For the first time this year, VU University Amsterdam started offering its own summer school programme with wide a choice of courses that range from ‘Anne Frank in Amsterdam and Beyond’ to ‘Crisis and Reform of the European Union’ and ‘International Criminal Justice’ to name but a few.
Needless to say, we are proud of this project but, what would the reasons for students be, to invest and partake in a summer school? QS has done some of the work for us and listed 6 very good reasons why summer schools are in fact a very valid option:
1. For those of you who are not sure about university, summer school will give you a useful taster of attending lectures and seminars. You don’t miss out on the social aspect either, with nights out and various extracurricular activities often organized as part of the course. Meeting and interacting with your fellow students is also a plus point, and will let you get a real feel for the university and what it has to offer.
2. Attending summer school paints your university application in a favorable light. It shows commitment and dedication to the degree you want to undertake. Institutions across the globe award credits for summer school, so do some research if you intend to use summer school as a stepping stone.
3. It gives you better idea of what you want to study at a university. Quite often we choose courses that our parents want us to take or subjects that we are good at, ignoring what we actually have a passion for. This can create quite a dilemma for a student looking to make a balanced decision. At summer school you will be given a choice of courses, without having to commit a full study programme.
4. Courses are often taught by several faculties, at the university campus and at the same level as full-time courses. In case of the VU University Amsterdam Summer School. The courses are taught be several professors with varying backgrounds. On top of that the programme is filled with field trips to organisations relating to the subjects concerning.
5. As an international student, it gives you a feel of what it would be like to study abroad in a particular location; a potentially invaluable piece of research.
6. Meeting people from different backgrounds and cultures is part of the experience. You can make friends from different parts of the world, or for the more business minded, it is great for networking. Summer school is not just for prospective undergraduates – postgraduates and professionals can also apply. The combination of all three provides for a great learning environment for all.
All in all, spending 1 or 2 weeks at a summer school abroad, is a very efficient way to work on your self development and to discover that the world outside your own doorstep, away from friends and family, is in fact not very daunting at all. It can be the first step that will lead you to discover the rest of the world and you place in it.
To find out more about your options at VU University Amsterdam, check these short films about our students’ experiences at Amsterdam Summer School and get some more in depth information on the programme itself.
Study at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and experience Amsterdam! 