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Marjolein de Jager has a talent for all exact sciences, her pre-university school diploma shows perfect ‘10s’ for the courses Physics, Mathematics B and Chemistry. She considered enrolling in Biomedical Sciences, but after an inspiring lecture in Particle Physics she decided to study the pure science of Physics. In addition to her studies, she plays in the student handball club’s competition team and she is a member of the Theatre Committee at her student association A-Eskwadraat. She completed her first year with an average grade of 9, which made her the top Physics student in Utrecht and earned her a Young Talent Encouragement Prize worth 500 Euros.

The fun thing about maths courses is that you learn techniques that you can use to solve physics problems.

“Learning has always been fairly easy for me. If I attend the lectures and practice the exercises, then I usually pass the exams too. Almost all of the courses are interesting. The fun thing about maths courses is that you learn techniques that you can use to solve physics problems. My favourite first-year physics courses were Special Relativity Theory and Waves and Optics. But I still don’t know which direction I want to go in the future.”

Honours programme

“In addition to the normal study programme, I am also enrolled in the Physics Honours programme. That consists of a Physics component and an interdisciplinary component. For the Physics component, we form groups of two people to give presentations on articles, and every month we visit a laboratory of a research group in Utrecht or another university. The interdisciplinary component consists of symposia, projects and work visits that all have to do with cooperation with different fields of study.”

Fun and interesting

“I think that the Honours programme is fun and interesting. It also helps you to get an idea of what you can do with your studies in the future, which is good because I don’t know what I want to do later. And since my interests are in the fields of chemistry, biology and biomedical science, the interdisciplinary aspect of the programme is really interesting.”

Pretty smoothly

“The transition from secondary school to university was fairly easy. I come from a small village in Overijssel, and because of the long journey I immediately decided to find a room in Utrecht. The ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� doesn’t hold your hand as much as secondary school, but you quickly get used to it. And when you have questions, you can always ask your mentors from the introduction days or your tutor. Things actually go pretty smoothly if you don’t worry about it too much.”

Student Assistent

“During my first year, I still gave tutoring lessons and homework assistance at home in Overijssel, but I stopped doing that this year. I didn’t feel like going back to my parents’ every weekend. I would like to become a Student Assistant and help give the tutorials.”

At home

“I think that there are only seven other girls in my year, but I never feel like I’m in the minority. It’s actually pretty pleasant, and I feel at home here.”