Details

• United States of America
• MASozÖk-10
• Graduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months

1. Preparation

I would recommend to get well-informed about the courses of the partner university and whether they might be eligible for accreditation at WU. Meeting the other students who will go to the same university might also be beneficial and will help finding connections at the start of the exchange semester.

2. Accommodation

Finding accommodation in Urbana-Champaign can be difficult. However, I got the impression that more student accommodations were built when I did the exchange, so the search for housing might get easier within the next few years. The Daily Illini Housing Search is a good way to start looking for accommodation and posting on Reddit can also help. It took me a while to find housing. In the end, I got an apartment at Smile Student Living which was really nice and close to campus. The only problem was that the apartment was quite expensive (1200 $ at least).

3. Academic life at host university

I mostly spent my days on campus because there are several nice libraries and places. Grainger Library is open 24/7 during the week and the Main Library and the Funk Library have also long opening hours. There are a few food options on campus available but I mostly went to Green Street for lunch or dinner. In terms of the academic culture, I liked my classes and the teaching styles at UIUC. I did not really have final exams but I had to do different types of assignments (e.g. presentations, group works, quizzes, essays) during the semester.

5. Every day life in the host country

I lived close to campus so I did not use a lot of public transport (unless I went buying groceries at Walmart or did shopping at the shopping center in Champaign). Using the bus is free when showing the UIUC student ID. In general, I always felt really safe on campus, also during the night. I never tried walking around during the night in other parts of the city though. In terms of student activities, I played in several orchestras which was a nice experience.

6. Testimonial

In general, I liked my exchange semester. As a Master student, it can sometimes be difficult to find connections with people of the same age since there are much more undergraduate students than graduate students at UIUC. However, the university is great and campus life is buzzing. What I liked best about my stay was traveling around. During fall break, I could do a road trip to Texas and after finishing my exams in December, I spent a few days in NYC.