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

Look for opportunities to get to the uni early. Public transport is not an option. We rented a car (3 people) to get there. There is a ground shuttle that can take you (roughly 50$). I took this option too a few times, works very well. I flew in via Houston (IAH), that is the nearest airport.

2. Accommodation

I searched via the university prepared resources, as I knew I wanted to live on campus and not in a private facility. The website they provided works well. Ideally, I would look for one that is somewhat close to the school were you will have most of your classes (probably Mays Business School), so you have a short way there. My housing was on campus, but the campus is huge. It took me 20 minutes of walking one way to get to class. There are buses on campus that you can use free of charge, but I opted to rent a bike for 75$ for the semester. I felt safe throughout my experience, I had a roommate and we never ran into any issues. Overall my experience was very good. I wish I had known that cooking would be a mess though. There is a community kitchen, but after trying it out for a few weeks I just gave up, because the whole place was just a mess and people would constantly use my stuff.

3. Academic life at host university

Campus facilities, culture and teaching style were all excellent. First of, the university has an abundance of sports facilites, that, for the most part, can be used free of charge. This includes gyms or swimming pools, for example. The Aggie culture is unique, and can be felt throughout. This starts with smaller things such as being greeted with "Howdy" daily, but also more obvious signs such as the fact that everyone is wearing the Aggie merch daily. The teaching style is much more integrative than at WU. A lot of emphasis is put on group projects and discussions in class. I recommend the course FINC 449 - Financial Modeling with Professor Farshid Abdi. He explained the concepts very well and overall I learned a lot in the class, without it being super difficult. I have heard that other professors may be more demanding in this class.

5. Every day life in the host country

It was fun, but at the end rather mundane. There are a lot of things to do if you are into sports, the rec center is free of charge for almost everything and there are a lot of courses too. You can go out to "Northgate" where most bars are, but there aren't as many as in Austria. I felt safe throughout my exchange. I was once startled when someone drew a knife in a bar, but calmed down after they said they just wanted to show it to us. Public transportation is barely existent. You can you use the buses on campus free of charge, but that's about it. There are a lot of sports games that occur regularly, such as Baseball or Basketball (or Football in the Fall Semester).

6. Testimonial

The Aggie spirit is actively promoted. This results in a sense of belonging, that was built relatively quickly.