Details

• United States of America
• BBE-18
• Undergraduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months

1. Preparation

As for the application process, I had placed Minnesota as a safe choice, as I saw that in the previous years there were no applicants. I would 100% recommend a safety choice like this (specifically Minnesota - ranked high academically, and good student life), especially if you're only applying to the US / really insistant on getting a spot. As I had a really good GPA and good extracurriculars I had expected to get a school higher on my rankings but competition is really though, especially for BBE students. As for preparing for the actual exchange, make sure to start the visa process as soon as you can, especially in the current international climate. On a lighter note, make sure to pack summer clothers! I thought I would have no need for those, but up until October, it was actually very warm out. I would recommend buying all winter gear there (which will 100% be necessary) as for the last couple of weeks of the exchange it was so cold out I was wearing ski gear and still shivering.

2. Accommodation

We had three options we could pick from - I'm not sure if you can opt out of university provided housing, and I even if you could, I wouldn't, as it really makes things so much easier. The first one was Centennial, single rooms, dorm style, meal plan mandatory, with communial bathrooms. I wouldn't recommend this at all, as only a few other exchange students picked it, who had then said that it is all really isolated, with almost no student life. The meal plan was only worth it to them since they had no kitchen. The second one was Yudolf Hall. They had the apartments, with either 2 single-rooms, or 2 shared-rooms between apartments (so 2 or 4 people apartments). The third one was University Village (UV), which was not affiliated with the university, but they had some sort of agreement where applying exchange students could receive furnished apartments. I had initially applied for Yudolf single room apartment, as it had the best location, and I had wanted American roommates. Application was first come, first serve, and I had applied somewhat after it had began, so I didn't receive my first preference. My roommates and I didn't really click (majority of Americans are kind of strange to be honest) so before moving in I texted Kate (UMN exchange rep, really helpful and kind) and she immediately offered me a chance to move into UV instead. This was the best choice I could have made. It was apartments with 4 single rooms, 2 bathrooms and a large kitchen, and I was placed in a hallway full of other exchange students. This is where I made my closest friends, as we would spend almost all evenings cooking together, hosting parties together or just hanging out. In terms of maintenance, there were huge differences between apartments, ours was really old (kithcen was dirty, floors were janky, blinds were broken, bathrooms kind of old, windows kept freezing over, dishwasher broke down like 3 times & flooded the apartment, washing machine broke, just before I left though so that was chill). The reception was really kind though, but they would take like 1-2 weeks to fix the issues we were having. Almost half of the exchange students had picked UV over Yudolf. At Yudolf, people received shared rooms with really strange roommates, and had all sorts of diverse experiences. Only one student received their first pereference of a single room at Yudolf. UV was cheaper, though a little further out - but in the early months we would just walk to school (abt. 30 mins or so). When it was colder out we would just take the Lightrail whcih was also really accessible, though at times full of crackheads. As for safety, since UV is not university affiliated, it was mostly empty, and had some adult occupants as well. We had no issues whatsoever, it always felt secure and safe aside from a few false fire alarms /drills. I know this all sounds intimidating, but the standard for housing at US unis is generally pretty low, and compared to that, UMN was super helpful, and the housing offered both in terms of diversity of choice and quality were outsanding compared to other exchange students at different unis I had heard from.

3. Academic life at host university

Campus infrastructure was really something. It had two sides (East and West) divided by a river. Due to the cold in the winter months, there are underground tunnels under all the buildings, which allow for easy accessibility even in the cold. The lightrail (tram) runs trhough both sides, and also takes you into the city in an additional 10 minutes, and there are buses circulating the campus which run pretty frequently. As for academic culture, I found the classes I took to be incredibly easy (at times even too slow, they really spell everything out), lots of groupwork. Classes are really short, ranging between 45 minutes to 90 minutes. Exams are so easy compared to some others I had taken at WU. Classes are homework heavy, and the amount of credits accredited to classes really doesn't mean anything - I had 6 credit classes (12 ECTS) which I genuinely did almost nothing for, and classes with 3 credits (6 ECTS) that required so much more work than the credits suggested. Professors are almost always open to have conversations with you, they remember your name, and invite you for office hours (which often were just long conversations). I became close friends with my spanish professor :). We were only allowed to take 20 credits (40 ECTS), and the range of classes are HUGE, I had a really fun time looking through all of them, as we are allowed to take non business courses as well (I really recommend doing this, as it was such a unique opportunity to gain knowledge & meet people I wouldn't normally meet at WU/ in business circles). Even though I took 19 credits (38 ECTS) my semester was not study heavy whatsoever, I spent an hour studying a week at most. I recommend not taking classes on Fridays, Thursdays if you can, so you can travel for longer periods on the weekends.

5. Every day life in the host country

As I mentioned previously, public transport is really good (compared to other US cities). It's also pretty unique that the city is so close, which made it cheap(er) to get to the airport. Campus isn't necessarily safe and we were advised to not walk around after dark. Ubers are really cheap though, and there are also free campus transport cars you can just call whenever, though there is a wait time. Every once in a while we'd get emails about accidents / attacks on campus, but this is sadly pretty common, and the reality in the US - especially in Minneapolis right now. Socially, the school spirit is really high - students are very enthusiastic about UMN, there are so many sports events to attend, a frat row full of frat houses, rush, sororities - it's very classically American, which was one of the reasons why I chose it in the first place. There are so many clubs to join and activities to participate in, and as an exchange student, you get a buddy who, if you're lucky, will show you around :). The GLOBE community (buddies and exchange students) is also really nice, they organize events (they even organized a masked ball for us towards the end). Football games are really one of a kind, something so difficult to describe but so memorable. Go gophers!!!

6. Testimonial

Some of the best memories I have are the nights I spent with my neighbours & roommates. We'd hang out together, cook, host game nights / parties, and attend events together almost every day. In terms of student life, there is everything you'd expect from an American university - house parties, fraternities & sororities, insane football games. Despite a bad reputation, most Americans are so kind and open, and so easy to talk to. At times, we'd just walk around and talk to people (we even got a tour of a frat house at one point, which was genuinely so much fun, can recommend.) It's exactly like what you see in the movies, if not better. The natural beauty in the Americas is also truly one of a kind - one Friday night, we had an idea, and the next morning we were in a car driving nine hours to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore. Go to a US uni & go Gophers!!