Sampling the course and the campus on the Bachelor’s Open Day
It’s Saturday and electric minibuses ride back and forth bringing prospective students to Leiden University’s various faculties. They want to see for themselves whether that interesting-looking programme will suit them.
It’s busy at the stands at the Faculty of Science. The presentation rooms have just emptied, and the students still have questions – as do their parents. Paul Ojong from Gasseltje, headphones around his neck, rucksack on his shoulder, is pleased with the answers. ‘I’m enjoying wandering around the university and talking to students. You can ask your own questions and get other answers than you would online.’
‘I’ve been to another university as well. Leiden is that bit smaller and more informal, which is a bonus. It’ll be easier to get to know my lecturers here. And the university’s history also plays a role. I like the look of Mathematics. I love doing puzzles, proving things and seeing patterns. It seems really abstract, but if you look further, you see the concrete things you can do with it. Physics is also an option. That helps you understand the world around you. If I can’t choose? Then it might just be a double bachelor’s.’
Quiz masters
Just down the corridor in the Gorlaeus building, computer science students prove themselves to be real quiz masters. Visitors get to read code and mark which part is wrong. Those who get it right can spin the wheel of fortune and win a prize. It’s fun, yet at the same time deadly serious – just like the questions about the bachelor’s programme and what you can do afterwards.
There are also lots of questions about a new programme: Science for Sustainable Societies. This offers the knowledge and skills needed to tackle the planet’s sustainability challenges – as Phoenix Kulkarni from Hilversum has just heard. She thinks this might be the one. ‘I came for biology, which is a fun subject, but social sciences are interesting too’, she says, holding a university bag and a programme brochure. ‘Science for Sustainable Societies is a good combination of the two. It’s great that there’s so much choice on this open day. You can find something that really does suit you.’
Phoenix is also pleased with the chance to hear from students what Leiden University is really like. ‘That’s helping. I want to know what it’s like to learn and live here.’
Top of the discipline
Just along the way, in the Van Steenis building, prospective students are listening avidly to an archaeology talk show. Bram van Gelderen from Nijmegen has just had a guided tour and is now sitting in the canteen with his whole family – ‘We’re making a day of it’. His last doubts have vanished. He is currently studying archaeology at the University of Applied Sciences in Deventer and is enjoying that so much that he wants to continue in Leiden. ‘My programme is really focused on the Netherlands, whereas here you get to look more internationally. It would be really interesting to be taught by Leiden professors who are the top of the discipline.’
The Bachelor’s Open Day has only strengthened his resolve to study in Leiden. ‘I’ve been welcomed with open arms. A day like this gives a good impression of what it would be like here and gives you a sense of the programme.’
Really cool
At the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences’ Pieter de la Court building, Saya Oost from Tuk in the province of Overijssel, is hearing about the Cultural Anthropology programme with her family. Leiden is not the first university she has visited. ‘I’ve been to Groningen and Utrecht and am also interested in the LUC in The Hague. I’ve got another year at school after this, so don’t have to choose yet. I know the general direction I’ll be looking in: Psychology or Cultural Anthropology. I’m from a multilingual family, so I have had an extra helping of culture my whole life. That makes Cultural Anthropology interesting without even trying.’
Saya is pleased she has come. ‘There’s a great atmosphere. It’s good to see for myself. What if I were to study at Leiden University? That would be really cool. All the students are really enthusiastic about their studies. And Leiden and The Hague are great cities, with lots of culture.’