<p>@iphoney - I might not be very correct on this because I’m only a freshman, but I think that Stern IBEX is just another top college study abroad exchange program. You get totally immersed in that college culture and there are very few or no Sternies with you there so its more of an independent challenge. There isn’t anything special about it that some other comparable program (maybe at Wharton or Ross) doesn’t have. The good thing is there are schools on the list which are among the best in those parts of the world so it gives you an opportunity to go out there, have fun and still get a quality education. The Stern name helps in getting better partner schools so the list of partner schools might be better than say a program ranked lower and one that isn’t as good even in another majors like economics. You might be able to go to the same place in Europe but where you go might matter in terms of academics and Stern might be able to guarantee a good school. However, like I said before I can’t see anything special that a Wharton exchange or a Ross exchange might not have and they might also be better in certain countries. For me, the only bad thing about IBEX is that it can only be done junior or senior year and some of the colleges might be the best in those parts but they don’t compare with Stern. I’d rather do my finance major junior year at one of the best places in Stern rather than in Universidad Navarra or the University of New South Wales or someplace. But a lot of kids who’ve gone there have had a great time (I learned this from an info session) and they highly recommend it.</p>
<p>@therealangelaj - My roommate is a great guy from Tisch. I’ve had no problems with him at all. Guess that shows that it doesn’t matter what you study but who you are to be liked. We met up on facebook and talked and chatted a lot in the beginning (immediately after we knew we were going to be roommates) about things to bring and about interests and what we wanted to do. We had pretty similar family backgrounds - being the youngest in the family and parents working in similar jobs. Me being an international student helped in relations because he wanted to be overly nice (he was from new york and wanted to send out a good impression). I’ve asked him so much about the city. The Housing system actually worked well for me. He is gay but that wasn’t in anyway a bad thing either. As long as your roommate is nice, it doesn’t matter if they are gay or go to another school. Living on campus freshman year is amazing because you get to know a lot of really cool kids from outside your school whom you might have never met otherwise. My closest friends are from Tisch, Steinhardt, Gallatin and LSP and all are floormates. I won’t be taking any classes in Tisch or in Steinhardt or in Gallatin so I might never have seen them. I would’ve just passed them on Washington Square Park and not realized how amazing they are. You will be able to meet a lot of people. If you can afford it, I would highly recommend staying on campus.</p>