Leiden University boasts faculty members who are highly proficient in their respective fields and provide attentive mentoring to students. The university offers a diverse selection of academic programs that are both extensive and intellectually rewarding. The program’s professionalism and the vibrant campus ambiance were highlights for me. The majority of instructors exhibit remarkable competence and enthusiasm for their subjects, which greatly inspired my career interests.

The Social and Organisational Psychology MSc programme at Leiden provides an interesting insight into a variety of different areas and fields in which Social and Organisational psychology can be theoretically and practically applied. However, this is also where the programme runs into some difficulties, as despite the impressive breadth that is offered, there is a somewhat lack of depth given. This is mainly due to the fact that most courses run for a single block, rather than a full semester. Therefore, within this one year MSc, it often feels as though you have not had enough time to fully savour and dive into a certain subject area.
A saving grace though is the ease to which the MSc course can be extended and indeed tailored to one’s needs.

My experiences were during the COVID peak times of 2020-2021, and as such everything was done online. Also, LU is the only University I ever attended, so I have no measuring stick to measure LU against, keep that in mind and adjust your judgments while reading.

I followed the master’s track of Applied Cognitive Psychology at LU. I was positively surprised by the contents of the courses: It takes the “Applied”
seriously, as there are a lot of mock experiments, designs and interventions you create in mock teams comprised of students. You are not only required to use your knowledge of Psychology but also consider the whole “product” you will want to deliver (Proposals, funding requests, presentation to stakeholders).

Something I especially appreciated was that they even invited real CEOs to listen to a short pitch on the ideas we developed over 8 weeks, and then give us feedback and their opinion on the feasibility.

Professor’s in this master’s track that I met all seemed very personable and enthusiastic about their respective fields of Psychology.

It is a one-year course, with a required internship and master’s thesis on top of mandatory courses is quite time-intensive. Most students, like me, take one and a half or two years to graduate.

If you are interested in the field of Cognitive Psychology I recommend this master’s track.

I have chosen this university based on its ranking, however, the whole experience was a disappointment from start to finish. Having studied in the UK for my Bachelor’s degree my standards were reasonably high and having selected a top-ranked university I expected to have at least a similar experience, if not better. The administration is horrible at the university, you rarely get a reply to your emails, and if you do, the response is usually rude. The program was very disorganized, it felt that no one knew what was happening and when all the information came very last minute. The professors were untrained, some of them have not seen the prospectus or the agenda for the day until in the class/seminar which seem very unprofessional. At times you would receive your feedback after already submitting the next assignment which goes against the point of receiving feedback. At times the feedback would be so late the professors would decide to not even provide it as there was no point. The most disappointing part was not being able to choose your own thesis project or at least the area of interest. We were randomly assigned to thesis projects which makes it very difficult if you want to specialize in a particular area for your future career/phd. Overall, I would not recommend this University if you do not want to feel disrespected by the admin staff and professors and have high expectations for your education.

Competitive university with great facilities and variety of programs.
Very responsive in their contact with students and student-friendly in their administrative parts.

-No opportunities for internationals in terms of internships and thesis projects. Very little educational and psychometric material in English. No intergration of internationals with Dutch students (seperate classes workgroups). Dutch students have the option to give certain exams in Dutch although the whole program is in English (unfair proviledge).

I live in Amsterdam and travel quite a bit to go to Leiden University, which is mainly because the first time I was at the university before enrolling, I felt like this is where I belong. The international environment, but also the overall vibe is really refreshing and peaceful. It is organized administratively and there are too many good things about the university that make you overlook the pitfalls. It is very diverse and like I said the international environment that I am in makes me feel at home.

Great university, welcoming to international students. Intl. Bachelor Psychology program covers broad range of topics / courses, allows for many individual elective courses. University is huge but city is very student friendly.

It is a good university, I would definitely recommend it even though there is some room for improvement. Housing arrangements are pretty expensive and in my opinion the specialization courses should have more available spots.

Leiden University is very competitive, especially when taking courses such as psychology or law. The first year at Leiden University is very tough. The teaching methods are not always very comprehensive or holistic, however, by the end of the first-year students are exposed to most (if not all) possible courses they can attend. After the first year, the university showcases all their amazing resources and exposes students to a wide array of courses that they can choose from. Leiden University has state of the art facilities and professors as from second year onwards, however, when it comes to first-year, students would benefit greatly from more transparency and guidance on how the university works as well as more elaborate materials to help students succeed.