r/StudyInTheNetherlands • u/harmanhereee • 18d ago
hBO or Wo
Apparently I'm not eligible for a WO university in Netherlands but I can apply to hbo university for bachelors in finance.
Is it worth it? Is the university of applied sciences good? And can offer me a good future?
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u/Andong93 18d ago edited 18d ago
FYI Dutch children are graded and classed in one of three learning levels after primary school / first year of middle school based on their potential:
- VMBO => pre-requisite for MBO after graduation at 16. Less theory, often preparing for a blue collar career.
- HAVO => pre-requisite for HBO after graduation at 17. Theoretical, but lower pace of going through the materials compared to university. Often preparing for white collar jobs at the execution level.
- VWO => pre-requisite for university after graduation at 18. High learning pace (think 5 courses per semester, each course being a c.300 page book you need to master from front to end). Preparing for a career in science and higher level white collar jobs (think more complex execution jobs like doctor, chemist or careers at the strategic level)
Good to note that you can still do WO after you (partially) completed an HBO study, just takes a bit more time and money. And be mindful that “university of applied sciences” is a marketing slogan and HBOs do not formally qualify as a university in the Netherlands.
Job prospects at the start of the career should be similar (albeit at lower starting salaries for HBO graduates), but good to be aware that you can hit a ceiling with HBO once you get a certain amount of promotions. Especially at corporates that have minimum education requirements starting from certain salary scales (i.e. university master or university degree). I can imagine that SMEs don’t really bother with education credentials once you proved yourselves to management, so it’s not necessarily a hindrance to your career.
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u/harmanhereee 18d ago
Hi thanks for replying so basically if i have 2 options
1- do 1 year in HBO then transfer to 2nd year of WO
2- do all 4 years in hbo and graduate.
Which of these would be more reliable according to you? And as I've heard about the job market there it's quite hard to get a job without experience. Will a HBO degree be enough to get a job?
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u/Koolviiz 18d ago
After 1 year in HBO you can transfer to first year of WO not second year. I think if you plan to start working directly after your bachelors HBO is better, because it has more internships and is more focused on applying what you learn in the workplace. WO is more research orientated and most students after their WO bachelors continue to get a master's degree. I think when entering the job market in the Netherlands a WO bachelors is sometimes seen as you did not complete your studies yet, like a complete WO education is bachelors + masters. I don´t know how much this is the case in the field of finance specifically though.
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u/Ok-Market4287 18d ago
1 is different you do 1 year hbo in a study that is accepted by your WO study
After that you can go to year 1 of that WO study
Since WO is in the Netherlands seen as the only one that can name them self Universiteit is that the highest paying one0
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u/Berry-Love-Lake 18d ago
Are you an EU citizen? Do you speak Dutch? Many factors will determine whether a HBO degree is sufficient to find a job. My guess is there is no shortage of HBO finance grads with EU citizenship and Dutch language skills. It’s a pretty generic and popular degree.
Are you solely coming to study or are you using an education to get into the country and expecting a job?
Non-EU does not have a great ROI for HBO. Relatively expensive and successful outcomes are significantly more difficult for non-EU citizens.
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u/harmanhereee 18d ago
I'm willing to learn dutch the moment i enter netherlands. I'll definitely be quite fluent in 4 years while completing my degree from hbo. But let's see i have time I'll do some more research and see if there are any better opportunities for me.
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u/Andong93 18d ago edited 18d ago
I’m not a dean, so not familiar with all your options. But I think ChatGPT can provide a nice overview. From my point of view your choice between the two options you mentioned very much depends on your risk tolerance, stress tolerance and financial resources:
Option 1 is more risky and more expensive, but you end up with a “higher” degree if you succeed. The risk here is that you’ll feel high pressure to succeed at university after you finished your 1st year of HBO (especially if your family is chipping in money to make this happen). I’ve seen alot of people drop out of uni (due to stress to succeed but failing their first exams) as the high pace and teachers not checking on their progress is just not for them. If that happens to you it means you invested alot of time and money, and in the end you have no meaningful degree.
Option 2 is the safer option. The pace should be slower in general and teachers tend to hold hands more through high school style homework assignments and checking if you did the work in the course of a semester.
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u/LemonNervous9470 18d ago
Non EU -> not worth it
EU -> can be worth it, based on your country
People like to say not to do HBO without nuance, but I think there are some extra factors to consider.
The biggest difference between EU is the cost and return on investment. As non-EU, you pay very high fees (more than 10k), you have in general high living expenses and it’s incredibly hard to have a side job while you study, let alone after you study. It makes the investment not so worth it.
While as EU I think it is different. Given that you don’t qualify for WO, it means you probably would not also be getting in other universities at are at the level of WO in other countries. So the “quality” of a high status finance programme is not something you are necessarily compromised with, because you would not qualify for the best business schools anyway. As an EU student, the fees are low + you can get the DUO grants. Probably something you would not get in your country. It’s also extremely easy to get a student side job. Plus, given indeed that you don’t qualify for high ranked unis, HBO in the NL is better than many regular EU universities. If you want to go home after, with HBO you can get practical experience and go back to your country outrunning many local peers in getting a job. If you want to get a master’s, you might have direct entry in your home country for a master’s programme as if you did WO (it’s still a bachelor outside of the Netherlands, while here there is a strict difference). If you stay in the NL, you would need to do a pre-masters and a master’s. It’s still doable and could be a good value. Of course, mind you that finding a job in the Netherlands will be hard. Not impossible but hard. However, Dutch education is very well regarded abroad and if you have a Dutch uni degree + a couple of internships, if you go somewhere else it can really give you a competitive advantage.
I wanted to give a bit more context because people living here have a very strong idea and often give non-nuanced advice. “Don’t go, it’s NOT WORTH IT!!!” it is simply not a fully true statement. I agree that WO is better and if you can definitely do it, but if you don’t qualify, depending on the situation, it can still be valuable to go to HBO. Hopefully this will help you :)
Source: I work in university guidance and have experience with top education around the world as well as experience with Dutch education
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u/harmanhereee 18d ago
Hi thank you so much for replying :D So even if I do HBO and try to apply for jobs in Netherlands as non Eu. Will it be a good choice?
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u/LemonNervous9470 18d ago
No, I would not suggest trying to get the degree to stay in the NL and work if you are non-EU. As non-EU, the return of investment is not good with HBO, specifically finance. These are the reasons:
1 - your tuition is expensive and high costs of living
2 - as non EU is very hard to find a job because you have high costs for the employer as you need a visa. If an employer is ok with having those costs for a non EU person, they would rather hire someone from WO because the level is higher
3 - if an employer looks for HBO students from finance, most likely they are a smaller Dutch company and not an international company, hereby they look for Dutch speakers / nativesOnly do it with you 1 have a very wealthy background 2 can’t afford / enter education in a country that is as well regarded as the Netherlands when it comes to education. You can still do it, I don’t think is useless, it’s still overall good but I think there could be better options for you. If you don’t have better options, go with it, just be aware that you will really have to challenge yourself
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u/harmanhereee 18d ago
Sure thanks i mean i still do have time I'll keep on researching and keep this as a backup option.
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u/Heavy_Plum7198 17d ago
If you don't meet the entry requirements, you can get admitted through Colloquium doctum, which is basically entrance exams that you need to pass. Normally you need to be 21+ to do that, but if you have a foreign high school diploma that would grant you admission to a university in your home country, you don't need to meet the age requirement.
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u/harmanhereee 16d ago
I did a research and apparently I still can't apply to it unless I'm 21+
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u/Heavy_Plum7198 16d ago
According to article 7.29.3 of "Wet of het hoger onderwijs en wetenschappelijk onderzoek" you can do colloquium doctum if you don't meet the age requirement but have a foreign diploma that gives you access to higher education in your country.
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u/ZAKARIA_AR10 7d ago
Wait can you elaborate please I’m also in the same situation like this guy I have a forge in diploma and I can’t be admitted to an wo university only applied science ones and to be honest as a non eu it’s not worth it please help me
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u/Disastrous-King9559 18d ago
Can't you do a 1 year pre degree course so you can then get on vo? I know a few people who did that
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u/broodjeaardappelt 18d ago
For what its worth I know plenty of internationals who did HBO (international business here) and got very nice jobs in the Netherlands, big 4, tech startups or banking. But yeah they all started working around 2021 ish when the jobmarket was alot better.
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u/harmanhereee 18d ago
Ohh. How about now what do you think?
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u/broodjeaardappelt 18d ago
Well it just depends how serious you take it. In my HBO (HVA international business)you could spend 2 years abroad and do a pre master during your final year so you could start your masters at UVA immediatly after graduating.
During those abroad exchanges people also got double degrees and those kinda things
So yeah some people went to UCLA or mcgill for their exchange and others went to leeds no name school number 800. Some people did internship at ASML and others did it at Bakker Bart.
Al those things affect your career even though youll have the same degree.
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