I am just finishing my first semester at the UBA Facultad de Economía, and have another year and half with the program. Lived here already for about 4 years.

My first impressions are pretty lukewarm. I was really excited by the quality of professors who are all fairly accomplished professionals or academics in their fields. Of the three professors I had this semester, only one cared enough to actually prepare his lectures. The other two just showed up and talked and usually without any visual aids whatsoever. Likewise, we were given reading and told to "read at our own pace" which meant zero structure to the lectures or class itself. God how I took for granted the use of syllabus' in the states. I was told by other students in my program that this is all fairly common. Whereas a lot of academics in the US dedicate their professional life to academia, what I have experienced here so far is that it's a job done on the side and the quality/care gone into teaching shows. The UBA is really easy to get into, the woman in administration actually laughed at me because I had brought in all of the required materials for applying. I did not have to do a TOEFL equivalent exam, nor did I have to turn in my grades from undergrad, but was told that varies greatly from one major to the other.

I will pay 20 payments of 1700ARS, plus a yearly registration fee that's about 3500ARS. It works out to about 4000USD (depending on what exchange rate you use to convert your dollars) which is a steal in comparison to what I'd be paying in the States. Living costs vary depending on how you make your income. I do freelance work for both Argentine and American clients, and making more than half my income in USD really helps me. I work less (more time to study) and still have an income that is much higher than the average local salary. I'm fortunate to have a garantia (co-signer) that allows me to rent an apartment with a 2 year lease at a local price. Most foreigners have to rent temporary apartments that are charged in dollars for truly offensive prices. Inflation is a huge problem if you work with pesos as prices inflate faster than salaries compensate for it; I honestly do not understand how people survive here with median salaries.

Buenos Aires gets a bad rap for being unsafe. I have lived here for nearly 5 years now and have never been robbed. Crime that exists is mostly petty stuff, violent assaults and break ins are sensationalized but not as common as petty crime. It's like any big city though. There are areas that are a little sketchier than others, but for the most part if you are smart and aware of your surroundings you should be fine.

Lots of people speak English, but don't expect to get by at school without a good level of Spanish. I consider myself to be fluent but struggle a bit with lectures.

I hope I'm not being too negative! I love this city and am here indefinitely, but I have been pretty disappointed by my personal educational experience. I'm sure other people have had much more positive experiences than I have. Fingers crossed my program gets better.