Getting a BA or BSc at University College Roosevelt in Middelburg

Zeeland’s the edge of the Netherlands. But is it a good place to spend three years attending UCR? We asked some students.

University College Roosevelt is nothing if not charming. It’s the kind of place that feels insulated and historic — a place to spread your wings in just the right amount of “city.” It’s got a distinctive flair that makes it feel different than other university colleges. Students talk about it differently, too. But that doesn’t mean it’s right for you.

Let’s break down the basics.

Statistics

Associated with: University of Utrecht

Degrees: BA, BSc

Concentrations: Arts & Humanities, Engineering, Science, Social Science, or a combination

Location: Middelburg, Zeeland, NL

English: All-English campus. The University of Utrecht campus is 2 ½ hours by train, so coursework will be confined to Middelburg’s English-taught offerings.

2021 Cost for out-of-European Economic Area (EEA): €9091

On-campus housing cost: €375-500 (Potential to qualify for €100 rent allowance)

Can you use FAFSA funds?: Yes

Student body: 170 admitted students per year out of 350 applicants. Students are 50% Dutch, 30% EU, 20% non-EU international. 500 total students, made up of roughly 60 nationalities. U.S. students are in the top 5 nationalities admitted, with about 20 Americans annually. American students tend to have another nationality.

Five adjectives: affordable, intense, familial, personalized, cozy

Going Abroad from Abroad

Roosevelt students can study abroad, usually in their 4th or 5th semester (typically 5th semester). It’s not required. Exchanges are through the University of Utrecht, with many schools offered in many countries. Exchanges offer just a few spots (sometimes as few as one or two), and students must be able to attend classes with native students in the languages offered by that university. Different universities have different faculties in English, so some countries may be off-limits to students who won’t find their language or course of study covered.

Accommodations can be independent or provided by the host university in dorms. UCR offers guaranteed housing.

Because Roosevelt is so international, exchanges aren’t the norm, with many students already feeling that they’ve had their study abroad experience just by attending Roosevelt.

What’s Middelburg Like?

Roosevelt University College is on the southwest beaches of the Netherlands in Middelburg, a medium-sized town of about 50,000 people where you’ll find lots of Dutch citizens flocking to the beach every summer.

50,000 shouldn’t sound very big. It’s about the size of Ames, Iowa; Bend, Oregon; or Orak Park, Illinois.

Although Middelburg sees its population swell as summer fun-seekers hit the beaches, it’s not a diverse hub where lots of people mix. Not as many locals here are living the jet-setting life that perhaps their Amsterdam counterparts are.

As a result, it’s one of the prime places for you to practice your Dutch with people from Middelburg and learn about “real” Dutch customs — and University College Roosevelt is a good fit for students looking to experience local life.

You’ll find the Christmas market open throughout December offering up traditional Dutch treats and hand-made gifts. You’ll find the market square affords students cheap eats multiple days per week during the semester. The beauty of the town entices most students to stay in their university bubble and appreciate what Middelburg brings to their university experience.

On the other hand, if you’re happy to immerse yourself in big city life with other students from your own country, other schools may offer more (like sports! You won’t find that here).

Is it Hard to Get into University College Roosevelt?

University College Roosevelt has a fairly selective admissions process. Whereas the Netherlands norm is to admit students who meet the university’s criteria as long as there are spaces in the incoming class, the university colleges will not admit all qualified students. Some students will be invited to an interview, and fewer still will be admitted.

UCR gets about 350 applicants each year and admits about 175 of them. Not all decide to attend, and the total campus enrollment is around 500 students.

Is University College Roosevelt a Good University?

Yes. The University of Utrecht (the parent university of which UCR is a part) is an outstanding university. However, rankings matter less at Roosevelt than at the University of Utrecht’s other university college, UCU.

Why?

You won’t really be at the home campus, and Utrecht and UCU are both very different experiences than University College Roosevelt.

Utrecht itself is more than two hours away by train. Its classes are, therefore, nearly impossible to work into a student schedule, and its sports and cultural facilities are not practically accessible to Middelburg students. Students come to Roosevelt University College for the small community, tight-knit discussion-based classes, and liberal arts education.

They come because UCR is adept at building a strong foundation for students who follow this broad curriculum. UCR prepares its students to be part of a thriving global economy based on discussion, understanding, and negotiation.

UCR Rankings

University College Roosevelt’s parent university ranks well in many fields. According to The Times Higher Education rankings 2022, it is #75 globally. Utrecht University ranks 120th in the QS Rankings worldwide. U.S. News also ranks the university high, at 54th globally.

In individual disciplines, Utrecht ranks #29 according to U.S. News in Arts and Humanities while also standing out as a leader in cell biology, ranking #30 globally. However, UCR students will get a completely different faculty with different expertise. At UCR, teachers are dedicated to helping students succeed in the liberal arts and sciences program.

At UCR, students will also combine disciplines by design, so an outstanding department rating means little here.

Therefore, Utrecht’s academic excellence isn’t totally irrelevant to Roosevelt students. But its high ranking speak to the overall commitment of UCR’s parent university to research and teaching, as well as to the prestige of a degree from this university that only enhances students’ future career opportunities.

Campus Life at University College Roosevelt

UCR students have a small, but busy campus. The college’s buildings are grouped in downtown Middelburg, and the main facilities of the university college are spread over five primary buildings that are near one another. Walk through quaint alleys to your next red brick classroom, and you’ll see a typical campus built to exist snugly within the greater community.

“UCR was the first university college I heard of since I had a friend who came here to study before me. I chose UCR because I like the broad, international program all University colleges offer as well as what is a small, vibrant community that id quite UCR specific since some UCs are much bigger. I researched quite a bit about UCR and came here as “Student for a Day” a year before choosing to study here. My experience here in the last 3 years and a half has met my expectations, especially in terms of how close the community is. A lot is always happening and it feels like a big family in some ways.”

Modern facilities include a chemistry lab and engineering classrooms outfitted with world-class gear. There are tutors (academic counselors) and student services/mental health and student support programs.

The old town hall now houses a medieval assembly and orientation spaces reminiscent of a Gothic church sanctuary. There’s also a student-run student building, which serves as a study space, common room, and bar where you can grab coffee and sandwiches between classes. Join in a study session or have a drink when you finally turn in that paper you spend all afternoon in the library completing.

Living and Studying on Campus at University College Roosevelt

Campus Buildings at UCR

At University College Roosevelt, campus buildings stretch across five Roosevelt-themed buildings close to the city center.

For example, the building named “Eleanor” boasts the student computer lab (we think she would have liked that).

“Franklin” is the university’s slice of the old town hall, with a stunning, church-like reception hall. “Theodore” houses classrooms and a museum dedicated to the man who invented the telescope in 1608 here in Middelburg (way to go, Hans Lipperhey).

Franklin and Eleanor statues watch over the university’s outdoor classroom greenspace. Architects designed the space as an extension of the Greek outdoor classrooms of Aristotle, who taught outside.

Ultimately, the campus and residences are spread throughout the city, tucked into little corners that make living in Middelburg and attending UCR indistinguishable. Plentiful campus bike sheds and parking rooms cater to a Dutch sensibility that getting across town for class should take a quick three minutes and involve a bicycle.

UCR Dorms

University College Roosevelt has four dorms, where all students, regardless of year, live in close communities.

A HUGE bonus is that the college guarantees housing for students all three years, with no need to move out over the summer to boot. That’s very different and special as many other Netherlands college students struggle to find housing.

And it’s not like the rooms are undesirable since there are plenty of options for everyone. Roosevelt offers rooms with various configurations, from shared bedrooms in a traditional dorm (Cheap! Make friends!) style to row houses with clean, safe rooms and adorable terraces (Spread out! Host dinners! Read on the terrace!).

Students can move to a different campus location or stay in the same room for the duration of the program if they choose.

You’ll get help moving into that unfurnished room from an organized furniture market before Intro week, and a Facebook group for buying and selling throughout the semester.

Bonus: there is a second-hand bike market in person and a thriving market online and on social media.

Living the Townie Life

Perhaps because Middelburg is not a university town, students run a variety of programs for themselves in order to meet other students. They are the driving force behind the student center, which includes a student-run bar, restaurant, and a basement party space.

Roosevelt’s student association has societies from theater to sports, debate, LGBTQ+ topics, med affairs, cooking, and gaming. There’s even a society to interact with Middelburgers through camping, food crawls, volunteering, and generally working to “burst the UCR bubble.”

The small student population in Middleburg also supports incoming students by maintaining updated resource lists on the student intranet system, which can help direct newcomers to medical care and other logistics of living abroad.

Overall, UCR is an easy college to attend. Students have their needs met better than most other college choices, all within easy reach in a small town.

University College Roosevelt’s Academic Program

The “easy” part ends at campus life in this small, accessible town. It may be easy to meet friends. To live in residences. To get around Middelburg. That was your pass — academics aren’t easy here. Students say Roosevelt’s academics are particularly rigorous.

What are the basic rules of this liberal arts and sciences program?

The study program at University College Roosevelt program is a 3-year bachelor program. There are few required courses, and the liberal arts curriculum is quite free, with students choosing multiple tracks from different concentrations but otherwise selecting their own electives throughout the program.

UCR’s liberal arts approach gives students a strong foundation in academic skills that comes as they combine courses and get a broader understanding of multiple subjects from all the options available.

Left-brainers rejoice: there’s a new engineering concentration. Originally, the university college offered three typical liberal arts areas: social sciences, humanities, and sciences.

Students in all four major concentrations take four courses per semester (each worth 7.5 ECTS in the European Transfer and Accumulation System). This is the reason for much of the stress: semesters are a dense 15 weeks, and each course comes with a heavy load. Students have been working to call attention to the pressure this creates and brainstorm solutions to the problem.

“I did not necessarily expect the amount of stress students go through UCR; it is quite academically intense because of the short semesters and students have been fighting to improve this problem for a while now.”

The Academic Grind

For its part, the school is upfront about the intense academic commitment it expects; it warns potential applicants that they’ll spend ten hours on homework in each course per week, for a total of 40 hours of work outside class time.

Professors teach courses in two-hour class sessions they hold twice per week. They all fall within four main departments in the small college: Arts and Humanities, Engineering, Science, and Social Science (a combination major comprising two of these areas is possible).

Within their broad major area, students focus on two or three “tracks,” which are disciplines, in the same course of study, like analytics, art history, environmental science, or anthropology. It’s all capped with a 2-semester senior project.

While choosing personalized tracks from UCR’s roster of 200 courses is the main focus of the program, students find some required. Everyone takes freshman rhetoric (writing and presenting) and a statistics and methods course.

You’ll have an academic advisor, called a “tutor,” helping you choose courses every semester. That ensures you’ll meet graduation requirements in your major. With 90% of the student body attending graduate school, UCR tutors help prepare seniors for what comes next. They can help you plan ahead to structure your studies to be an attractive candidate to graduate school.

Academic Roadblocks and Frustrations

Though the program offers maximum flexibility in course selection, getting into classes that are not in your track can be difficult.

Students choose courses but later find they’ve been kicked out to accommodate high demand. A waitlist means that some students can get back into desired courses. Ultimately, the small university college community does not have unlimited courses available. There’s not unlimited room in those courses, so students in the major trump elective-takers.

Unique Academic Opportunities

There are a couple of special programs that can enhance your major. UCR is a great choice if you’re interested in any of them.

The “Going Glocal” track involves spring coursework and a summer program out of the country, focusing on global issues and development (a different country and topic are featured each year). In 2022, for example, students will take one prep class at UCR on “Global Justice and Activism” and then a practical course over the summer in Mexico.

UCR also offers a music performance track. The program involves an entrance exam and the subsequent chance to enjoy Europe’s only English-taught performance music-centered bachelor’s studies.

Finally, a pre-med program combines life sciences and biomedicine in order to prepare students for a Dutch medical master’s program or foreign med school admission.

“I did not necessarily expect the amount of stress students go through UCR; it is quite academically intense because of the short semesters and students have been fighting to improve this problem for a while now.”

Modern Middelburg

Middelburg Today

The medieval market town has reemerged from WWII rubble into a historical and artistic super town on the southwest coast of the Netherlands, jutting out on a peninsula into the North Sea.

Middelburg is home to 50,000 people. Its metro area includes Vlissingen, an adjacent beach community with 50,000 more, making the urban zone large enough to be full of student resources.

“There isn’t too much that is extreme or too difficult to get used to about Middelburg!”

In addition to feeling small and unassuming, the city feels historic despite its post-War restoration.

The Gothic former town hall, now home to UCR orientation week events, overlooks a typical Dutch market square flanked by architectural gems.

A nearby 12th-century abbey, for example, houses the Zeeuws Museum, where you can contemplate Zeeland’s rich trading past enriched by the Dutch East India Company.

“Middelburg, the town where UCR is, is very cozy. It’s barely big enough to be called a city in my eyes.
It has beautiful canals and streets to take walks on. It’s generally quite quiet, although there is a fair amount to do in the city center. The atmosphere at UCR fits Middelburg, in that it’s cozy and welcoming for everyone.”

Side streets are bustling with everything from H&M to local pizza (even global staples like Domino’s and Subway). Foodies will be overwhelmed with independent choices, too, from gelato and crepes to craft beer.

“Everyone can find their place here.“

Student Hangouts

One nearby bookstore café, De Drvkkery, is the perfect spot to catch a reading, a cappuccino, and a round of Codenames.

There’s a vintage cinema for movie lovers and a bowling alley to keep up your game.

And if, after that, you’re still not ready to go home, you’ll likely end up at Café Rooie Oortjes or Café ‘t Schuttershof for live shows and dancing.

Students getting oriented to the town might choose to take a tour boat ride or rent a canoe for an independent orientation to the charming canals of Middleburg.

“My experience was that it wasn’t too difficult to integrate into the Dutch culture.“

LGBTQIA+ Life and Culture

In spite of being part of the Netherlands’ “Bible Belt” of comparatively conservative Calvinists, students say that the town has an outsized LGBTQ community and is very progressive. After all, this is the Netherlands, long known for its social progressiveness.

 “It is quite progressive, with a visible LGBT community.”

Others call Middelburg’s gay community “small” and set in a conservative region. Depending on students’ own understanding of “progressive,” they may find themselves on both sides of the debate about how open and welcoming Zeeland is for LGBTQIA+ students.

University College Roosevelt’s Students

Roosevelt students are a highly international bunch. The study-abroad options are low here, partly because so many UCR students are already studying abroad — they’re getting their entire degrees outside their home countries. The experience of being in a small community in Middelburg in an internationally-oriented college is the big draw with UCR, and students are happy to stay all three years.

Diversity is a key theme in the liberal arts and sciences curriculum that extends to teaching and learning in a college with a great deal of international student diversity. UCR’s program makes sure students get a smorgasbord of teaching styles and multiple assignments for assessment throughout the semester. At the end of their program, about 17% go into research.

Tuition Fee and Scholarship Overview

With 2021’s tuition costs coming in under the $30,000 mark, University College Roosevelt ranks globally as one of the most affordable high-quality educations on earth, let alone in a high-quality-of-life Western European hub.

Nevertheless, students looking to save even more can apply for the Holland Scholarship reserved for non-EU students looking to study in the Netherlands. University College Roosevelt also makes some partial one-year scholarships available to incoming students. They’re particularly happy to welcome new engineering students with financial help. The University of Utrecht also offers scholarships that may help international applicants.

How do I apply to UCR?

American students without an International Baccalaureate degree will need four AP exams with a score of four or five.

Use your letter of motivation to address why you want to study in a liberal arts environment and the international climate of Roosevelt’s campus. This is a place for students who value a broad academic inquiry, who want classmates who come to class discussions from different perspectives, and who are comfortable learning in English, since the social life of the campus will also center on finding common ground with students from around Europe and the world.

Netherlands’ Studielink website provides an admissions portal for transcripts, one reference letter, a letter of motivation, and, if applicable, English proficiency scores and financial aid documents.

If applying for a scholarship, fall enrollment must be completed by December 15.

January 1 is the early bird application deadline, with decisions mailed before March.

February 1 is the “regular” deadline, with students hearing back before May. The sooner you apply, the sooner you will hear back, so early applications are encouraged.

There is also a September 15 deadline for spring admissions. Some applicants will be invited to an interview with a current instructor about their academic interests.

There is a UCU Fund for non-EU students that awards at least one full scholarship and multiple partial scholarships based on financial need.

Get a Gezellig Education in the Netherlands

Still don’t know what Gezellig means or how long a degree takes in the Netherlands? How do you even apply to college in the Netherlands? Start with the basics.