I have graduated from the Liberal Arts and Sciences programme, which is a joint degree at the University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. It is an honours programme with a strong international focus, which allows you to choose your own subjects between three disciplines (social sciences, sciences, and humanities). I really enjoyed the flexibility that this course gave me and the ability to broaden my knowledge in various disciplines. The international environment in the classroom was also very beneficial and made me feel very comfortable. However, the biggest disadvantage for me was the bureaucratic chaos (which partially is due to the fact that 2 institutions are involved in governing the programme). Sometimes it resulted in issues with the curriculum organization, problems with signing up for modules, or schedule clashes.

We live in a time and world where critical thinking and interdisciplinarity are key to tackling wicked problems. The Liberal Arts and Science program at Amsterdam University College (AUC) truly focuses on exactly these aspects and encourages students to think outside the box. I loved how I was able to build my own curriculum, combining Environmental Sciences and Journalism, and how teaching was done in small classes rather than in massive lecture halls. The way courses at AUC are structured gives space for class discussions, personal feedback on written assignments, and presentations. Grades are not solely based on final exams but also on research papers, presentations, etc. In comparison to fellow students at larger universities, I left university feeling really prepared for scientific research and writing – because I had done it so much and received such extensive feedback! So overall my experience at AUC was excellent.

One thing to keep in mind is that the freedom to (more or less) build your own curriculum also gives you the responsibility to make smart choices about the courses you take. While every student has a tutor to support them in their choices, some students still seem to get lost in between the tracks and end up with no real major, which might make it difficult to get into a Master’s degree later on. Speaking of: if you know exactly that you want to pursue a Master’s in psychology or medicine or law, you will have to complete a pre-master semester after your Bachelor’s degree at AUC, because the interdisciplinary nature of the program does not allow you to get sufficient credits in a specific subject or to dive deep enough into your topic of interest. So that is something to be mindful of.

In terms of student life, AUC asks all its students to live in the dorms on campus. This is good to encourage a tight-knit student body and there are loads of events going on (shared dinners, music nights, etc.), but it can be pretty intense. Students refer to our campus as “the bubble”, because well, it is a bubble and it’s quite hard to escape it at times. There is a lot more freedom in finding your own shared apartment and having a life outside of campus. Then again, finding student housing in Amsterdam is terribly difficult, so in retrospect, it was quite helpful to live in the dorms.

AUC attracts a very international and liberal student body. About 50 per cent of all students are from all over the world which I loved! However, while AUC’s slogan is “Excellence and Diversity in a Global City”, there is not enough financial support for true diversity, so classrooms are still predominantly filled with white, privileged people to be honest.

Overall, I am so glad I went to university at AUC! Yes, the program has its downsides with a few organizational issues regarding your course curriculum, but mostly it gives you a lot of opportunities to explore different subjects and also take courses at other universities! It is really up to you what you make of it – I ended up focusing on marine biology by taking a lot of courses at the other universities in Amsterdam and during a semester abroad in Australia.