2021 entry applicants - Netherlands universities

Hi! I'm a high school student in California, looking to apply to Amsterdam and Maastricht (although Maastricht is mostly as padding for my mum's sake, I wanna go to Amsterdam lol). I'm gonna apply to AUC and UCM. Thanks for making this thread!

You are welcome! What do you want to study?

Thank you Could you tell me a bit more about what was Groningen like? I think it is currently my top choice but i am bit worried because it is not as big as for example Rotterdam and Amsterdam... So every bit of information about groningen is appreciated

International relations! Probably the Social Systems theme at AUC.

I've been here now for a month and have to say so far it's been a brilliant place to live. I'm currently doing my master in organisational change management at the University of Groningen. So after doing my undergrad in the UK in Nottingham, i feel like i have a decent student city comparison to offer.

Groningen is far nicer than Nottingham infrastructure wise, but that depends on your desired architectural taste. I find the dutch way of building quite nice. But I'm also. Not to say that Nottingham isn't a nice city and i have alot of love for it, but i can't say i feel like I'm missing anything.

It's size actually becomes it's charm I've found. You
definitely won't be bored especially if you live in SSH housing in the first year. Even despite corona there is quite a bit of partying and nightlife going on. I'm sure pre pandemic it was pretty amazing. I would say it is comparable to Nottingham, but people are more open in general. The city has a very young and hip vibe. Mixing the old with the new very effectively. The city is a perfect size, because everything is flat and you can literally get around the whole city in 25 minutes by cycle. Unthinkable in most parts of the UK, due to an overrealiance on cars, and the UK is pretty hilly. Which makes the UK very picturesque but tough to cycle 😂.

It's definitely cheaper than Amsterdam... So you'll get more bang for your buck. After a month of living here I'm far from bored. And I've lived in alot of places and can easily compare alot of life experiences, as I'm a very mature student (due to some life circumstances). And I'm pretty sure Groningen is a great place to be a student.

Thank you so much for your reply! Are you willing to share in which SSH housing you are?

Of course I'm in Upsilon, it's got a good mix of partying and rules.

Winterschoedip for example has literally no rules.

But I'm in the master, so i do kind of need some rules... Even if i don't enjoy them. Living in a madhouse during a master's not wise 😂.

Hi!
I decided to make big thread for people who want to apply to university in Netherlands. Especially for people who are going to apply now (so for 2021 entry), but generally for everybody who is interested.
We can swap information about universities, cities in Netherlands, housing, courses, application process, finance etc. Basically about everything. You can start by saying where are you from, what you want to study, where you want to study and why. Or just ask question. I look foward to virtually meeting you!

Here is some information i gathered from my search, but bear in mind that i got most of the information from researching University of Groningen, University of Amsterdam and Erasmus University Rotterdam, so it can be different for other universities. (or even for these universities - for example number 7). Also, i am not an expert


1. There are three types of universities. First is normal research university. They are best for people who want to continue their education afterwards (for example university of amsterdam, erasmus uni rotterdam, groningen University etc.) Then there are University colleges, which are usually part of a research university. They offer more American/British style of education. They are prestigious, but also really different and personally i decided it is not for me (each of the research uni mentioned before has uni college). The last type are university of applied sciences and these are more focused on practical education and prepare you for specific job, from what i gathered. I choose research university right away, so you should research this topic bit more.

2. Almost all universities are similar in terms of prestige. Sure, not on international level, but otherwise it doesn't much matter which one you attend. They don't have bad universities. But every university is prestigious in different area. For example Rotterdam for business, Amsterdam university for Psychology (15th in the world) etc. So you have to do a bit of digging to find out which university has the reputation as being the best in Netherlands for your subject. But at the same moment bear in mind that best in Netherlands does not necessarily mean best for teaching or best for you. As i said, even though some unis are better than others in some area, it is really hard to choose bad university in Netherlands.

3. Usually you have to arrange housing yourself. They usually have agreements with some accommodation companies or landlords to help international students find accommodation in first year, usually with other students, but they usually offer no guarantee. In this case, it is on first come first served basis. Sometimes people from outside the EU can register earlier because they need accommodation for Visa or something.

4. In Netherlands, some programs are Numerous Fixus. This means that they admit only certain number of students. Numerous fixus is for example Psychology, Medicine, International business, Economics etc. They are the programs with excessive demand. When a programme is numerous fixus it means that the university chooses who is admitted, usually through selection process which is different for each university and programme. You can apply to 2 numerous fixus programs maximum

5. While it is true that Maastricht university has 50% of internationals students, it can be a bit misleading. Due to its location, lot of these students are from Germany and Belgium, so it is not as diverse as it may look at the first glance. However that doesn't mean that there aren't lots of students from other countries as well, just not as much as it may seem. Bear in mind that i don't have exact numbers, and the numbers of non-dutch, non-belgian and non-german students may actually be higher at Maastricht than at other universities.

6. They work on the same basis as universities here in czech republic. That means, they take lots of people in the first year and then they wait for majority to drop out. That means that the hard part is not getting into university but staying here till second year. The dropout numbers may seem harsh, but at least this way even people with worse final grades get the chance to prove they have what it takes to study at university.

7. They have 4 blocks of teaching per semester and each block is followed by exams. That means that it does not all cumulate at the end of the semester. This is not the case for University Colleges (viz. number 1). UPDATE: Apparently it is different at each university. For example university of groningen has only 2 blocks every semester.

8. It is hard to find much about student life, but they usually have sports clubs, cultural societies, social societies and study societies. Some of them are in English, but lot of them are in Dutch (especially the sports clubs). Study society is specific for subject or faculty and other people (from different subject/faculties) cannot join. Depending on how international is the subject/faculty, these can be run entirely or mostly in English.

9. Usually every city has ESN society. This is International student society. They organise their own introductory days/week (anywhere from 3 days to week long, depending on the city). They also regulary organise social events for international students.

10. Every univesity has its own welcome week. Usually it is week which you spend with 10-15 other freshers with 2 older students. Together you will participate as a group in various activities, workshops, parties, picnics etc... You will discover the town together and you will be introduced to all societies, clubs etc. the university has to offer. Your faculty may also have a introduction weekend prior or after this.

11. The introduction days/week/weekends usually happen in August with the year officialy starting in September.

12. You can find lot about the rating of the programme you want to study here: https://www.studiekeuze123.nl/
It is only in Dutch, but you can easily translate the website to English if you are using google chrome

Feel free to ask here if there is something you don't know, maybe i or somebody else will be able to help!

Okay thanks
Do you know anything about Blekerslaan and Moesstraat 8? Also, is there any place where i can learn about the non-official information about the shh housing? For example the rules, the reputation (the boring house, the party house, the drug house etc.)

What 😂...winterschoedip probably falls into the latter two. Upsilon can be all of them depending on whom you live with, but it's by far the nicest. Assuming there is a vaccine, you may want to judge where your faculty is.. Before choosing moestraat 8 or Bierslan, too lazy to spell sorry. 😂 For example I'm doing an MSc in business meaning my one lecture a week is on zernike...so it makes geographical sense for me to live in Upsilon, though you may be lucky and have alot more in person classes.

So i have just started the whole application proces for University of Groningen and for University of Amsterdam, and i am feeling completely overwhelmed . Anybody on the same boat? I got like 6 emails already, but i cannot find anything in them...

Why are you overwhelmed....it's quite simple... Motivation Letter... CV... Maybe entry assessment... Transcripts... Not that hard tbh. I find the dutch university websites to be as easy to understand as UK ones. It's all in English! 😂.