Which Exchange University Should You Choose?

The time to choose an exchange university is a really fun process and sometimes you feel spoilt for choice! While talking to friends and seniors helps, ultimately you still have your own priorities and objectives. When people flex on social media, we usually see the positive aspects without getting to know much about the drawback. Here are 10 questions to consider and research on when you choose your exchange university. I will also mention how I ultimately chose mine.

Choose Country

1. Purpose of exchange

What’s your purpose of exchange? Your reasons could be very different from mine because we are different personalities. Perhaps you don’t mind the country and just want to get an overseas experience, or just want good food. I also know of friends who wanted to be close to home so that if they had interviews in Singapore it would be easier to fly back. If you are going with friends, be sure to make sure your objectives are largely aligned from the beginning.

My thought process: Personally the objectives revolve around traveling and living like a local. I wanted to go outdoors a lot and so I narrowed my choices down to: USA (west coast), Europe (Norway, Finland, Italy), Canada (British Columbia). I know that is still really broad and probably everyone has these as their broad options. Let’s look at the next factor.

2. Exchange Semester

When are you going for exchange? Firstly, this is quite important for those who are applying for a summer internship. Universities in Canada and US tend to match the Singapore semesters more closely than in Europe/Asia. For summer internships that start in June, be careful to check the official semester schedule, including exam dates.

Secondly, you should consider the climate especially if the national parks are on your must-go list. In winter, many of the driving roads and hiking trails would be closed due to snow. Stores also close early in places with really cold winters. If you want to see the Northern Lights, maybe consider a fall semester in Finland.

My thought process: I went for exchange in semester 2, and I wanted to travel more on the weekends instead of taking a long trip before/after the semester. Having good weather throughout was important to me so I narrowed down to USA’s west coast (Oregon, California).

Northern Lights in winter — Choose wisely if you really want to see the auroras (Photo by Luke Stackpoole on Unsplash)

3. Budget

What’s your budget? It’s no surprise that developed countries will be more expensive to live in. Affordability is usually one of the biggest factors when choosing which country to go to. On top of trying to save money, there are various grants/scholarships that you can apply for with your home university. A fellow foodie told me it might be better to live in a cheaper country and eat like a king, than to eat select

My thought process: I accepted the fact that exchange in US would cost more than 18k SGD. My actual cost was 20k, other friends spent 25k. Nevertheless, I continued looking for ways to save money/exchange hacks wherever possible.

4. Friends

There are a few angles to this. Do you plan to be in the same country/continent as your friends to travel together? Do you currently have friends studying in the country/school as the one you are considering? Do your friends have the same exchange objectives? Nonetheless, you should bring up your considerations with them earlier when you choose your exchange university.

My thought process: I was open to traveling with people I meet on exchange. Even if none of my friends wanted to go to US west coast, it did not affect my decision.

Choose Exchange University

5. Slots available

How many slots are there? We can dream about our ideal exchange destination but we have to consider if the schools have enough slots or achievable GPA requirements. Another reason why people consider this is also to have a higher chance of getting into the same exchange university as their friends. If you prefer familiarity, applying to a school with many slots also means a bigger group of Singaporeans traveling together. One minor drawback is that if you are alone, there might be friend-groups that are fixed from the start and are possibly less open to people joining.

My thought process: In SMU, GPA is the main determinant of success application. I referred to iGPA to see the historical GPA percentiles. A big group was not important for me because I wanted to make new friends.

6. School life

What is each school known for? Is the culture fun or studious? Do you plan to participate in any interest groups? In another post I mentioned that one of the best ways to integrate with the locals is to join a school activity. Many of my friends continued pursuing hobbies in their exchange university and I was influenced to do the same. Thinking about it made me really excited.

My thought process: I was interested in joining acappella or ultimate frisbee, so I gave each exchange university a rating for these factors. USC was an easy choice because of their good acappella group (SoCal Vocals). Even though I didn’t get to join them I LOVED sitting in their practice and performances.

USC Trojans — Maybe you want to be in on the college football action
(Source: USC SCF)

7. Mapping modules

Are you able to map the modules back? For certain majors like accounting and law, courses are harder to clear overseas. You should plan this out earlier, and not blindly follow what others advise, especially if you have double major/degree. For SMU, look at previously approved course mapping from people who have gone to your intended school. Submit your mapping for approval in advance. More is better (2-3 options per course unit) in case the exchange university doesn’t approve your first choice.

My thought process: I wanted to (and managed to) clear 2 finance electives, 1 entrepreneurship, and 1 general education mod. My application was to USC’s business school so there was no shortage of finance modules.

8. Location

What kind of location do you prefer? If you are thinking about traveling, accessibility and transport infrastructure is important to consider. Although Europe is easy to travel without a car, you might want to consider its accessibility and cost of traveling out. Even within each country, each school’s neighborhood varies, some safer than others. Furthermore, do you care if the school is in a suburban university town, or near the beach/city?

My thought process: When I decided on USA, I knew that most of my traveling would be road trips. I would also have to Uber around LA most of the time instead of walking/public transport due to safety considerations. Although USC’s neighborhood is not as safe, school security and the police actively patrol, and the school provides free rides at night.

California palm trees — I feel nostalgic looking at this :’)

9. Exchange University Prestige

Is it important to go to a prestigious school? This factor depends on your exchange objective. For some people, exchange is a good opportunity to study in an Ivy League (eg Wharton). Perhaps you want to choose an exchange university that specializes in your major (eg Carnegie Mellon for computer science). These are useful ways to pursue high quality education while traveling. Obviously it also looks good in resumes.

My thought process: Nonetheless I thought it was important to strike a balance between learning and playing. I chose a sufficiently reputable school through seniors’ recommendation and its ranking. On hindsight, I learnt a lot because the classes were very enriching.

10. Skipping classes

Are you planning to skip classes? This applies to those who don’t care about attending classes in exchange. In other words, your main objective is to travel/play as much as possible. I know of people who skip a whole week of classes so and extend their recess week break to 2 weeks. You could choose an exchange university that is less strict about attendance. Talk to seniors and friends who have done this before at your school of interest! Alternatively, save your Friday for weekend trips and don’t register for classes on that day.

My thought process: I tried to keep my Friday free but I couldn’t get what I wanted. However my Friday class was an Astronomy lecture and my prof was chill, so I went ahead to skip some of those classes.

San Francisco bridge — The first time I skipped class, we went to San Francisco

I hope I have provided you with you with sufficient things to consider when you choose your exchange university. It is a very subjective matter with varying individual perspectives. Of all these, I believe the most important thing for exchange decisions as a whole would be to determine your objective. You would then center all your plans around it.

I wish you all the best and if you need some ideas for making the most of exchange, read this post. Otherwise if you are having pre-exchange jitters, I can totally relate and share about the phases of exchange we go through.