NYU Study Away vs. IBEX (or why not both?)
By Jordan Feast
There is no university that gives students more opportunities to study abroad than NYU! Through NYU Study Away and IBEX, I have had the opportunity to study abroad twice throughout my four years while completing two concentrations (Finance and Management) and a minor (Business of Entertainment, Media, and Technology). Whether you want to go to an NYU abroad site, apply for IBEX, or do both, I hope that a comparison of my experiences will help you learn more about each option!
I chose to study abroad my sophomore fall (Fall 2019) at NYU London because of the timing and classes it offered. The location offers Stern classes and I also had friends going at the same time. Fast-forward a year to the pandemic which made me want to find a way to travel or live abroad again. I originally wanted to go to NYU Paris, but they don’t offer any Stern classes. So, I started looking into IBEX and liked the idea of fully immersing myself in Parisian culture with a partner university. I was accepted into Universté Paris Dauphine and decided to go despite lingering COVID uncertainties in Fall 2021. If you are unfamiliar with IBEX, I recommend checking out this link for some context before you continue. Finally, as you read about my experiences, please keep in mind that each IBEX location is different and that my experience at Université Paris Dauphine could be very different from other locations.
To start, here are my schedules for each location:
NYU London Schedule -
Monday:
1:00-4:00 pm - Management and Organizations (Functional Business Core)
Tuesday & Thursday:
4:30-5:45 pm - Organizational Communications and Its Social Context (Social Impact Core)
Wednesday:
9:00 am-12:00 pm - Media, Culture, and Globalization (BEMT Minor)
Thursday:
9:00 am-12:00 pm - Health Policy in a Global World (Elective)
Université Paris Dauphine Schedule-
Tuesday:
10:15 am-1:30 pm - History of Economic Thought (Texts and Ideas)
3:30 pm-6:45 pm - International Business Ethics (PRL)
Wednesday:
10:15 am-1:30 pm - Cross-Cultural Communication and Management (Management elective)
1:45 pm-5:00 pm - Company Culture (Management elective)
Friday:
1:45 pm-5:00 pm - Regional and Urban Economics (Finance elective)
Academics:
Just because you are going on a semester abroad doesn’t mean that you can forget about academics! The types of classes I could take was a big consideration both times I went abroad. NYU London stood out to me because they offered Stern classes and I liked Dauphine because they specialize in management (one of my concentrations), and offered a variety of classes that could fit my outstanding academic requirements. So, as you research IBEX locations, keep in mind that some partner schools specialize in different areas of business and that some may not offer classes that fit your interests or remaining requirements. Course registration on IBEX also comes with more uncertainty than what we are used to at NYU. You should always be ready to take more electives than you anticipated while on IBEX in case your university changes course offerings or your first choice classes are full. Luckily, at Dauphine, I ended up with my top choice classes.
In terms of the classes themselves, I found the academic calendar and course setup at Dauphine very different from what NYU typically offers. Unlike NYU or any of its study abroad locations, many courses at European universities only have one presentation/paper and the final exam. This gave me a lot more free time than I had during my semester at NYU London where I had weekly homework assignments. However, the biggest difference of them all is that IBEX is all pass/fail! So, as long as you pass your classes, your GPA will not be affected.
Travel:
As you can see from my schedules, I had and have three-day weekends for both of my semesters abroad. This was great for travelling and I went on six trips during my semester in London and Paris. From London, I traveled to Paris, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Brussels, Madrid, and southern Italy. This semester in Paris, I did trips to Marseille, Switzerland, northern Italy, and Greece. I am also planning to go to Strasbourg next month for their Christmas markets!
I approached planning the same way each semester: I created a bucket list of destinations during the first couple of weeks and got down to planning once I had my course and exam schedules. The biggest difference between the two was finding people to travel with. In London, I had friends that I was living with who also wanted to travel. At Dauphine, it was a bit more difficult since I didn’t know anyone before the semester started. However, don’t be afraid to travel solo (as long as you do it safely!) or make plans with new friends. During my first week at Dauphine I mentioned that I wanted to go to Marseille to a friend I had just made during orientation and we went together the next week!
Some of my favorite travel memories from each semester: visiting Capri, Italy with friends (Fall 2019) and paragliding in Interlaken, Switzerland (Fall 2021)!
Social Life:
Social life is probably the biggest difference between NYU Study Away and IBEX. At pretty much any of NYU’s sites, you will probably see a familiar face and know other people going the same semester as you. When I went to London, I had friends who were going at the same time and we requested to live together. On IBEX, there are typically one to four Stern students attending each university for the semester. This fall at Dauphine, I am the only Stern student, so I had to make new friends when I got to school which was a little intimidating. However, the IBEX schools are ready to receive a large number of exchange students each semester. There are over 400 exchange students from all over the world at Dauphine this semester and there’s an exchange association run by Dauphine students that puts on weekly events at bars and even group trips to Lille and Amsterdam. I ended up making friends very easily and enjoyed the opportunity to make friends with other international students as well as full-time Dauphine students.
From left to right: NYU organized a trip to the Glastonbury Tor (Fall 2019), Marseille (Fall 2021), and Claude Monet’s house in Giverny (Fall 2021).
Housing:
If you have been looking to escape NYU housing then IBEX could be for you! At NYU study abroad sites, you are required to live in NYU housing which can still be expensive abroad, depending on your location. While I enjoyed living with my friends in the security of an NYU dorm, I prefer my apartment in Paris. On IBEX, I was left to find my own housing. Some partner universities have dorms but Dauphine partners with a student residence company in Paris. The rent for my studio apartment is around 400 euros a month which is much cheaper than NYU housing abroad, but there are definitely less amenities and some hiccups here and there. For example, I had some complications retrieving my keys from the company when I arrived in Paris, there is no working elevator in my building, and I have a kitchenette instead of a full kitchen. Despite some minor inconveniences, I still enjoy the freedom to pick my own place to live!
Applications:
The application process for NYU Study Away and IBEX are completely different. NYU study abroad sites accept applications each semester. For example, I applied to NYU London during the spring of my freshman year and attended my sophomore fall. Applications for IBEX run on a yearly cycle. Applications for the following academic year are due around October every fall. So, even if you want to go on IBEX in the spring of 2023, you need to apply in the fall of 2021. While it is always good to plan ahead for studying abroad in general, take extra precautions to make sure you don’t miss the IBEX deadline!
Overall, you can’t go wrong when choosing between NYU Study Away and IBEX and I hope that this article helped you get a better understanding of some of the differences between going to a NYU abroad location versus IBEX. If you want to read more about my time in London, check out this article that I wrote while I was studying there. If you have any questions feel free to email me at jef480@stern.nyu.edu!