EXCHANGE REPORT
The University of Texas at Austin
United States
Spring 2014
Kin Chiu
Quantitative Finance
Part 1 – Monthly Activity Log
Late-December – January
As the orientation activities started at early January, I arrived the States in late
December. The weather is not as cold as expected. Those orientation activities started
from 3rd Jan and ended at 6th, but school didn’t start until 13th. Thus, it would be rather
boring to have arrived too early if you didn’t plan something ahead. A 1-day trip was
arranged by the International Office to NASA Houston, an event they will hold every
year for international students. The trip was fair in general and surely worth going,
though I could still remember the return bus broke down and I waited for hours under
cold and hunger. School was cancelled for several times in January due to extreme
weather. (Nothing extreme indeed but they did cancel classes). Do NOT expect the
same as students said class cancelation due to weather was not common at all.
February
Studies may start to get a bit intense starting from February as tests mostly starting
from earlier February. A kind reminder would be to take tests easy as you only need to
pass them, which is not difficult at all. A 3 day visit across the weekend to New
Orleans would be arranged by a student organization; again, they did this every year.
The trip didn’t worth as much as it charged but you would simply lose a sight-seeing
opportunity if you do not join.
March
March is definitely one of the highlights of the exchange. The spring break, which is a
one week break, would most probably start at the second week of the month. Before
you can enjoy your trip, you have to finish a couple of tests first in late Feb and early
Mar. For the Spring break, I went to the East Coast with other USTers for a week. We
joined a mainland tour so that we didn’t have to plan anything. I also visited my
primary school friend in New York. I would like to thank him here for driving,
showing us around and accommodated us. We went to New York, Philadelphia, DC
and also Boston for sight-seeing. The last stop of the trip, I would say, is not Boston
but Austin. We head back to Austin intentionally earlier in order to catch up the last
day of the big event SXSW. Both music and non-music lovers should not miss that.
April
April would be boring if you do not skip classes to go on travelling. There wasn’t any
holidays or breaks. Group projects were usually due in April so you might expect a
little bit more work. Approaching the end of April, I realized I was about to leave
Austin that I started to research online about things/places in Austin that are worth
trying/going. I would recommend you to do that earlier because you would discover
there is indeed a lot of places worth going and you would just be too late to plan.
May
The actual exam period is early May to mid-May but some professors would prefer
having exams at late April. However, May is not at all about exams. It is also about
the end of exchange trip! As I went to the East Coast in the Spring Break, I chose to
go to the West Coast. I went to San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas together
with another UST guy. We did not any book hotels/bus in advance and did not do the
planning until we arrived in San Francisco. But it actually resulted in a very relaxing
and enjoyable trip. I would also like to express my greatest gratitude to my friend’s
auntie for accommodating and taking care of us in San Francisco.
I flew back to Hong Kong in Los Angeles right after the trip and did not return to
Austin in late May.
Part 2 – General Exchange Information
1) Visa Procedures
It was all about filling forms online, paying money via credit card and in 7-eleven
(there were two separate charges), meeting the officers into the Embassy and
getting the passport back after two weeks. Do it in advance is always good.
2) Orientation Activities
A few orientation activities were there, organized by International office and the
Business School, mainly about VISA stuff, introducing UT, course registration etc.
It would be good to meet as much other exchange students (except UST students)
as possible during the orientation activities since there is rarely any chance to get
to know each other afterwards.
3) International Services & Activities
The International Office would organize a 2-hour bus trip showing us around
Austin, movie night, 1-day NASA trip. Another student organization (Planet
Longhorn) would arrange a trip to New Orleans.
4) Accommodations
School hostel is not open to exchange students. Therefore, we have to rent our
own apartment. But I chose to stay in the student Co-op (a student hostel with big
kitchen and commons accommodating about 100 students) and I was in Pearl
Coop. The rent ranges approximately from double room USD $570 to single room
$750 per month and more for newer coops. The rent includes wifi, electricity, 17
meals per week and free food supply from big fridges anytime (cereals, bread, raw
meat, fruit, milk, etc., if any left). Renting apartments would usually be $400+,
but often unfurnished (my friends need to buy their own mattress and table and
having the living room completely empty for the whole semester) and you need to
buy and cook your own food. Thus, living in Coop might be a little bit cheaper.
But something I really hate about Coop is you have to spare 4 hours every week
on doing labor (must do, need to pay $10/hour for someone cover you if you fail
to spare time) which made your life less flexible (fixed timeslot, e.g. Tuesday,
Thursday 4-6pm cooking or Monday, Friday cleaning dishes). Usually Coops are
old and dirty, I can still take that. But some people were so irresponsible that
making the place really dirty, particularly after parties. The worst thing was that
some guys often play loud music and have party after 2 am (yes 2 AM!) that
would wake you up and make you difficult to sleep. I suspect some of them just
finished another party somewhere else, got completely drunk and returned to the
Coop and did stupid and disturbing things.
Nevertheless, Coop still has its own advantages. It is cheap, saves you the trouble
buying food every week (but my friend actually enjoyed it so much), enable you
to meet a lot of different people (both local and exchange students) and to
experience their (drunk) culture and nice parties. It would be really a big, nice and
warm family given that you could really mix with the people there.
It is really a matter of choice. If you are an outgoing person who does not care too
much about hygiene and noise, Coop is definitely your choice.
5) Course Registration
Course registration starts right after orientation activities. The exchange team in
UT business school will help us register business courses (economics not
considered as business course) and we need to submit them our preferences after a
consulting session (they giving us advice). Maximum load is 15 credits (usually 5
courses) with at least 2 business courses. You can apply for overload but would
require SBM’s consent (though not difficult). The UT stuff initially told us
Finance courses have limited seats and required us to find backups but I at last
successfully enrolled into all courses I would like to take (which is mostly the case
IF you did listen to their advice, follow instructions and to find back up). The
courses I took were as below.
Course
Equivalent Workload
Comment
FIN 371M
FINA 3304
Very Low; No
Prof: Lawrence Turner
Money and
Financial
assignments
Nice professor, materials relatively
Capital
Markets
4 MC exams (45/50
easy, need to jot notes in class in
questions each, including
order to excel in exam, notes not too
an optional final)
organized
Markets
FIN 374C
FINA 4104
Medium; Weekly or
Prof: Warren Joe Hahn
Financial
Advanced
biweekly assignments
Excellent professor, very helpful,
Planning and
Financial
most excel, 2 exams with
very clear elaboration and
Policy for
Management
MCs and work-out
explanation; materials at acceptable
problems
difficulty, definitely worth taking
Large
Corporations
FIN 377.2
FINA 3204
Medium; Weekly or
Prof: Fermando Anjos
Financial
Derivative
biweekly assignments, 3
Excellent professor again, exams not
Risk
Securities
exams with MCs and
difficult with very similar practices
work-out problems
given before hand
Management
FIN 377.4
FINA 4204
Low; 5 group projects
Prof: Mary Lou Poloskey
Financial
Equity
with a final presentation,
All about doing a company research
Analysis
Valuation
1 exam
in a group format, not learning much
new finance knowledge but just
about group work
PSY 301
Introduction
SOSC
Medium; weekly
Prof: Marlone D. Henderson
assignments, 4 MC exams
I skipped nearly all lectures, much
to
readings and weekly assignments
Psychology
required, but practice differs for
different professors
6) Teaching & Assessment Methods
Teaching methods are more or less similar to that in HKUST. Slightly smaller
class settings for finance courses, 40-50 ppl per class and big lectures for
psychology. In sum, finance professors are in general very kind and helpful.
Approaching them after class or in office hour are always good ideas. They tend to
explain things very clearly in pain words so that there would be no problem if you
pay attention in class.
Weekly or bi-weekly assignments are usually not too long and good for revision
purpose. Exams in general are not too hard. Grades here in UT (in US as a whole)
are much lenient than that in HKUST.
7) Sports & Recreation Facilities
You should definitely be aware of the Gregory Gym. It is a fantastic gym with
plenty of indoor sports courts, gym facilities and equipment, nice swimming pools
and even sauna.
There is also a bowling place in the University Union. It is $1 for renting shoes
and $1 per game for Tuesday night!
8) Cost/Expenses
Category
Costs in HKD (approximation)
Air ticket
$11,000
Accommodation
USD$570*4.5 months = $24,000
Dining
$5,000 (I always eat in Coop)
School (textbooks, case packets,
vaccine, other charges, etc)
$3,000
Visa
$3,000
Insurance
$1,500
Travelling
$20,000
Miscellaneous
$3,500
Total
$71,000
9) Social Clubs & Networking Opportunities
I missed the 2-3 days promotion period of the clubs and society. They like to set
up booths around the Gym. There would also be booths from campus recruiting
teams of different companies, but mainly for graduate positions in the US.
10) Health & Safety
Fortunately, I did not have to see doctors in the States. I heard from others the
clinic in UT is not very efficient (the TB screening charge is chaotic!) and
medications are expensive. Thus, it would always be good to bring medicine.
UT is always known as a safe city. But I was shocked to know there were indeed
cases of robber with guns (even in daytime!) and knife. Thus, it is always
advisable not to walk alone in quiet streets and get accompany.
11) Food
Texas is renowned for its Tex-Mex food. You can try a lot of different good food
at Guadalupe (Teji’s is really good!). Normal diet costs around USD $ 6+ and $
10+ for better and finer dining.
Advice would be not to compare with food price in HK and try as much different
food as possible. Another great recommendation would be the Jester City Floor 2
buffet which costs only $7.
12) Transportation
I bought a round ticket from HK to Houston (transfer at Beijing) for HKD $9033
from AirChina. I bought the ticket at early September and the price was rapidly
going up afterwards. Thus, do buy ASAP. Departing before the new year is much
cheaper.
After arriving Houston, I took a bus to a Megabus station (a very commonly used
long distance coach, which you have to make reservation online beforehand) that
could bring me directly to Austin (3 hours).
It is a cheaper way but definitely more troublesome. You can choose direct flight
to Austin which would be much more convenient.
For my return flight back to HK, as I was too late to change the flight date, I
added USD $200 to change the date and also the airport! I flew back to HK in Los
Angeles right after my trip without going back to Austin.
For travelling to cities nearby, you can always take Megabus (i.e.to San
Antonio/Houston/Dallas from Austin or from San Francisco to Los Angeles).
13) Climate
It can be down to near 0 degree Celsius in Texas in winter, though not too often.
January and February would still be cold, but not that cold as it is drier than HK.
Indoor area is always above 20 degree. I realized I brought too much thick clothes
and turned out I did not need them all (but you still need some!).
14) Communication
A cheaper telecommunication provider would be T-mobile but AT&T has better
reception. You can form a family plan with 4-5 friends to enjoy $20 per month
with unlimited data and text for T-mobile.
I did T-mobile also. I bought a prepaid T-mobile card from Amazon and activate
online a $25/month unlimited data and text plan (only for online activation). I later
switched to a $2/day plan which charged me only for the days I used. You can
refer friends to T-mobile and earn a $25 gift card both for you and your friend
(which is a really great deal).
Locals there usually use text function of the phone more commonly than apps.
15) Cautionary measures
Never stay alone at night on street. Do not get too drunk and stay away from those
who appeared to be drunk. Do not talk to those people who kept murmuring to
himself.
16) Insurance
Do not buy the insurance package from the school. It is far too expensive. Buy the
insurance from ISO (link in next section), pay online and email to ask them to fill
out the insurance waiver form for you. You could save up to USD $400. Referring
a friend could even earn you $10.
17) Money and Bank Account
You have to set up a bank account in US after your arrival, for making a debit card
(just like Octopus Card) and cheques. But the question comes to how to bring the
money there.
Citibank claimed to have no transaction fee for overseas withdrawal but they
charge prohibitively high exchange rate (~ 1:7.9) by drawing the HKD in the HK
account. Cards you used in ATM in HK with Visa/UnionPay logo could be used to
withdraw money overseas after you enabled the overseas withdrawal function in
HK. They charge HKD $20-30 fee per transaction but with lower exchange rate
(~1:7.8).
But the rate in HK is the lowest at around 1:7.76. You may save some money by
opening a USD account (convert USD in HK) in HK and withdraw the USD from
the USD account in the US.
18) Useful Links
Accommodation Coop: collegehouses.org/
Accommodation Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/458528044205531/
Accommodation Agent: www.simplyinternational.com/ut/
Coach Megabus: www.megabus.com
Course information: www.myedu.com/home
Insurance ISO: www.isoa.org
19) Most important thing of all
The report just serves as a reference. Do NOT try to follow everything I did or
others did. You should always create your OWN experience. Nevertheless, setting
goals or objectives to be achieved during the exchange is always a good idea.
Part 3 – Items to Bring
1. Some Cash
2. Cell phone and laptop with charger
3. Clothe (not too much, you can always buy new ones)
4. Adapter
5. Medicine
6. Stationary
7. Suit
8. Camera
If more information is needed, get my contact from the SBM Exchange Team by
emailing at bmugexch@ust.hk. Wish you all the best!