Details

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

1. Preparation

Before starting the exchange semester there are a few things you need to do: before coming to Chile you need to decide if you want to apply for a student visa or just enter the country as a tourist. I chose to apply for the visa which was a little exhausting at first because I found it difficult to understand which documents you need to apply but I asked someone who did the exchange a year before me and he helped me a lot! In the end I was happy I had the visa because it made it easier to leave and enter the country for traveling without worrying about anything. For the university in Chile you need to have a look at the deadlines for applying to courses and which ones can get transferred. The university also wanted a proof of insurance but we only had to upload that the first week we were there. Another thing to keep in mind is the mobility grand from WU, don't miss the deadline! Also the earlier you book the flight the better, I chose one that had a stop in Toronto (super random I know but the layover was long enough to explore the city a little bit and it was cheaper than others).

2. Accommodation

At first I was a little overwhelmed with the search for accommodation because there are a few different websites and options. In the end I chose a student housing called LivinnX. I had a little studio on my own in the student house, so I didn't have to share a bathroom or kitchen but there are different options as well. The biggest reason I chose LivinnX was because there is a reception downstairs which is occupied 24/7. The student dorm is not in the safest area of the city but I never really felt unsafe (and I am girl with blond hair). During the day it is fine and during the night you should always take an Uber anyway regardless of where you live. There is a metro station about five minutes away and it took me 20 minutes to get to the university. LivinnX offers a lot of things to do, there is a swimming pool, barbecue area, table football and table tennis, study area and terrace. Overall I liked it but it was sometimes a little loud during the night as it is a student dorm. There are a lot of students living there (I think about 400) from a lot of different countries. I felt like there were a lot of people from South America who couldn't speak English when I was there but I think that changes from semester to semester.

3. Academic life at host university

I really liked the host university but it is a little different than WU. The courses all take the whole semester and the lectures are two times a week, some have TA lessons as well. You get the dates for your exams only a week or two before but the teachers are really nice to exchange students and usually let you write exams at other times if you have a trip planned already. The campus is smaller than WU but there are a lot of places to sit outside in your breaks. At least the courses I chose were quite small and the teachers include the students many times. There were also a few presentations we had to make. I took 4 courses which was perfect, each course had 6 ECTS and I didn't need to study a lot, much less than at WU. I chose the courses so I only had uni at Tuesday and Thursday so I ended up with courses that I probably wouldn't have taken otherwise, but I am very happy about my choices, they were all great! I took the courses: Strategic Alliances, M&A - this was really interesting, I especially learned a lot about the economic situations in South America. We had to do one group presentation and 2 exams which were open-book Strategic Data Communication for Business - super easy, it is mostly about how to present data. One presentation and a few easy quizzes Business Intelligence and Database Applications - a little harder than the other but still very manageable. A few big assignments, quizzes and one end-exam Business Intelligence and Analytics - mostly about programming but the teacher wanted us to use AI so you don't need to know the programming languages only what you want to code to do. A few assignments and two small exams

5. Every day life in the host country

I used the metro every time I went to uni, you pay every time you enter the station, there are no monthly or yearly tickets or something like that. There is a special card you can charge money onto or in the metro stations you can just tap your normal bank card. The metro can get really crowded at peak times, sometimes I had to wait for the next one because there was no space anymore. But they usually come every 2-5 minutes depending on the time. At night you should use an Uber but they are much cheaper than in Vienna, usually about 2-8€. Before I came to Chile I was a little worried about the safety but I never really felt unsafe when I was there. Of course you have to be more careful than in Vienna though especially phones get stolen a lot. Our Uni had an international student organization called ISAFEN which organized a lot of events and things to do. They showed us the city, museums etc. They also had a lot of free entries for clubs and went partying with us. Santiago is a big city so there are a lot of things to do!

6. Testimonial

I had the best time on my exchange and can only recommend it to others! I traveled a lot, saw so many beautiful places in South America and made friends from around the world! I love Chile and hope to get back there soon!