William Steenbergen, member of the class of 2018, has just returned from his study abroad experience. The past semester he spent at the University of California, Berkeley, which is located close to San Francisco, USA.
William’s main interest is statistics and this is also the reason why he chose to go to Berkeley: “It is the world leading university in statistics, and the statistics and computer science department and professors are among the best.” The application process was thorough: Grades, a motivation letter, two recommendation letters of teachers, and an application fee. William had to compete with many passionate and ambitious students, but still managed to get in.
“At Berkeley, I took five classes in the field of economics, of which two at graduate level, because I needed them so I can enroll in the master of my choice (Econometrics at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam). Two courses took place at the Haas business school, the second-oldest business school in the USA, which was a great experience. The level of classes was very high, but this was also the reason why I wanted to go here.”
Student life at Berkeley is also a lot of fun, and international students from over 80 countries can live together in the I-house, where they eat, sleep, study, and have fun together. “Living in I-house was a great way of making new friends. Many activities were organized; we went to football games, Alcatraz, and several national parks. I also became part of the Hong Kong soccer team, because my roommate was from Hong Kong, and I joined the Dutch student association. One of the downsides was the strict ‘no alcohol under 21’ law, so I could not really go to bars or clubs if I wanted to hang out with friends.”
Studying abroad requires you to adjust to a completely new environment, which might be hard in the beginning. William also experienced some homesickness, but it was so easy to make friends at the I-house that he soon felt at home. However, students had a very different mindset that William was used to at ATLAS: “They are very motivated to study, but they are obsessed with getting high grades and not with learning itself. I learned to appreciate the grading system we have at ATLAS, as well as our Dutch ‘nuchterheid’.”
After a semester of studying hard, William spent a month traveling around the USA with another ATLAS student, who was studying at the University of Maryland. One of the highlights of this trip was stargazing at Yosemite, which is a beautiful national park close to the west coast. “Looking back, not everything went as planned, but that is okay, as long as you always try to make the best of it. There are always people that help you, and you will make friends even if you don’t expect it. Also, everyone at Berkeley is very ambitious and passionate, which has given me a lot of energy and motivation to always strive for the best.”
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