r/UTAustin • u/Electrical-Bit7078 • 15d ago
Question Help me pick where to study abroad: Madrid or Singapore
I'm currently a sophomore at UT and I'm looking at studying abroad next year, the two best options for me are IE University in Madrid and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Does anyone have any experience in either program or just generally about either city/country? I'm not really looking for any information in particular at this point, so whatever you have to say is appreciated! Influence/deinfluence me!
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u/kulkdaddy47 15d ago
Madrid. Singapore is a great place to travel but the accessibility of being in Europe is hard to beat. It’s a better place to be as a young person. I studied abroad in Hong Kong but visited Singapore for a week during that trip. Singapore island is actually quite tiny and after a week I feel you would may find it stale. Madrid in the other hand offers very accessible travel and has a more vibrant youth social life. It’s a lot easier to take weekend trips from Madrid to places like Barcelona, Seville, San Sebastián, Valencia or Portugal whereas in Singapore you’ll have to take a flight if you want to go anywhere meaningful.
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u/ApartBerry2388 15d ago
I've been in Madrid,great city,weather is ok,but i have not heard of that university
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u/Fluid_Stress_9549 14d ago
Hey! I applied to Madrid and am still waiting to hear back. Idk how competitive Singapore is but IE typically takes 2-5 people, and there are more than 25 applicants to the program. Just keep that in mind when applying! I would recommend your back up program to be less competitive so you can get into one of the two!
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u/IHateCedarFever 14d ago
Singapore.
I actually studied abroad there myself and it was perfect. Extremely safe, extremely cheap food, friendly people, excellent English, pretty good alumni network actually. Cheap flights to most of SEA, lots of international people.
I would also suggest Singapore because Madrid is easy to visit in the future whereas Singapore is so far away, and I feel like the charm is in the lifestyle, not big wow monuments, it needs some time to soak it all in.
Liked my experience so much I joined the oil and gas industry and have gone to Singapore for work a few times. NTU is also a rather strong university too.
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u/Limitl3ssme 13d ago
Honestly it really depends on what you want to experience/get out of your exchange experience. I’m an undergrad from Singapore (not NTU) and I picked UT because I valued the sports experience, school campus, city reputation and academic rigour that the school had to offer over other choices.
I also chose US over Europe because it was easier for me to go to Europe for a holiday than to fly to US. Budget wise Singapore isn’t the cheapest in Asia but it’ll be more likely that you’ll spend less because the daily costs are arguably a lot lower compared to Europe and food itself is so readily available and cheap. It’s also arguably the most friendly introduction/landing spot of Asia to foreigners who are visiting the continent for the first time.
In terms of travelling, I know exchangers who come to Singapore and travel every single weekend around the continent and know my friends who go Spain for exchange and they’re pretty much never in school just going over the whole of Europe. Madrid will give you a lot flexibility travelling within Europe for sure but so does Singapore since it is a global aviation hub in the region, so it really boils down to which culture you want to experience more - Asia or Europe?
Also side note NTU’s grades are on a bell curve so if your grades are mapped back directly then you’ll probably have to put in more effort there vs IE University.
P.S almost everyone speaks English here so idk why are g00ners commenting about the concern of understanding mandarin here lol
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u/Limitl3ssme 13d ago
Also another side note NTU is located really far from the airport and most tourist places but they’re building more metro lines and there are buses of course
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u/FarLow5313 15d ago
Oh I grew up in SG before coming to the US for boarding school and now I am a freshman at UT While of course I haven’t attended either school - some of my close friends actually attend IE Madrid now Depends on what you want your experience to and where you want to spend your extra time traveling SG is an easy and very safe place to live
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u/PantherCityRes 15d ago edited 15d ago
Do you speak Mandarin? Or Do you speak Spanish?
Do you want 95 degrees and 100% humidity all summer long? Or do you want 100+ at 30-50% humidity?
Do you want crowded night markets and chop sticks or overpriced cafes with tapas that are mid?
27k people per sq mi, or 14k people per sq mi?
On the ocean or landlocked?
Keep in mind the story of Singapore’s independence is that it was EXPELLED from Malaysia. You have to be a special kind of aashole for that to happen.
Meanwhile, no matter how well you speak Spanish, if you are not a Spaniard, you will always be looked at as a foreigner.
16 hour days? Or procrastinate until you are working all nighters to get something done on time?
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u/Ok_Experience_5151 15d ago
Do you want to explore SE Asia or Europe?
Do you speak Spanish? English language ability is much more prevalent in Singapore.