Archive for langcafe2.myfreeforum.org Come in and have your daily cup of languages!
 


       langcafe2.myfreeforum.org Forum Index -> Travel
Benjamin [inactive]

Middelburg, Netherlands

This might sound rather eccentric, but I intend to apply to the Roosevelt Academy, an offsite college of the Utrecht University, located in Middelburg in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands.

Does anyone know anything about Middelburg and the surrounding area? The university college is very small (600 students) and does not really have a huge amount of facilities on its own, and its distance from Utrecht means that the facilities there are not so easily accessible. What sort facilities, things to do and things going on would there be in Middelburg?
Uriel

What kind of degree are you seeking?
Sander

Re: Middelburg, Netherlands

Benjamin wrote:
This might sound rather eccentric, but I intend to apply to the Roosevelt Academy, an offsite college of the Utrecht University, located in Middelburg in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands.

Does anyone know anything about Middelburg and the surrounding area? The university college is very small (600 students) and does not really have a huge amount of facilities on its own, and its distance from Utrecht means that the facilities there are not so easily accessible. What sort facilities, things to do and things going on would there be in Middelburg?


Zeeland is a pretty much rural province (The Roosevelt Academy is in fact the only University placed in Zeeland, and only because the Roosevelts originally came from Zeeland -- though not that specific island--), although Middelburg is the capital it isn't the most populous urban centre. The city itself has about 45,000 inhabitants.
The old city centre was bombed in 1940 by the Germans but they've rebuilt quite a bit.

If you want to have specific information just ask.
Benjamin [inactive]

Thanks for the information, Sander!

However, on reflection, I don't think I will apply, because the courses there don't really appeal. Essentially, it's an American-inspired liberal arts college, and although I have nothing against that, it is totally different from what I've been brought up to expect of 'university' — I only want to study Modern Languages (possibly with some Religious Studies) at university; I don't want to have to spend the first year being taught 'Academic English' and learning about statistics.

I've applied to six universities in the UK (that's what we do) and I've had offers from three of them already. I'm just hoping that I will also receive offers from the others, because I really like the sound the Triple Modern Languages degree at St Andrews — for me, that would be five years of studying French, German and probably Spanish, with an integrated year abroad in the middle.
Uriel

In the American system, there are usually two years of core classes that cover all major subjects -- math, science, history, English, other languages, philosophy. It's supposed to give you a well-rounded, broad-spectrum educational base.

Plus, you would be surprised how many people go in thinking they want to major in one thing, and then end up studying another because of a fortuitous exposure to another subject. My mother went in as a German major and ended up getting a master's in plant cell biology, because in her first year, she had to take a biology class and ended up being far more intrigued by that than by language.
Porthos

Uriel, I think I'm going to take my general ed at jc. What do you think about doing it that way?
Benjamin [inactive]

Uriel wrote:
In the American system, there are usually two years of core classes that cover all major subjects -- math, science, history, English, other languages, philosophy. It's supposed to give you a well-rounded, broad-spectrum educational base.

That's basically what the college I was looking at in the Netherlands is like. In many ways, I think that it makes much more sense to do it like that. What happens here is that you get graduates who know a huge amount about one subject, but very little about anything else — this follows on from a highly specialised last two years of school, where we only usually study three subjects (and many people do, say, three sciences; I've even known one girl who did three languages).

But to me, I think it would be difficult starting at an American-style university when I've been brought up to think of 'university' as somewhere where I'd study only Modern Languages for my whole time there (I've known that I wanted to do Modern Languages since I was about 11 — one could say that I've never seriously considered anything else).
Uriel

I was kind of a snob, Porthos -- I looked down on JC's. But that probably wasn't fair!

With the price of tuition at a regular university these days, i'd say that probably makes sense, because junionr college tuition is usually a lot cheaper. Get your core classes out of the way and then transfer into a university. The downside is that you might get better professors at the regular university, and you'll miss out on certain experiences like dorm life -- which is usually pretty fun the first couple years, and then people tire of the intense communalism and constant partying and move off into apartments. But if you weren't planning on living in the doems anyway, it's six of one and half-dozen of the other, right? I went to college far away from home, had no car, didn't know how to drive -- it was the dorms for me! But you might be considering living at home or getting an apartment right away, since you must be going to school fairly close by, if you're going to a JC.

Up to you what you want to do, Benjamin, but if I had wanted to do something my whole life, I think that would ironically make me WANT to reexamine it, and at least keep myself open to other options. You will not be the same person you are now in ten years, much less twenty or thirty, and I would personally hate to be stuck with the choices I made at 18, never mind 11! But that's just my perspective now that I have the benefit of hindsight; at the time I thought I was making wonderful decisions (of course!)

I went into college wanting to major in art because I was already good at it and I thought it would be a snap. Turns out I hated art history, despised other art students and their artsy-fartsy attitudes, fought constantly with my professors, and realized that I would have been much happier majoring in a science instead -- but it was too late by the time I figured that out, so I had to bite the bullet and stick out my degree program, hating it all the time the last two years. After I graduated, I didn't draw another thing for over a year, I was so burnt out and bitter. And career-wise it has been a total dead end -- I was so unconcerned about working then, but I am so kicking myself now when I think of the money I could be making had I pursued a degree in a technical field. I don't enjoy being a secretary, especially when I know that I'm smarter than half the nurses making three times my salary. But it's a stable job with adequate pay and full benefits -- it's not something I can just walk away from to go paint pretty pictures -- I have a mortgage and a car payment now, and like most people, I'm one or two paychecks from losing them if I should find myself suddenly unemployed. I never conceived of those things when I was younger, or planned ahead. You won't either, of course.
André in Zuid-Afrika

Very wise words from Uriel. Take note, Ben and Josh!

I was in a similar situation, studying a course I found utterly boring and hated. I worked for three years using my degree, and hated every moment of that too. Then I landed my first job at a newspaper. The great thing about journalism is that, while a degree is a prerequisite to get in, it doesn't really matter what degree it is. Uriel's arts degree would be an asset, for example, if she ever applied for a job as a journalist.
Benjamin [inactive]

So what did you actually study at university then, André?

Excuse my ignorance, but what is JC?

Uriel wrote:
Up to you what you want to do, Benjamin, but if I had wanted to do something my whole life, I think that would ironically make me WANT to reexamine it, and at least keep myself open to other options. You will not be the same person you are now in ten years, much less twenty or thirty, and I would personally hate to be stuck with the choices I made at 18, never mind 11! But that's just my perspective now that I have the benefit of hindsight; at the time I thought I was making wonderful decisions (of course!)

I went into college wanting to major in art because I was already good at it and I thought it would be a snap. Turns out I hated art history, despised other art students and their artsy-fartsy attitudes, fought constantly with my professors, and realized that I would have been much happier majoring in a science instead -- but it was too late by the time I figured that out, so I had to bite the bullet and stick out my degree program, hating it all the time the last two years. After I graduated, I didn't draw another thing for over a year, I was so burnt out and bitter. And career-wise it has been a total dead end -- I was so unconcerned about working then, but I am so kicking myself now when I think of the money I could be making had I pursued a degree in a technical field. I don't enjoy being a secretary, especially when I know that I'm smarter than half the nurses making three times my salary. But it's a stable job with adequate pay and full benefits -- it's not something I can just walk away from to go paint pretty pictures -- I have a mortgage and a car payment now, and like most people, I'm one or two paychecks from losing them if I should find myself suddenly unemployed. I never conceived of those things when I was younger, or planned ahead. You won't either, of course.

Yes, it certainly makes sense to give students more variety in the beginning, so that they can be more informed about what they really want to do.

Unfortunately, that just isn't the way our system works. If I want to continue with a subject at university that I currently do at school, I basically have three options:

— modern languages / linguistics
— religious studies / theology
— geography / geology

Anything scientific (excluding geology, if that counts) is completely out of the question, and I made that decision when I was 13 by choosing do study 'single award science' rather than 'double award science' at school then (this won't translate well, but you get the idea). Of course, there are subjects such as law, politics, sociology, philosophy, psychology etc. which one can study here at university without having studied them at school beforehand. However, the fact I can't claim to be hugely interested in any subjects like that at the moment, I wouldn't really be able to apply for them (the fact that I don't do English and/or history would put me in bad standing as well).

So, maybe I'll find that I won't enjoy studying modern languages at university, but I don't really have a lot of options because I'm already very limited in what I can do.
Pauline

Why it isn't a good thing studying modern languages ?

i want to study medicine. Like Benjamin with languages, I know since I was young that I would like to study this subject. I woul d like to study at Leuven university (in dutch ).But, it's a flemich university so now that Belgium has split up, it will be a foreign country LOL !!! my sister will study law at university next year.
André in Zuid-Afrika

Benjamin wrote:
So what did you actually study at university then, André?


I studied public administration. Political science, anthropology, law...

It did help me as a journalist, especially since I mostly wrote about politics (which I refuse to do now).
Julian

Uriel wrote:
With the price of tuition at a regular university these days, i'd say that probably makes sense, because junionr college tuition is usually a lot cheaper. Get your core classes out of the way and then transfer into a university.


Good advice. If I were to do it all over again, that's what I would do.

Benjamin wrote:
Excuse my ignorance, but what is JC?


JC = junior college
Deborah

André in Zuid-Afrika wrote:
The great thing about journalism is that, while a degree is a prerequisite to get in, it doesn't really matter what degree it is. Uriel's arts degree would be an asset, for example, if she ever applied for a job as a journalist.
j
Even a degree in dance? I've never found that to be good for anything, unless you want to get a master's degree and then you can teach in a college.
André in Zuid-Afrika

Deborah wrote:
André in Zuid-Afrika wrote:
The great thing about journalism is that, while a degree is a prerequisite to get in, it doesn't really matter what degree it is. Uriel's arts degree would be an asset, for example, if she ever applied for a job as a journalist.
j
Even a degree in dance? I've never found that to be good for anything, unless you want to get a master's degree and then you can teach in a college.


Yep, even a degree in dancing! I had a colleague who had a degree in cooking... Especially at a bigger newspaper, where someone with a degree in dancing can write for the arts section.

I don't know what the rules regarding this are at US newspapers, but in South Africa this is how it works. Only two academic universities actually offer courses in journalism, and as far as I know only one technological university. One other university only offer a post degree course in journalism. This is because newspapers prefer rookies with other degrees, whom they can train themselves.
Uriel

Benjamin, I don't know if you have an equivalent to junior or community colleges in the UK, but here, they offer continuing education at reduced prices. Usually the highest degree they offer is an Associate's (a 2-year degree -- a Bachelor's is a 4-year degree). They are aimed more at vocational studies than universities are -- a JC or CC is where you would go to get certified in heating & cooling technology, auto mechanics, architectural drafting, in many adjunct medical fields (as a radiology tech, respiratory therapist, licensed practical nurse, phlebotomist, nursing assistant). Some classes are not for any particular degree per se, but are offered as general interest classes for the public at large -- gardening, art classes, computer classes, quilting, conversational language classes. You can often get your GED (high school equivalency) there if you dropped out of school in the past. They also offer a combination of basic lower-level university courses like 1st and 2nd year English and Math, which you can then transfer to a four-year university (what Porthos is considering).

They are meant to offer the community at large a chance to get decent jobs through vocational training and stimulate a general desire for knowledge without forcing people to commit to a formal university degree program (or to university prices!)

       langcafe2.myfreeforum.org Forum Index -> Travel
Page 1 of 1
Create your own free forum | Buy a domain to use with your forum