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Bas Verseveldt completed his pre-university education exams with a 10 for Mathematics B and 9s for Mathematics D and Physics. He also reached the finals for the Mathematics and Physics Olympiades. He had difficulty choosing between Mathematics and Physics, so he decided to enrol in the double Bachelor programme. During the first year, he earned perfect 10s for all of his Math exams, which made him one of the two best first-year Mathematics students in Utrecht, along with Thomas Bakx. Both students were presented with the Young Talent Encouragement Prize worth 500 Euros.

The biggest transition for me was moving out of my parents’ house.

“First, I considered technical mathematics or physics, but I learned that they mainly deal with how you apply math or physics in practice, instead of the structure behind. So I decided to look at the study programmes in Utrecht. When I heard that it was possible to combine Mathematics and Physics, I immediately thought: that’s perfect for me.”

Fairly easy

“The transition from secondary school to university was fairly easy. I enjoy the fact that there are an average of three courses per period. At secondary school, we had so many subjects and projects at the same time. Now you can spend more time on one subject at a time. It’s also not that much more. One study programme is 180 credits, and both Bachelor’s programmes together only 217.5.”

 Enjoy much more

“I also enjoy the courses much more than I did at secondary school. In Physics at school they didn’t use techniques from Mathematics B, because not everyone had taken that course. Now they do, and you can see the direct links between math and physics. My favourite math courses are topology and group theory, and for physics they’re quantum mechanics and classical mechanics. I’m not sure what I’d like to do after my Bachelor’s.”

Moving out

“The biggest transition for me was moving out of my parents’ house. I wanted to keep living at home, so that I could stay a member of the skating club, but it was just too far from the university.”

Relaxed

“I think the atmosphere at the university is very relaxed. I regularly go to the student association to drink tea or play games. Sometimes we talk about the assignments. I also started working as a student assistant this year, supervising the tutorials for a course that I’ve already passed. During the tutorials, the students work on practice problems. I enjoy the work, but it’s also interesting and I learn a lot.”