Exchange Report

Regarding Courses: The way it works is based on a system where they give you X points and you bid on specific courses. Try to find out already at the beginning of summer which courses WU will recognize and for how many ECTS, that way when the bidding system opens you have your strategy already figured out. In the Chicago Booth website, there are several links that give you information about the classes they held during the Fall semester of the previous year, and the amount of points people bid on it Regarding Housing: The campus is really beautiful and safe, nonetheless, I would not recommend living on campus, because the whole area that surrounds is not safe. Furthermore, many students from Chicago Booth's MBA live in Chicago downtown, within what is called as the "loop", bare in mind that this is where it gets expensive. Nice thing is that UChicago has a shuttle that takes you from downtown to the campus in the south and also to Gleacher Center, which is a campues downtown, where it is likely that you will have classes, or go there to study.

I would recommend living in what is known as the Loop or in the North side of the Loop, but I would NOT recommend anything between the Loop and the campus in the south. The reasons are the following: 1) Students: most of your classmates will be from Chicago Booth’s MBA and most of them usually live in the Loop (downtown) and commute to campus for classes. Therefore, it is quite likely that you will end up hanging around the Loop. The good thing is that UChicago offers a shuttle that takes you from the campus in the South to the Loop and to Gleacher Center, where it is likely you’ll end having classes as well. Others like me used to take the metro from Millenium park in the ME line (orange line back in the day) which during the day is safe, although I would not take it at night, for safety reasons. 2) Safety: the campus is beautiful and safe but the whole area that surrounds it (Washington Park, Southside…) is NOT SAFE. Therefore, I would avoid living in between the Loop and campus. Regarding private housing I cannot advise much but I would do the following. As soon as possible google/search students that are doing their 1st or 2nd year of the MBA at Chicago Booth and ask them if they know someone looking for a flat mate. Back in the day, many of them used to lived in a building called “Millenium Park Plaza” Regarding residence/student dormitories: I totally recommend living where I used to live “The Flats East-West”. This is a student dorm that is located at the upper levels of a small university called East-West University. Is in the Loop and for what it offers, location and price (from 100 to 1700) I recommend it.

Courses at UChicago, and especially what Chicago Booth offers, can range from very easy to very difficult, but all of them are very intense in terms of workload during the week. On the contrary, finals tend to be easy (if they have a final exam). One thing that is nice to know before going is that although WU has an agreement with Chicago Booth, UChicago allows you to take courses from other departments if you ask for permission. Also, and this was very important for me (MSc in Economics, Science Track), they also allow you to take PhD Courses from Chicago Booth. I mention this because topic-wise they tend to match the content of those at WU much more closely. For me these were the hardest courses but also the ones I enjoyed the most. They often involved a lot of readings, problem solving, coding… All in all, the academic environment is very enriching. I totally recommend searching the courses and the professors that teach them in advance since very often they are top scholars (Nobel price winners) or top industry professionals and the effort they put into teaching is amazing and totally worth getting. Overall, I have to say that it was very challenging, but I learnt and enjoyed a lot.

Most of the social life I used to was in the Loop or in the north of the city center, and was quite expensive compared to Vienna. The US in general is not that expensive, but Chicago is. Public transport: what I used to take the most was the metro to commute to campus. During the day was safe and had no issues in the whole semester. Around the city (Loop), instead of the metro I used to walk everywhere or take an uber late at night and was also fine. Events and sports: the city offers a lot of things to do and watch (NBA, American Football, Ice hockey, Chicago Marathon...) and I totally recommend doing them as soon as possible as it gets really cold. Also, as a student you get access to many museums, and the Art Gallery of Chicago is a must.

Most challenging academic experience I've ever had, but also the one I have enjoyed and learnt the most from.