KU Leuven Speciality : Earth & Marine Sciences
programme: Geology

Leuven is a small town, so if you are a big city person like me, be aware of the boredom. COVID made it even less fun, but things are close to normal now, so it should be ok. You can be in Brussels in 20 min by car or train, so that is a plus.

The cost of living is not precisely low, but neither too high. Choose wisely the location of your accommodation: although the town is small and you can go anywhere by bike (you can go across the town in 15 minutes or less), it is much comfier if you live close to your faculty (Arenberg campus in my case).

The geology program is well-rounded but falls behind in some aspects when compared with other big-name European universities and of course, the American ones. The education quality is good, the exams are hard and the tuition fees are low for this specific program, even as a non-EU citizen; other masters are much more expensive, so take a look at their study cost page. The retake exams are in August but try to avoid them if you don’t want to spend your summer studying and being stressed out.