University of Amsterdam vs VU amsterdam vs University of Groningen.

Hello all on this forum,

I am currently enrolled in a master's in Real Estate at the university of Groningen in the Netherlands, coming from a urban planning bachelor I wanted to have some more business-related degree, which turned out to be an excellent choice.

I got finance courses and I absolutely loved them, so I am considering a second MSc (I am still young, not even 22 at the time of this question, so to enter the job market, I might just be a little bit too much of a rookie I feel).

On top of that, the bigger RE companies in the Netherlands are not doing too well at this moment, since the transaction/investment volumes went down here last year  significantly and prospectives are not looking too positive. So, by broadening my horizon, I might have a bit more chances on the job market (especially since my region does not have too many big companies). So, I am looking for a finance msc, since those were the topics I liked the most in my current msc.

- few things to consider, I love doing statistics/econometrics, yet, I dont like to *only* focus on that, without studying anything else. After a while, pure econometrics/statistics just becomes a bit boring.

- I love to calculate on financial issues, which often does include statistics, im aware of that.

- I love to learn about the system itself and the rules.

- I don't necessarily stay much longer in Groningen, absolute outskirt of the country, takes me 3 hours to get home, so in that sense, I would love Amsterdam better (save two hours on a round trip). Furthermore, I have way more acquintances/friends over there. This has "quite some weight in the equation".

Thus, the question, which uni to choose. At UvA, I applied for the banking & regulation track, since a bit more theory on that seems really interesting. Applied at both uni's in Amsterdam, already got accepted into Groningen. I am awaiting my VU application

Oh yeah, I got rejected in Rotterdam (erasmus), since I don't have the business background. I took a fair amount of economics courses during my bachelor's tho, so chances are there I am getting accepted.

I figured some forum members could help me with some valuable insight, to make a well considered choice. So hereby, the question which of the 3 unis I should ideally pick?

Best,

Jesse

Which uni should I choose

University of Amsterdam
86% (19 votes)
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU)
9% (2 votes)
University of Groningen
5% (1 vote)
Total votes: 22
5 Comments
 

I hope that you atleast have tried to find an internship in a finance-related field - these are super important even when you finish the 2nd master one day. Dont let that imposter syndrome get hold of you :)

UvA definitely the best out of these and only one considered to be "target".

 

Thanks for the information and encouragement, really appreciate it!

I definitely tried to find finance internships indeed, problems rise with that as Amsterdam is 200km/130miles away from the university as well as is my hometown is 150km/95miles. However this would not be problem, but nobody wanted part time interns (there is absolutely no possibility to fit a fulltime internship in Uni programs in Holland unless you delay). Which is completely understandable, so I definitely have quite a few connections over there.

I almost applied to UvA, waiting for my finance prof for a letter of recommendation :).

 
Arb_andy

I hope that you atleast have tried to find an internship in a finance-related field - these are super important even when you finish the 2nd master one day. Dont let that imposter syndrome get hold of you :)

UvA definitely the best out of these and only one considered to be "target".

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on UvA. I'll definitely keep that in mind. The internship tip is golden, by the way!

 

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