The Student Room Group

Advice and opinions needed on a European Studies degree

Hello everyone,

First of all, I would like to thank you all for making yourselves available to help me out here with your input and opinions, it is highly appreciated!

My current situation is that I am enrolled in a Economics and Business Economics programme and long story short, I absolutely hate it as it is far too theoretical and quantitative for my liking. The reason why I chose the programme to begin with was that at A-Levels I really enjoyed economics a lot and thought it would be a great stepping stone to pursue political science at post grad level and generally a career in the public sector or realm of policy making later in my life.

Nevertheless, now one of my options (and my favorite) is to study European Studies at the University of Amsterdam which allows me to study a language and specialise in certain areas from the second year onwards after a brief overview in the first one.

However, I am having a few doubts about this path as I do not know whether this degree can lead me where I want to go, lead alone whether or not at its essence is the right degree given my earlier stated goal and passion. Also I fear that when it comes to employment and internships, that people could look down upon me because of the whole 'studies' stigma and it generally being regarded as a light degree.

Therefore, some input from people are reading or have read this degree programme would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance for your time and efforts!
Original post by Jemy
Hello everyone,

First of all, I would like to thank you all for making yourselves available to help me out here with your input and opinions, it is highly appreciated!

My current situation is that I am enrolled in a Economics and Business Economics programme and long story short, I absolutely hate it as it is far too theoretical and quantitative for my liking. The reason why I chose the programme to begin with was that at A-Levels I really enjoyed economics a lot and thought it would be a great stepping stone to pursue political science at post grad level and generally a career in the public sector or realm of policy making later in my life.

Nevertheless, now one of my options (and my favorite) is to study European Studies at the University of Amsterdam which allows me to study a language and specialise in certain areas from the second year onwards after a brief overview in the first one.

However, I am having a few doubts about this path as I do not know whether this degree can lead me where I want to go, lead alone whether or not at its essence is the right degree given my earlier stated goal and passion. Also I fear that when it comes to employment and internships, that people could look down upon me because of the whole 'studies' stigma and it generally being regarded as a light degree.

Therefore, some input from people are reading or have read this degree programme would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance for your time and efforts!


There is no 'studies' stigma, nobody outside of university cares about the name of your degree - what matters is what you actually studied. Do some LinkedIn stalking, see what past and current European Studies students are doing for work/internships. A graduate with language skills, study abroad experience and specialist knowledge of a second subject/world area would be very employable in my opinion. These are all skills employers look for.

If you have more specific questions about the course/studying in the Netherlands then check out the Studying in the Netherlands forum.

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