Details

• Spain
• BaWiSo-23
• Undergraduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 5 months

1. Preparation

For the application process there are two important Things: GPA and Personal Motivation. A good GPA is vital for the Succes of the Application, everything close or under 2,0 should be enough for most Universities. Besides the Language Requierment, the GPA is the most important metric. The personal motivation is more relevant for the interview at WU than for the Universities abroad. Here you really have to agrumant your Motavation and why you. Think hard about why you want to go Abroad and not just because it sounds fun. What are your goals, what are your expectations and why are you the perfect candidat. When you can be convincing than there shouldn't be any problems regarding the interview. When preparing make sure you keep the financial aspect in mind. Rent, Food and Activities do cost a good amount of money so it may be wise to work before the start of the exchange semester to earn a little bit of money and make the burden easier. Take a look at the Course Plan and make sure nothing overlaps and pick your courses carefully to get the most out of them.

2. Accommodation

I searched only online for accomodations which worked well. Of course there a some scamy websites but a quick online search helps for finding trustworthy sides. I rented over HousingAnywhere.com and had a pleasant expierence. Of course it cost a little bit more to have an apartment with Renter Security but it pays off as you are spared the headache with lawyers or finding a new apartment during the exhange. My university in Madrid, the UAM, was in the far north of Madrid. As Sol, the main district, was in the middle of the city I wanted the location of my apartment to be pretty in the middle of both locations. Luckily, I found one in Tetuan which was perfect as I only traveld 30min in both directions. Saftey wise, Tetuan was a good place to live, a few homeless people but nothing to worry about. It had everything I needed: places to eat, gym and shopping locations. What I whished I had known beforehand was the state of the apartments. Mine was clean but a lot of stuff was old and only halft there so I had to buy a lot of stuff. But for a private apartment that was not surprising. It was expensive, thats my only complain.

3. Academic life at host university

The UAM Madrid, my host university, is a public university. That should say enough. The infrastructure is old and often broken, teacher are unmotivated and often not there, they do not answers E-Mails and coursework is often sloppy. A lot is done with A.I. and slides or materials often don't exist. When they do exist they are uploaded very late. The culture with other students is friendly but group projects are hard to organise and often fall trough. So overall it is not as much work as at WU Vienna, but it is all very sloppy and difficult to organise.

5. Every day life in the host country

Everyday life was quite pleasant, as I mentioned the Uni coursework was not that demanding, so I had a lot of free time. I went to the gym a lot, cooked a lot and did a lot of seightseeing. There where many events from the ESN Madrid branch which where lovley organised. Saftey in Madrid is very good, there is a lot of police patroling the streets and many people stay out till late in the night so you are never really alone. Public Transport is cheap and reliable and takes you to all Must-See-Things. I also had the Luck that the NFL, the National Football League, hosted the first international Game in Madrid during my exchange semester and I managed to get tickets to it and it was my first ever live NFL Game which was a great experience.

6. Testimonial

Overall the Exchange Semester was one of the best experiences of my life. I learned a lot, met new people from all over the world and also grew my personality. I'll never forget the memories I have made during my time in Madrid.