
Graduate School of Management, St Petersburg State University GSOM Russia
Koç University Graduate School of Business KOC Turkey
NOVA School of Business and Economics NOVA Portugal
University of Economics, Prague VSE Czech Republic
Warsaw School of Economics SGH Poland
 

KA

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jul 14, 2011
Messages
127
I spent 2 years in Singapore, and did a masters at NUS 8 years ago. So I can only comment on that.

1. You won't have to squat.
2. I don't know much about their management program, though I have heard good things. But generally, it is a nice university.
3. The country (city, really) is really really safe. You can take a bus at 3 AM fearlessly.
4. People are generally very helpful.
4. Most people under 50 speak english. Everyone in the university will speak english. They have a great public transportation system. There is great cheap food. They have an amazing variety of fruits available (which I really miss since moving to the US).
5. It is mostly kind of hot. But most places are airconditioned.
6. The national hobby is shopping.

As for the cons, they are rather intangible. The society is a little repressed. There is very little freedom of press. I don't know, it is difficult to explain these things. But it is a really cool place to live in for a few years.
 

Pandora II

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Aug 3, 2006
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The Bocconi in Italy is one of their top, top universities and all the people I know who went there enjoyed it.

However, Italian students live at home with mummy and daddy so you won't get the same kind of experience as you would at LSE for example. The Bocconi is also a private university and $$$ so it takes a certain clientele...

I'm based in London, so obviously the LSE is great. However, London is not cheap as cities go especially regarding accomodation - although there are lots of fun and free things to do and you will never be bored.
 

natascha

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Aug 10, 2010
Messages
644
KA|1318455374|3038817 said:
I spent 2 years in Singapore, and did a masters at NUS 8 years ago. So I can only comment on that.

1. You won't have to squat.
2. I don't know much about their management program, though I have heard good things. But generally, it is a nice university.
3. The country (city, really) is really really safe. You can take a bus at 3 AM fearlessly.
4. People are generally very helpful.
4. Most people under 50 speak english. Everyone in the university will speak english. They have a great public transportation system. There is great cheap food. They have an amazing variety of fruits available (which I really miss since moving to the US).
5. It is mostly kind of hot. But most places are airconditioned.
6. The national hobby is shopping.

As for the cons, they are rather intangible. The society is a little repressed. There is very little freedom of press. I don't know, it is difficult to explain these things. But it is a really cool place to live in for a few years.

Great response! What did you do your masters in?

I think I am liking Singapore more and more. I was in Thailand and Cambodia this July/ August and I felt the heat but if the classrooms and housing is with air con that should be fine. Do you have any information regarding the possibility of doing internships and working there afterwards?

How is the housing situation and living costs. Should 2200 Singapore dollars be enough?
 

natascha

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Aug 10, 2010
Messages
644
Pandora|1318457480|3038839 said:
The Bocconi in Italy is one of their top, top universities and all the people I know who went there enjoyed it.

However, Italian students live at home with mummy and daddy so you won't get the same kind of experience as you would at LSE for example. The Bocconi is also a private university and $$$ so it takes a certain clientele...

I'm based in London, so obviously the LSE is great. However, London is not cheap as cities go especially regarding accomodation - although there are lots of fun and free things to do and you will never be bored.

Hi :wavey:

Regarding Bocconi, that is pretty much what I had heard. Also from exchange students coming from that school to do an exchange with us they have commented on that our coursework is harder :sick: . Regarding the certain clientele that is one thing that I might dislike. My school is our top school and private. We do have a lot of people from certain types of families because of the entry requirements but since we don't pay tuition so there is some mix just not as much as it is at normal universities.

LSE is my number one option however we don't always get any places there so I need to have a whole list of universities. Since I am considering moving to London when I am done it would be perfect to do half a year for an exchange. I have looked into the accommodation costs in London. They are a tad more expensive than Stockholm however you can actually get an apartment. Over here for a student single room shared kitchen, etc it is usually £100- 130 but to get one you need to have been in the queue for 2-5 years.

Do you think that with £1000 a month I could pull of living as a poor student in London?

Thank you
 

Novel

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Aug 31, 2009
Messages
1,199
I know you're not feeling the love for it, but I did part of my MA in Budapest and just adored Budapest. I didn't do it at Corvinus, though, so I can't speak for the university. It's a fantastic place to live, fun and beautiful city, and not very expensive (especially compared to some of the other cities you're looking at).

Warsaw can be a fun city to live in, but as much as I love Poland (and I do, I spend a lot of time there), it's a hideous city. I wouldn't feel the love either...
 

Arkteia

Ideal_Rock
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Nov 3, 2009
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7,589
LSE. It has a great reputation.
 

Pandora II

Ideal_Rock
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Aug 3, 2006
Messages
9,613
natascha|1318462476|3038894 said:
Pandora|1318457480|3038839 said:
The Bocconi in Italy is one of their top, top universities and all the people I know who went there enjoyed it.

However, Italian students live at home with mummy and daddy so you won't get the same kind of experience as you would at LSE for example. The Bocconi is also a private university and $$$ so it takes a certain clientele...

I'm based in London, so obviously the LSE is great. However, London is not cheap as cities go especially regarding accomodation - although there are lots of fun and free things to do and you will never be bored.

Hi :wavey:

Regarding Bocconi, that is pretty much what I had heard. Also from exchange students coming from that school to do an exchange with us they have commented on that our coursework is harder :sick: . Regarding the certain clientele that is one thing that I might dislike. My school is our top school and private. We do have a lot of people from certain types of families because of the entry requirements but since we don't pay tuition so there is some mix just not as much as it is at normal universities.

LSE is my number one option however we don't always get any places there so I need to have a whole list of universities. Since I am considering moving to London when I am done it would be perfect to do half a year for an exchange. I have looked into the accommodation costs in London. They are a tad more expensive than Stockholm however you can actually get an apartment. Over here for a student single room shared kitchen, etc it is usually £100- 130 but to get one you need to have been in the queue for 2-5 years.

Do you think that with £1000 a month I could pull of living as a poor student in London?Thank you

If you are happy living in a shared house with 2 or 3 other people then yes you could live on £1,000 a month but you won't be able to afford your own place unless the £1k is purely for accomodation alone and even then, once you've added bills and council tax it would be very tight.
 

KA

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jul 14, 2011
Messages
127
natascha|1318461192|3038883 said:
Great response! What did you do your masters in?

I think I am liking Singapore more and more. I was in Thailand and Cambodia this July/ August and I felt the heat but if the classrooms and housing is with air con that should be fine. Do you have any information regarding the possibility of doing internships and working there afterwards?

How is the housing situation and living costs. Should 2200 Singapore dollars be enough?

I did my masters in Computer Science. The one thing I remember about the school of business is that they had a better cafeteria. We used to take the bus and go there for lunch when we got tired of the bad science school cafeteria.

I lived there 8 years ago, so I don't know how much the living costs have increased. But my guess is that it is perfectly adequate. If you are willing to share an apartment with people, you can probably live in a very nice gated community type place with swimming pools and stuff. If you want to live alone, you might have to live in a HDB (Housing Development Board) apartment, which are perfectly nice, but not luxurious. The food is pretty cheap, and the taxes are very low. Cars are very expensive, but, as I said, you don't need one. Public transportation is great.

Another advantage of Singapore is that you can easily travel to very nice places in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, etc. I never took advantage of this while I was there, and I regret it now.

As for internships and working there, when I was there, none of my class mates had any difficulty. I don't know about opportunities for business majors, but I imagine that it should be even easier. It is a very large hub of activity in Asia. You can probably also look for jobs in nearby countries with a degree from NUS, since they are very well respected.
 

bee*

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
May 14, 2006
Messages
12,169
I've had 2 friends that have gone to the Smurfit Business school in Ireland and they both adored it. Cost of living over here is expensive but UCD have student housing which is quite nice as far as I know for post-grad education. If you need to know anything else, just let me know.
 

Haven

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Feb 15, 2007
Messages
13,166
What fun!

The University of St. Gallen, Switzerland is about 2.5 hours from the Berner Oberland, which happens to be one of the most amazing places I've ever visited. I would go there just for weekend opportunities to escape to the Alps. I can't say I know much about the immediate area, though.

I love London and Paris, and can't imagine that you'd have a bad time in either city.

I have cousins who live on an orange plantation outside of Sao Paulo, and they strongly advise against visiting Sao Paulo proper, so that would make me wary. My former roommate is from Sao Paulo and her stories about the city scared me as well. None of this has anything to do with personal experience, and I imagine people can tell scary stories about my city, Chicago, as well, but that's just my impression.

I LOVE Ireland, and would welcome the opportunity to study there.

Not a big fan of Cologne. It's a very hectic city, filled with a ton of tourists.

What a cool opportunity! I'm excited to hear more!
 

Deia

Brilliant_Rock
Premium
Joined
Oct 6, 2008
Messages
736
LSE is highly regarded and a great University. I have several friends who graduated from there and they loved it. I live in London and like it. With £1000 a month you can live here but as Pandora says it will absolutely have to be a house/apt share with several people. It's an expensive city. Let's say you spend £500 for rent (which isn't all that much unfortunately and I would think that it would be hard to get a central london flatshare with that amount... I spend over £800 on rent, just my share of a 2bed apt.) that gives you £500 for everything else which you shoudl be able to handle, I think.

HEC Paris - Paris a a great city to live in. Lived there for a year. It can be cheap to live in. Food isn't expensive if you don't want it to be.

ESADE Business School, Spain - Barcelona is an amazing city to live in, and has far better weather than London and Paris. I lived there for a month and had an awesome time!! Food is cheap and there is lots to do.

National University of Singapore, Singapore - Good School, not sure how it is regarded internationally though. Singapore is awesome. Lived there for 2 years. It's cheap all around and the weather is lovely. The people are friendly and everybody speaks english (other than the really old chinese people which I doubt you'd be talking to anyway) Great "hub" for asian travel too.

Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo-FGV, Brazil - one of the best schools in Brasil. Sao Paulo is a great city, reminds me a bit of New York but with constant hot weather. It's not that cheap to live there though honestly.

Louvain School of Management, Belgium - Although a good school, I lived in Belgium for almost 12 years...it's boring. That is all. Lol.

Università Bocconi, Italy - Highly regarded university in Europe. All Italian traders and sales people at my office come from Bocconi basically. Italy is awesome and food/housing is cheap!

Hope that helps!
 

mrscushion

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Nov 15, 2008
Messages
3,309
I'd narrow it down to NUS or Tsinghua if you want to experience / get exposure to Asia. NUS has a very strong reputation globally and Singapore is a nice place to live. I like it best for all the trips you can take from there all over Southeast Asia.

If you want to stay in Europe and you speak French, go to HEC for the network. It is killer in France, everyone who is something went there or to Sciences Po. If you don't speak French, you'll never really get in with the Frenchies, I think, so I'd go somewhere else -- London if you like the city or ESADE if you want to hang out with the MBAs and have a good time and go to a school with a big alumni network and good name recognition.
 

natascha

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Aug 10, 2010
Messages
644
Thank you all for your responses! I will be back to post individually soon. Stuff is a bit crazy over here. We have a bunch of newbies starting the Masters program that have not been to my school before and I feel pretty sorry for them, they all look a bit shocked. Some people look like they are going to burn out soon and it's only October. Usch I should not even say it. They can't burn out now, not so fast, right?

Horrible that I am I kinda hope that it's the newbies, or at least not me, that fail the exams. 50/50 chance of failing is not that bad right? I mean I have had worse odds in other courses.
 
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