Student testimonial
Cosmas van den Broek, Master student Plant Biotechnology
I like biology a lot, but not all the subjects. I wanted to focus on one area and since I liked everything related to plants, I decided to go for the bachelor Plant Sciences at Wageningen University. I really enjoyed my bachelor and the education was very good. Therefore it was an easy choice to stay in Wageningen for my master Plant Biotechnology.
I like the freedom to put your master together in such a way that it really matches your interests
There are three things I like a lot about my master. The first thing is the freedom to put your master together in such a way that it really matches your interests (although this does require some planning). I chose the specialisation ‘Functional Plant Genomics’ and arranged it in such a way that I could focus on plant physiology and morphology on the level of a single cell to a whole plant. Secondly, the concept of following courses in the first year and immediately applying this gained knowledge in the thesis and internship in my second year, appealed to me. Last, but not least, I really liked that the classes aren’t too big. This allows you to have a lot of interaction with the lecturers and you also really get to know your fellow students, even those in other years. To be honest, I especially like this because I met my girlfriend this way.
Next to my study I used to be active at Semper Florens, the study association of the plant sciences. It is nice to get to know your fellow students even better that way. During my thesis I would often go to the room of Semper Florens for lunch. There would always be a few other tired thesis students to share thesis-struggles with. I was also in the committee responsible for the magazine of the study association. I acquired some nice additional skills from this, just like I’m doing know as a board member of the SFO. The SFO consists of the tenant representatives of all the major buildings of Idealis (responsible for most of the student housing). We give all kinds of advice to Idealis about everything that’s student housing related, which is something completely different from plant biotechnology. As I’m writing this I’m actually in New Zealand for my internship, which is already the last part of my study!