Exchange Report

I would start looking for a flat in Paris early on if you decide you want to live in Paris itself rather than on campus. ESSEC and WU in particular provide excellent support with university-related issues. You can already view last year's courses online to get an overview. The overview of the courses you can choose from is made available quite shortly before you actually have to choose them. You should then quickly take care of the recognition process.

I personally booked my accommodation through Wunderflats. Many of my fellow students also did this through Airbnb. I had to pay an additional fee of €400, but in return I received excellent support throughout the process. Overall, if you want to live in a very central location, you should expect to pay around €1,000–1,200 per month for a single flat with approximately 10–17 square metres of living space. There is no upper limit, of course, but it becomes difficult to find anything cheaper. I myself lived in the 2nd arrondissement, one block away from the Marais. The location was great, there were lots of bars and restaurants, and you could reach many places on foot. To get to ESSEC itself, you take the RER A from Paris. It takes about 50-60 minutes. However, I would do it again for a semester abroad, as you get to experience much more of life in Paris, Cergy is not a nice place and it's difficult to get back at night.

The campus is well laid out and offers everything you need. It is a mixture of old and modern. You definitely can't expect the same here as at WU, but that's okay. The canteen doesn't serve particularly good food, and you pay between €5.50 and €7 here. The student body is very diverse, but you mainly come into contact with international students. The French students tend to stick together and are not particularly open. There are great career events and support from the world's best employers in the fields of finance and management. Since I study finance and accounting at WU and the exchange was only offered to us for the management track, it was difficult to find suitable courses. The following courses can definitely be credited: M&A, Corporate Financial Management, Options, Financial Markets and International Finance. There are also some in the field of accounting. Most courses involve a lot of group work, so I would stick with the exchange students, as the full-time students usually don't care much about their grades. In general, the courses are below the level of WU in terms of requirements. There are always exceptions, such as Options, which is highly complex and consists solely of calculus and is more like PhD-level maths/statistics than an actual reasonable finance course. The rest was easy. Given the business school's ranking, I would have expected more from the teaching. It is also important to mention the exam period. In my case, all five exams took place in one week, which made it difficult to prepare properly for them. It is advisable to stay on the ball from the outset, and the level does actually suit you. Nevertheless, this approach does not make sense. All in all, I consider WU to be ahead in terms of campus, teaching and level. However, ESSEC's reputation is very noticeable at career events.

A monthly ticket for public transport costs around €90. I felt safe everywhere, but of course it was different compared to Vienna. There are homeless people everywhere and it's often dirty, but that's normal for Paris and it didn't bother me too much considering the beauty of the city and its vibrancy. The university doesn't organise too many events, but there are a few cool trips. For other events, you either have to organise them yourself through the exchange programme or go through the Erasmus networks. With its multitude of museums, sights and beautiful spots, Paris naturally offers plenty of things to do. The nightlife is also very good, with lots of great clubs and collectives, especially in the techno scene, great events, bars and DJs. ESSEC itself offers a variety of sports and has a good sports centre. Personally, I had a gym 200 metres from my flat in Paris. There are also many options here.

All in all, it was a successful exchange. Paris is and remains one of my favourite cities in the world, captivating with its beauty, diversity, cuisine and so much more. I met exciting people, experienced a lot and did some great things. ESSEC as a university didn't quite meet my expectations, but it's definitely not a bad choice for networking and my CV.