University of Western Ontario's Ivey Business
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2018 FALL EXCHANGE THE BEST TIME TO EXCHANGE BECAUSE OF THE WEATHER AND THE NUMBER OF HOLIDAYS YOU GET UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO’S IVEY BUSINESS SCHOOL RANKED 9TH IN CANADA AS ONE OF THEIR BIGGEST PARTY UNIVERSITIES TOMAS, ANGEL DIANNE KIRSTY YEAR 3 MARKETING & MANAGEMENT MAJOR General Exchange Information First thing’s first: WESTERN IS A BIG PARTY SCHOOL. You have now been warned. Also since I was confused to why the place I was exchanging to was always referred to differently, let me first explain the difference between Ivey and Western: Ivey is the name used to refer to the business school in Western. Since Ivey students always have classes in Ivey and stay there at all times and because of the difference in teaching and examination styles, people typically say they are from Ivey rather than Western when they are asked. Students at Ivey also barely get to interact with other Western students and vice versa due to them typically never having to move between buildings. With that, I shall now move on to the basic information of my exchange, which I have ordered according to relevance. Visa Procedures & Flight I have a Hong Kong passport; therefore, I did not need to apply for a visa to go to Canada since I am able to legally stay in Canada for up to six months. Nevertheless, it was required for me to apply for an Electronic Travel Authentication (eTA) as a visa-exempt foreign national flying to Canada by air. You can check if you are eligible to get one online and apply for it online. You can apply for eTA online for $7CAD and it should take only a few minutes for it to process before you get an email confirmation. The eTA should then be electronically linked to your passport and will last for five years or until your passport expires. You can get more information about it here: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees- citizenship/services/visit-canada/eta/facts.html If you wish to go to the USA with a HK passport, you are required to get a visa. Since I did not choose to go, it would be better if you referred to the other exchange reports provided from previous exchange students, as they all went. It is also to note that many of the exchange students in Ivey are likely to be travelling there and all around if you wish to go with them. (Special mention to KUNG Wai Tat’s report, who’s report I think is very useful!) With your flight tickets, HKUST provides special airfare flight deals with Cathay, which you can check over here: https://studyabroad.ust.hk/outbound/finances-support/airfare. Note that you should be getting an email regarding it later after you get accepted to your exchange university from HKUST’s exchange coordinator. They provide you a round-trip, and there is a deadline to which you can book your flight ticket, which should be around late April. The flights available may be very sparse depending on where you are going. For example, I flew in very early on the 19th of August despite orientation starting on the 5th of September because there were no flights later than that date or earlier than the 5th. Luckily, I have some relatives living in Ontario and so lived with them before going to London to move in for orientation. You should be getting a facts sheet from HKUST’s exchange coordinator containing key dates and information about start dates, exams, enrolment, and grading around March so you can base your planning around that. According to those documents exams would end on the 12th, so I booked my tickets on the 14th, although in the end I had no exams. Perhaps give yourself an extra week in case an exam cancels because of bad snow, as the university will postpone the exam onto a date after the stipulated date and does not tolerate for any reasons. Although, this is very unlikely, as bad weather typically comes in around mid-January. When you get to the airport, note that you will be faced with machines first to check your passport and then be directed to staff accordingly. Make sure to have your acceptance letter out even if they do not ask to ensure that you can avoid another checking process and are permitted to go pick up your luggage. Finance & Banking It is much cheaper to exchange money in HK and then bring the cash to Canada and open an account from there. Having a Canadian bank account also makes everything much more convenient, 2 since if you go traveling with other Canadian friends, you can easily transfer money into their accounts when they pay for you, or if you are renting a place, as many expect you to pay rent through transfer. I opened a TD student account in Canada. You only need one proof of identification such as your passport, otherwise you can bring your acceptance letter just in case. After booking an appointment with the bank and showing your proof, you should be getting your card on the same day. There are many TD banks scattered around Canada and in London, with many of them being close to campus. Using a debit/credit card is the most common way to pay there, as having to calculate the final price with the 13% Ontario state tax is annoying. Note that with TD, you are only allowed up to 25 transactions per month before you are charged $1.25CAD per additional transaction. Sending money from overseas to the account also is not that bad, with each transaction costing a fixed $35CAD each, which is split amongst the two accounts ($17.5 for both), regardless of the amount transferred. Closing an account can be done within one day and the same document of identity should be brought for proof. Just in case, I had also enabled the overseas withdrawal option on my HSBC debit card, which you can do using any ATM in HK. In addition to TD, we also have RBC, Scotiabank, CIBC and BMO. My Spending Report: Item HKD CAD Remarks Flight tickets 9,000 Special round-trip flight fare from HKUST for Cathay. Insurance, student card, 480 First school fee instalment. bus pass Casebooks 400 First school fee instalment. Second school fee. Depends on how thick the casebooks you bought were. Casebooks change every semester so you must buy them from the store. Rent (and utilities) (575+25)*4 Phone plan 40*4 Special student price provided by Lucky in Walmart. Provided 3GB data with unlimited call and international texting. Food and groceries 400 Including the costs of eating outside. Most of my food has been cooked by myself. Traveling 200 Explored Toronto and visited aunts. Total (HKD) 6:1 34,240 (Including the Although the exchange rate was technically 5.94, 1,000 deposit to UST) the bank still charged higher, so I used that. Accommodations In terms of off-campus, ignore any advice about checking the place you plan to live in. If you find a well-located place with a four-month lease (make sure to double check this with the person who is offering the accommodation) that is under $500CAD and is only 30 minutes away by bus, go for it immediately. I made the mistake of waiting it out and soon enough my six offers became zero and I only managed to sign a contract two days before orientation. While my place ended up being 35 minutes away (15min walk and 20min bus ride), being close to downtown where most gatherings would be, and being in a quiet and safe neighbourhood with new furniture and kitchen tools provided, it was also $575 not including utilities and could end up being a one hour trip back home depending on the traffic. I do not know how the previous exchange students were able to do it with their $450 rent, but if I had to guess, it was because they just found it and went straight to signing a contract and transferring the money without visiting the place and the owner. 3 Note that there is a chance of smelling pot from your vents in your home because of living close to other students who party and smoke, as this is what happened to an acquaintance of mine who I met there when I went to visit. You can check out the accommodations using either Western’s official site: https://offcampus.uwo.ca/listings/ or on their Facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/groups/900820483299228 https://www.facebook.com/groups/157249875968662 https://www.facebook.com/groups/1764825893735435 I personally prefer using the Facebook groups because the response is faster and was much less confusing than the official website. You typically get the okay faster, and by posting your specific requirements, soon enough you will get a response. Note that you want to find a place close to the Ivey business school, not Western’s front gate. The university is huge! Make sure to download the university map while you are at it. It is likely you will be needing to use Google maps while inside the university if you ever decide to explore. I do not think it is worth living on-campus is worth it, especially from what I hear from friends. While it is close, there are some off-campus accommodations that are as close if not closer than ten minutes away. Rent can range from $4k-8kCAD ($8k CAD or $16k CAD divided by 2 because you will be staying for one semester, not the whole year) CAD, which you can see here: https://residence.uwo.ca/applying/fees_and_payment_plans/index.html.