Details

• United States of America
• BaWiSo-23
• Undergraduate
• SoSe 2026
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months
• Contact: Login to see contact information

1. Preparation

You will be arriving to New York in deepest winter, this means pack accordingly. When I got there we had three blizzards within a month and the temperatures dropped to a freezing -18°C. Winter in New York can be beautiful as there are barely any tourists and you have all the sights for yourself, with warm clothing we were able to walk all over the city. Furthermore, you will be arriving there days after New Year's therefore flights will be very expensive. Be prepared to look for cheaper options all over Europe, I checked Vienna, Munich, Zurich, Budapest, Prague, Milan, Paris and London for affordable options and settled for London, still paying about 900€ for just one way. For the academic preparation at the host university, I was in close contact with the exchange coordinator at Fordham who helped me with all my questions and course choices. Initially, the website an all might seem confusing, but if you spend a day or two getting familiar with the resources, you will be fine during the whole semester.

2. Accommodation

For my accommodation search, I asked my exchange coordinator at Fordham what most people do (there were no exchange reports from WU as I was the second student going there after a 10 year break and the person going before me did not reply to any of my questions), and he recommended university housing, as it is very difficult and even pricier to find a private lease for just four months. I chose to live in the university dorms at the Lincoln Center Campus in Manhattan's Upper West Side, one block from Columbus Circle and Central Park. It was fairly easy to get a spot at the dorm, as many Fordham students go abroad and their rooms are empty. The dorm was organized in apartments meaning you will be sharing a room with one person and a kitchen, living room and bathroom with 1-2 rooms, so it will most likely be an apartment of 4-6 people. It definitely takes getting used to living with another person in the same room, but that adds to the college experience. The dorms are not the newest or cleanest and compared to an European standard insanely expensive (for a shared room about 2600$ per month!!!), but that's the cost of living in a prime location in the greatest city in the world. Safety wise, I walked home or took the subway at every time and in every condition and never felt unsafe. You have to be aware that New York is a megacity with a much higher crime rate than Vienna, but Upper West Side, especially the Lincoln Center, is a very safe neighborhood and even walking home alone as a girl at night, I never felt unsafe. The location is incredible, about a five minute walk to Central Park and Columbus Circle and a 15 minute walk to Times Square. The Columbus Circle subway station is just around the block and it takes no more than 20-30 minutes to get everywhere in Manhattan, maybe 30-45 minutes to get to the other Boroughs.

3. Academic life at host university

Important to consider is that Fordham University has two campuses: Rose Hill in the Bronx is the bigger, older and main campus. Here you will have the typical college feeling but it takes about 50 minutes to get to the city. Lincoln Center is the Campus in Manhattan, more modern, very artsy community. You can live and take courses on either campus, but keep the commuting times in mind. Generally speaking, the classrooms and facilities are not as modern as WU classrooms. However, both campuses have an on-campus gym, the on in Rose Hill being much nicer. Rose Hill also has other sporting facilities, such as three indoor basketball courts, a track running track, football, baseball, volleyball and soccer fields and lots of greenery. Lincoln Center has a theater and art gallery as well as a lovely yard, which is rare for Manhattan. You'll also find plenty of dining opportunities on both campuses, which I barely used because I either ate in the city or cooked in my apartment. As for the academic part, the classes are mostly smaller than your average WU class, cover less materials but the ones covered in much more depth. The professors really want everyone to understand everything and take the time to go over everything in great detail. You will spend much less time studying at home than at WU, but there are more small assignments, such as homeworks, presentations or other projects. The midterm and final exams are fairly easy and should be manageable if all materials in class are understood. I took mostly finance-related classes, namely Private Equity, Futures & Options, Fintech, Consumer Behavior and the compulsory Intercultural Exchange class. All of them were very doable and I found the PE and F&O class especially interesting. I had a 4.0 GPA in all of the classes with about 4-8 hours of doing work for all classes in total per week.

5. Every day life in the host country

New York is arguably the greatest city in the world and accordingly you will never get bored. The best way to get around is definitely walking, as Manhattan is very walkable and you will discover new streets, cafes and shops on every walk. Alternatively, the subway is a great way to save time and money and takes you basically anywhere in the city very reliably. It goes 24/7 so you never have to worry about how to get home (at least when in Manhattan). Uber is another option, but takes much longer due to traffic jams and rush hours and is also way more expensive. Safety-wise, you will definitely see a lot of crackheads, weird people and homeless. It takes about a week until you're used to that. If you don't interact with them and just use common sense, you will be completely fine. As a girl who walked all over Manhattan, also at night, I felt safe basically all of the time, I never had weird situations or anything happen to me, so I would personally say as long as you stay in the city and don't to anything stupid you will be completely fine. There is probably not one city that can compare to the social activities. New York has it all. Be it concerts, shows, theaters, ballets, museums, sports, games, bars, restaurants, clubs, shopping, sightseeing - name it, New York has it. We went to a Yankees game, a basketball game, a soccer game, about 3-4 Broadway shows, the opera, a ballet, The Devil Wears Prada 2 premiere, tried to see the Met, plenty of restaurants, bars, clubs, and so much more. It would go beyond the scope of this report to name all the activities one could do in New York, but I lived there for over 130 days and did an activity basically every single day and never got bored.

6. Testimonial

My exchange was the most incredible time ever. I woke up with a smile on my face every single day during these four months, because I was so happy and excited to have the opportunity to live in New York. People say it is New York or Nowhere and it really is. This city is so much more than just a city, everyone there is proud and happy to be a New Yorker and you can feel it, there is such a positive, welcoming atmosphere. The people I met there made my exchange truly special, but the city itself is such a magical place already that my friends were just the cherry on top.