Student testimonial

I wanted to continue studying ecology at a university with a strong research profile where I could pick my courses freely

Biology student
Previous education: University College Utrecht

At UCU you get used to courses being just above your comfort level
Annemieke Drost, biology student

I did the Bachelor’s Liberal Arts & Science at Utrecht College University (UCU), where I majored in cell biology and earth & environment and minored in cold war history. I wanted to continue studying ecology at a university with a strong research profile where I could pick my courses freely. At many universities, the MSc study programme is more rigidly pre-planned, which is not something I was used to as a UCU student. The MSc Biology at the WUR offers a lot of free choice next to the one compulsory course and two specialisation courses, which is why I decided on the Ecology and Biodiversity specialisation of the MSc Biology in Wageningen.

The transition from my BSc to MSc programme was not as smooth as I had hoped. The Biology BSc at Wageningen covers the whole breadth of biology, which UCU unfortunately doesn’t offer. Luckily, I had taken courses on genetics, plant biolgy and ecotoxicology on exchange during my BSc. At first my study advisor and I found it difficult to grasp whether my seemingly random combination of courses had covered the all relevant areas. In the end, I only had to include a course on human and animal biology in my MSc, as I hadn’t taken any courses on this yet.

The one piece of advice I would give to new UCUers coming to Wageningen is to pick courses that you don’t quite have the prerequisites for. At UCU you get used to courses being just above your comfort level, and when I picked courses that exactly fit my level I would quickly get bored.