Universiteit Leiden

It looks like somebody from the university is posting reviews to hype up the 'international' feel of the town of Leiden and the university to try and extract money from unsuspecting foreign students.  Having attended top universities in the United States, Leiden is anything but international.  There are a handful of people from other cultures here, sure, but they most certainly are not well integrated into student life, and there is much discrimination if you happen to come here as a student outside of the EU.  Dirty looks, averted eyes, people deliberately ignoring you or being rude in shops or as you're going about your daily business.  Not a great way to feel safe and comfortable as you pursue your studies.  This extends to the entire university, where international students are not only segregated into their own classes but their own housing complexes located some distance away from the university proper.  Save yourself the trouble.  There are much better universities out there where students can feel safe and part of something bigger no matter where they happen to come from.  I ended up having to leave because the isolation and alienation become too much to bear.  The school offers very minimal mental health support, limited to essentially a handful of online 'app' programs to improve your mood.  The courses are all online with the virus situation and you have very little contact with the professors or your fellow students.  Why pay 18,000+ EUR to watch pre-recorded video lectures from your dreary apartment?

My initial impressions of Leiden University were negative. For our supposed "freshers'" week, we were placed in arbitrary groups and were more or less told "these are your friends for the year" with barely any chance to interact with people from other groups. 

The lectures were long, boring and uninteresting, with the lecturer barely doing any lecturing. They also favoured Dutch students over foreign students. The further away you are from Holland, the further you should expect your grades to drop.

I was also given conflicting information regarding my course. I thought it was going to be primarily a language course, but only one module had anything to do with languages. Not to mention the fact that the website stated I only needed to take 10 EC in optional modules, but my studies "advisor" told me I had to get 15 EC. The problem was, there was only one 5 EC class in that term, and it was full. So she forced me to take 20 EC. They overload you with readings, reviews and homework to the point where you barely have any time for yourself.

And then we have the question of entertainment. Leiden University has no students' union per se, but what it has is absolutely pathetic. The cafeteria food is rubbish and there are barely any clubs or societies for you to join.

I guess the only good point is the fact that Leiden is quite pretty and safe, but that's unrelated to the uni.

Don't waste your time and money. Go to the UK or Germany or Japan or somewhere else. Leiden Uni is a mess.

The class topics' variety and their contemporaneous relevance, the open-mindedness, the accessibility to the lecturers were what I liked the most but which I couldn't totally enjoy and make 'profitable' because of the heavy load of work (still happening during the pandemic). The pity is that you hardly can have a student job or put your learning into practice for instance by working in an NGO-civic group etc.  The international atmosphere and facilities were great too.