From a student’s point of view: my BBE experience

Now that the first semester of the first cohort of the Bachelor in Business and Economics (BBE) students is over, I, as one of the students pursuing this degree at WU, had the time to reflect on my personal experience gathered within the past four months. This blogpost is meant to give you an insight into what this Bachelor program has to offer.

BBE gives you the possibility to connect with each other prior to the official start of the courses. At the end of September, the entire body of future BBE students gathered for three “Welcome Days”, where we were introduced to WU campus, its learning facilities, and the structure of BBE and its timeline. I would highly recommend attending the Welcome Days as they truly were a supportive kick-off to my first semester at WU.

First Semester Courses

After the Welcome Days, the Introductory Phase of the program starts with two courses “Business and Society” and “Contemporary Challenges in Business and Economics”. Both courses are taught in an interactive setting, meaning that students had the chance to actively take part and gain participation points by doing so. Simultaneously to the introductory courses, Quantitative Methods I, a mathematics and statistics course, starts. The specialty of this course is that it is offered as a VUE (a “Vorlesungsübung”) and therefore consists of both a lecture and follow-up tutoring in smaller groups. Thus, the subject matter can be linked to practical examples in an even smaller circle of students. Despite being one of the more demanding courses, Quantitative Methods I gave me a deeper understanding of mathematical models and their economic implications.

Grading

One of the biggest differences between the BBE program and other degrees are the diversified grading schemes. In all five courses we attended in our first semester, a part of the final grade was always made up of clicker-exercises, quizzes, presentations, assignments or participation points. This is truly unique and believe me when I say that it helped me a lot to achieve good grades.

BBE Community

As the total number of students is limited, a tightly knit community quickly formed within the first couple of weeks after the Welcome Days. Due to the interest BBE has drawn from students from Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey and many more countries (it was 23 nationalities when we started in October), international friendships were soon made. As a result, studying together with peers in the library or working on assignments in groups has been easy to arrange and made academic work a lot more enjoyable for all of us. Indeed, a small body of students creates a more pleasant study-atmosphere and I can confidently say that I am happy to be part of this unique community!

Some personal advice

If you are planning to apply for the BBE program, keep in mind that both the entrance exam as well as all lectures and correspondences with professors will be held in English. As an Austrian who graduated in a secondary school (e.g. AHS), I would therefore recommend getting familiar with mathematical and statistical terms in English.
This, together with studying the materials provided by WU prepares you well for a successful admission to the BBE program. Best of luck!

You want to get to know more?

Do you have questions? Visit WU Vienna’s open house day on March 8 or send an e-mail to bbe@wu.ac.at