Between Utrecht University and University of Amsterdam which one would you choose? I got accepted to both and I have to make a decision...

I am also confused about the rankings, because different lists provide different information.

I did not think that choosing between universities would be so tough :))

I am studying at UvA and must say its cool univ. I really like it. I am doing EU Law and professors are really good. I dont know for PIL. I've heard that for masters UvA is better than Utrecht so I am here now. The only thing I hate is their administration. Its confusing and U have to struggle sometimes. So my recommendation is definately UvA. And U are in A'dam!!!

Thank you so much for your answer. I still havent made up my mind yet and any suggestions are welcome :))

Academic Ranking of World Universities 2008 :
Top 100 European Universities:
...
9. Univ. Utrecht ( 47 world)
23. Univ. Leiden ( 76 world)
35- 58. Univ. Amsterdam (101 - 151 world)
35-58. Univ Groningen ( 101 - 151 world)
both univ.are very good...

about ranking: U have to know that its made about universities in general. U have to only look for law faculties. Because here at UvA Economics is not that good, while Law is great. Leiden- Medicine is great, Law is loosing reputation. Rotterdam- Economics is great, Law not good. U shall consider that and not look univ.'s in general.
I dont know, I really like UvA. Professors are high quality. But the programme is not that easy, esp. Eu Business law is killing! Competition law is sooooooo difficult! In general in all compulsory courses 50% people fail exam. But U have 2 retakes, which are a lot easier.

Hey Anii,
I got exactly the same problem! Just got accepted to both UvA and Utrecht and dont know how to decide. I guess I'll have a chat with my tutors first - they know a bit about the unis. I'll let you know what they say.
Utrecht generally seems to be a bit better in terms of reputation. But I love the variety of courses offered at UvA.

Are you gonna be doing the PIL course as well?

Best wishes from the UK!

Thanks everyone for your comments! :)

Lene, I applied for PIL at UvA and Human Rights/Criminal Justice at Utrecht.

I am still contemplating, but I think that I will go with Utrecht. I asked my co-workers and professors and they recommended Utrecht.
As long as the courses go I am equally interested in both programmes. Utrecht seems to have a better reputation in the field of law and it is higher up in the rankings...

Please let me know about your decision :))

sounds like a reasonable decision....though I dont still dont know. I guess I will email them and ask which courses are likely to be run.

Have you applied in Leiden as well? Coz I'm still waiting for an answer from them. But from the choice of courses, Utrecht and Amsterdam seem to be much nicer.

Anyway, I hope to have more info soon!
Really looking forward to the LL.M. :-)

No, I have not applied to Leiden. I applied to Rotterdam, but I havent heard anything from them yet, but it was my least favorite programme so I am not worried about that.

Yes, really looking forward to the LL.M too, but I'll have to make a decision before that :)

Hey Anii,

Are you from Georgia? Anyways, I think your decision should be based whether u wanna study PIL or HR - the programs are different, i think that if you want to study Human Rights Uttrecht University is the best option to go. I have applied to Leiden but got no response yet :(

Good Luck ! :)

Question to Lene:

When did u receive the acknowledgment of Application from Leiden University? and may I ask to what program have u applied to?

I sent an online application form on December 19 and they replied that have transmitted my application to faculty only on January 14 and they inform me that decision will be made in 6 weeks or so.

Hi Tamar,

yeah, it's similar with my application. I've applied in Leiden in early November but it was only sent to the faculty about a month later and I did not receive an answer yet. It takes quite a while whereas Amsterdam and Groningen both replied within a week and Utrecht did not take too long either.
Have you applied anywhere else as well?

oh sorry....and I've only applied for PIL programmes :-)

I am not surprised about Leiden timing as for me this University is the best in whole Netherlands and consequently they should have a lot of applicants for LLM :)

Well I have applied to Queen Mary, UCL Leicester, Nottingham, Edinburgh and Dundee in UK and as for US I am sending application for International and comparative law LLM in George Washington University. In all of them I've applied for master in International law. I wanted to try Harvard and Oxbridge but was late for deadline as I was waiting for IELTS scores...

Is Leiden your only choice or have u applied to other Unis?

Cheers,

Tamar

I study at UvA, LL.B. The buidling is very out to date and the city is very stessfull and totally not aimed at providing a good academic experience. In the Dutch you should go for Nijmegen or Tilburg, since local studies concerned professors views and students themselves rank both unies best. It is conducted by the Elsevier which is a quality magazine. Leiden traditionally has a good repu but is very preppy and old fashioned. the city itself is nice though, and their building is very pretty and accesable.

Hi Tamar,
you've applied at an awful lot of unis ;-)
I really wanna go to the Netherlands so I've applied in Utrecht, Amsterdam, Leiden and Groningen (just as a back up).

good luck with choosing your studies! :-)

Looool, yes I've tried my best ! :)))

Wow you have applied to each and every university in Netherlands :))) good luck with that!! Have you already received admissions from either of them?

Well, its just 4 unis.
Got acceptances from Amsterdam, Utrecht and Groningen and still waitin for an answer from Leiden :-)

Wow Great :)))

Good luck with Leiden !! :)))

thanks! But I think I'm gonna go for Utrecht anyway, just because I find the modules far more interesting.

Good luck for you as well! Fingers crossed ;-)