Utrecht University: Life Lessons Determine Your Fate, Not Grades Past Review
By Dustin D (International Business., Utrecht University) for
Universtity of Utrecht: Utrecht - Direct Enrollment & Exchange
My academic career is somewhat hindered from the one bad semester. I expected the classes to be intuitive and engaging. Instead I found them to be boring and jammed full of information. Sometimes information overload. I have changed my next semester to only focus on the German Language. This is a language I need to graduate and I am interested in. When I return to OSU in the Fall, I will also drop economics from my degree plan. My rating is solely based on my academic experience, lack of information from the host university, and the lack of coordination from the host university and my home university.
Personal Information
| If you took classes at multiple universities, list those universities here: | Utrecht University and Goethe Institute |
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Workload: The semester is divided into two periods and each period contains two courses. Each course meets at least twice and sometimes three times a week. The first meeting is for the lecture(3 hrs) and the second meeting is for tutorials(workgroups and homework checking) and are also another 3 hours. The Economics instructors expect one to spend around 15 hours a week outside of class time on studying. This means two courses easily equals 40 hours per week of instruction and self study. Some assignments do not count towards a grade or extra credit. It is work meant to keep you busy and if you do not complete then you will not have the opportunity to retake a final exam in order to raise your grade or pass. Teaching Methods: First the instructor will lecture. This can be videos, chatting, using the whiteboard. Then the instructor normally answers questions. Sometime later in the week, students must attend a tutorial where the larger class is broken down into smaller groups. Here the material is discussed in more detail and sometimes even homework is gone over. This provides one on one time. Grading A great deal of work completed is pointless in regards to grades. Though it will help to master the material and give you the option to retake an exam if you wish. Also the highest one can get in a course is a 10. But we were told at orientation that a 10 is for GOD, a 9 is for the professor, and 8 would be great. So essentially passing is a 5.5 and one should try for a 6-7. To get a 10, you practically must invent a new method or write a book over the subject matter. When translating to the american system, think of a 5.5 as a C(low) though if you were to calculate the numbers, it would probably be a 55 or a D in the American system. Differences: The periods only last nine weeks. Therefore the courses are extremely fast paced. Missing one day is like missing an entire week in a normal semester. It is vital that you attend all meetings. The professors expect you to remember knowledge gained from previous courses. The instructor does not give a refresher course on say Algebra I in the first few weeks of Algebra II. From the first meeting the instructor lectures and assumes everyone has the same knowledge. My advice is to refresh any prerequisite courses before your course abroad begins. Since faculties do not know each others agendas or course offerings, it can be very difficult to find courses or the right information. Do not expect to find one course catalog with all courses available. Conclusion: All my first semester has been an epic failure in regards to grades(I was enrolled in courses too advanced for my background) I feel the experience was invaluable. I have learned I am not interested in Economics and I would rather learn that now, then to have wasted an entire year or more taking the courses only to get to the courses I am now and find out I have no interest. Because of this experience I am able to pull things from the Dutch culture that will further enhance my life. I am also going to be taking German language courses at the Goethe institute as I need them to graduate. Without my previous semester at Utrecht and learning all the nuances and what I am about, I may not have even thought of taking the language courses while abroad. This will be very rewarding as I will be able to use the language in everyday places. Whereas at my home university I would be limited to a classroom. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Utrecht School of Economics Andrea Naylor The international officer is only available certain days and times. If one has issues outside of these times, you must email or phone. Emails can sometimes take a week or two to be answered. I understand more than 1000 exchange students are in the Economics department alone. The overall experience will depend on Andrea's mood at the time and your overall demeanor when asking for help. I have met her and thought she was the nicest most friendly person ever. Then the next moment when I had course questions the only info I received was" These courses do not have the same time frame. Therefore, you may take them." When I asked if I should take them together or how difficult the course load was, she told me I can choose your courses for you. That is something you must do. So if you are used to an academic counselor helping you sort through courses and plan a semester, do not expect this from the Economics Department. Your best bet is to read every course description and then read it again. The descriptions are in my opinion very marketed. When reading them I felt energized and excited. Yet when classes began, I felt completely lost and in the end dreaded going to class. Also a good resource is a current Dutch student from your faculty. I expected a great deal from Utrecht. We were always told about the superior quality of the University. Though the organization and layout of courses do not reflect that. It could also just be the cultural differences. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I had a friend from Austria living in Amsterdam. We decided to be roommates as I really didn't want to live in Utrecht. I never have been a campus person. So I decided to live near the Amsterdam Zuid train station. It is a 24 minute ride to Utrecht Centraal and then another 15-20 minute ride to the furthest campus(De Uithoff). I bought a personal OV-Chipkaart as I had a dutch bank account. I then bought a 40% discount ticket for off peak travel. This reduces my one way from 6.10 to 3.70 EUR. The pass is valid for one year and is 40 EUR. |
| * Food: |
Amsterdam holds a plethora of restaurant choices. Indian, Thai, and Chinese are in abundance. I love to cook but found some ingredients difficult to find and some I never found. Sometimes when I travelled to another country I would search the aisles of the supermarket for things I couldn't find in Amsterdam. In Holland, the largest grocery store chain is Albert Heijn(AH). You can get a bonuskaart that will give you discounts on certain products. If you follow the promotions, you can save a great deal. They change weekly. There are also discount grocers such as Jumbo and Aldi. Be prepared to ask for your bill and don't expect the servers to wait on you hand and foot. Here dining is an experience. It isn't uncommon to spend 2-3 hours at dinner as people visit and have tea and such. You will not be rushed to finish and pay in 30 minutes. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Europe is quite small. I took advantage of this by traveling to London, Prague, and Berlin on the weekends. I also rented a car a few times to cross the border into Germany in order to practice my journey. While here you can go and do as you wish. The school ESN group organizes field trips. Airlines such as Ryanair and EasyJet are fairly cheap and sometimes the larger airlines have great deals as well. You could even take the train(though not really cheap) or bus. Christmas is celebrated on the 5th of December with Zwarte Piet(Black Pete) and Sinterklaas. The legend is Zwarte Piet takes all the bad kids back to Spain. Then on the 24th and 25th is pretty traditional like the US. New Years Eve is celebrated by shooting fireworks off in the city limits! For an hour straight everyone was doing them. You can even buy them at the grocery store. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
When riding your bike always look before crossing as not everyone obeys the traffic signals. There are designated bike paths to ride on. In general a bike has the right of way. Be mindful that riding a bike means riding in the snow, wind, cold, and rain. You could get sick easily if you are not properly dressed. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
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A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | If the courses do not apply to your degree, stay away. There isn't a need to change your program in order to come here. There are plenty of places in the world to study that will match up. If you do settle on Utrecht, make sure you know exactly what level course to enroll. Ask several times. When in doubt, enroll in a level one course. At Utrecht students graduate in three years. So a level three course is a senior level course. It is not uncommon to have several written exams/papers per course. Therefore, to be successful you must be dedicated and spend a considerable amount of time on homework. You could easily spend the evening reading 4 chapters for just one class and that is just for one week. You would benefit if you are looking for an exchange program. The work is challenging, but you truly master it. You will remember it. You could also benefit if you are interested in the social sciences. |
