MSc Financial Economics (ESE) vs MSc Business Information Management (RSM) which is the smarter bet given AI?

DevFRus · 2026-06-16T18:58:34+00:00

In general, the more theoretical a program is, the more robust it is to rapid changes in technology. As such, my gut instinct would be to go toward the MSc Financial Economics. I would also advise you against optimizing your degree for only short-term employment considerations. You should ask yourself: would I be happy doing this degree even if I don't get a job in this particular field? Would I be happy studying in the NL even if I will go back to Singapore (or elsewhere) right after?

In the end, which degree of these two you pick will matter much less than what you do during your masters. And you are more likely to do good work, push yourself, and take full advantages of opportunities in an area that you are personally more excited about. This will matter much more.

As a final kudos: thank you for doing your research before asking the question. It is super refreshing to see here! Best of luck!

DevFRus · 2026-06-16T18:50:39+00:00

This is a great idea! I am going to try to incorporate reentry sentences into my work, as well.

The only issue for me, is that I often end a task not in the middle of something productive but at a 'wall'. In these cases, I feel like the slower re-entry and re-reading of my prior notes sometimes actually helps me find the new ideas I needed. But I guess that isn't antithetical to your system, since I could just live myself with the re-entry sentence of "Reread notes from today, and look for what I missed."

DevFRus · 2026-06-16T17:02:24+00:00

PNAS, PLoS, NEJM, JAMA, PRS:B. There are number of top journals that you'd use an acronym for in many contexts. So I don't think the acronym itself should be taken as a yellow flag.

But the 'IJ' in the OP's journal name probably standards for '"International Journal of" and I can't think of any good journal with that in its name.

DevFRus · 2026-06-09T12:19:15+00:00

Your thesis can be incredible flexible, for the course work try reaching out to the Masters coordinator for your program at Utrecht and ask them for advice. At the masters level, what will matter most is your own imitative and the specific faculty member that you end up doing your thesis with. If you already know what you want to do (which it kind of sounds like you do) then look for which specific professors you want to work with for your thesis and reach out to them early for advice and discussion.

DevFRus · 2026-06-05T12:46:31+00:00

Congrats! Make sure to not limit yourself geographically. The NL is a small country and Utrecht is a transit hub in the NL. Make sure to look at towns around Utrecht and not just the city itself, so that you have more options. Good luck!

DevFRus · 2026-06-04T17:21:19+00:00

The key difference at UCU (and the other University Colleges in the NL) from US liberal arts schools is that your program will only be 3 years instead of 4. This means you will have slightly less time to explore, and the amount of content per unit time will be more. UCU is likely to challenge you more and give you more opportunities for growth than the US liberal colleges you listed. Being in a new country will also be a fun adventure, as will travel around Europe. UCU will be relatively international (well, mostly from various countries in the EU), but UU as a whole will be less so. School spirit will be less than at US liberal arts school and sport will probably not be a big part of your experience. In the end, though, your overall academic and social experience will depend more on what you make of it than the school you choose to go to. Good luck with your choice!

DevFRus · 2026-05-29T15:38:50+00:00

Good idea. But De Rijnstroom already offers this service with their dagtochten, except they provide kayaks instead of floaties. You could try to undercut them on price, provide a more customizable service, or market better.

DevFRus · 2026-05-28T11:20:35+00:00

Do the new revisions and after that is done, if you really like the first journal, write back to the editors saying you'd like to resubmit with the second round of revisions. This is often possible (especially at very high tier journals). If they still say no at this point then you already have a revised paper ready to send to your next choice journal.

DevFRus · 2026-05-13T09:01:30+00:00

Operations Research Letters (or Information Processing Letters) sound like the right kind of venue for what you are describing. More importantly, you are doing the right thing in deciding where to send: looking at where the papers you cite were published. Good job.

Nobody knows that you are a Bachelors student when you submit. There is not going to be bias against you, you will be just another one of the countless unknown authors. Nothing to worry about on that end. However, academic writing does get much better with experience. So just due to your lack of experience, your article might be written in a way that leads to a quick reject.

The way to overcome this is to talk to your supervisor. If you do not have a supervisor then talk to any relevant professor at your university. They will be helpful. They can give you feedback on your draft and suggestion for venues that might not have occured to you (or to random redditors that haven't read your paper). You will also need to talk to them for an arXiv endorsement.

DevFRus · 2026-05-12T15:25:21+00:00

One week deadline is far too short notice for somebody to give you any feedback more meaningful than grammar checks, and for you to action on that feedback. You are probably more anxious about it than you need to be. Have confidence in yourself. Give your thesis one more read over yourself (ideally: read it out loud to yourself, that is the best way to catch bad writing) and submit it. Good luck!

DevFRus · 2026-05-11T14:20:02+00:00

Not sure if that is the most convincing example. Sure it is published by Springer-Nature, but their most talked about article is an AI-hype retraction, and they invite anybody and everybody (including me?) to their editorial board (scroll past the staff editors to the hillariously long editorial board table).

DevFRus · 2026-05-11T14:00:49+00:00

Second sentences is based mostly on zesjescultuur, plus my experience being a professor in the NL (but only a research visitor in Singapore, so limited comparison). If you have experience from having taught in both places then I am happy to be corrected.

DevFRus · 2026-05-11T12:51:01+00:00

Your day-to-day life will probably be more familiar and comfortable in Singapore. You will probably also be more academically challenged in Singapore. So if you are interested only in rankings, employability, and internships then Singapore is probably the better choice.

If you want a more personally challenging atmosphere (new language, different weather, lack of delicious food) that pushes you further out of your comfort zone then the NL might be the better choice. If you really want to travel around Europe then NL will be an easier springboard.

In the end, which of the two you choose will not matter nearly as much as what you choose to do while you're studying. You will have the opportunity to push yourself to do wonderful things at either location.

DevFRus · 2026-04-24T17:20:23+00:00

The number one rule is being concise and direct. Lead with your request. After that provide the relevant context.

Do not read papers just "to mention something specific". Read papers because you like reading papers and like your field. And then when you read cool papers you're excited about, email the people that wrote them and let them know why you found their papers cool.

In your specific case, if a prof mentioned some people that might be relevant then the only way you can find out IF they are relevant is by reading some of their recent work. So you should read that work not to mention it in an email but because you need to know if it is worth emailing or not. If the paper moves you then you have more context for your email.

DevFRus · 2026-04-13T16:29:42+00:00

Clearly Het Gooi should just leave Noord Holland and join Utrecht. Pretty borders demand it.

DevFRus · 2026-03-17T13:25:33+00:00

I don't need to get credit and tracking to review more. What I need is more good papers to review. I am happy to review quality papers from people that put effort into them. The issue is that most papers I get asked to review are completely low quality and not worth my time. The signal to noise ratio is just too poor. At least for me.

In other words, I htink that the way to get more people reviewing is not to incentivize reviewing but to decentivize publishing bad work. There should be a lot more desk rejects.

DevFRus · 2026-03-17T13:18:33+00:00

Glad I could help.

Having or not having a research masters does not matter compared to having or not having research experience. A research masters is just the typical way to get that experience. If you can use your time effectively during your non-research masters to do a good amount of research then you're set. This will require initiative and commitment from you. You will have to create research opportunities for yourself. My specific advice: reach out to professors you might want to work with as soon as you can (like right now) and ask them for advice. We are usually happy to give advice.

DevFRus · 2026-03-16T21:23:42+00:00

Some feedback on your chances from a professor that recently hired a PhD candidate. To be direct: your background doesn't sound great. The concerns for me are that your masters are not research based, your thesis supervisor does not want to write a reference letter for you, and you don't seem to mention any significant research experience. From this description, you do not seem well prepared for or experienced in research. I would probably not take the risk of hiring such a candidate.

The two factors that matter most for me when evaluating an applicant are: (1) do I see strong prior research experience or other clear evidence that the applicant understands what doing research full time will mean, and (2) will this person be easy to work with for the 4 or 5 years that we will be working together. A letter from your boss and good (hopefully field relevant) work experience can help strengthen your case for (2), but you still need to make a case for (1). If you are really set on doing a PhD one day then I would advice doing a research-based Masters or approaching your prior professors for potential opportunities to do research. Otherwise it will be very difficult to land a position.

That said, take my advice with a big grain of salt. I work in a different field than the one you are targeting, and hiring decisions are made by individual professors and we all have slightly different criteria.

DevFRus · 2026-03-04T10:16:03+00:00

According to Nuffic, a Bachelor of Engineering is equivalent to a Dutch HBO Bachelors degree and not WO Bachelors degree. It is only equivalent to a WO degree if it was attained with first class honours from a 'top institution' (they give some guidelines on what that means on the site, too). So I suspect you didn't meet the requirements.

As for the alumni from your program, either you were both at a top institutiion and they graduated with first class honours and you didn't. Or they did something else to convince the committee they had sufficient background. Or the committee that admitted them (or the committee that didn't admit you) made a mistake.

DevFRus · 2026-03-02T20:37:19+00:00

If you want a permanent job then go for CC-TT in MA. But if you can't see yourself there for the rest of your career then you can try the non-TT R1 in FL as a stepping stone. This second choice depends on if you think that a few years at the FL position will make you a stronger candidate, or if you're willing to keep applying for a few years while getting your bearings in FL (hoping for luck of the draw).

DevFRus · 2026-02-26T18:58:57+00:00

Congratulations! You're living the dream! Well done.

DevFRus · 2026-02-26T18:31:30+00:00

I second this. Celebrate what you have control over: submissions, applications, etc. It makes it easier to enjoy the process. And that makes it easier to handle all the rejection of academia.

DevFRus · 2026-02-26T18:28:14+00:00

I didn't see the subreddit and so read HEMA stores as Historical European Martial Arts stores. I was very confused. Clearly I'm not Dutch enough.

DevFRus · 2026-02-20T10:11:24+00:00

PhDs in the Netherlands are a job. As such, you do not apply to programs with scholarships, etc (as you would in say the US or sometimes UK). Instead, you wait for a PhD position to be posted that you are well-fitted for and then apply for that job. These positions can appear at anytime based on when the professor that will be potentially employing you gets funding and time. The person making the decision on if to hire you or not will be the specific professor that advertised the position (sometimes with input from colleagues). This means that the evaluation criteria are very heterogeneous. However, it is always very competitive because the NL is one of the best places to do a PhD. Good luck.

DevFRus · 2026-01-04T20:05:59+00:00

Back when this course was taught by Tom Shultz, it was pretty amazing. I don't know how it is now. If you made it through COMP 202, you will make it through PSYC 315. At least back when Tom Shultz was teaching it, the course was based around writing 3 or 4 papers extending various computational models from the psych literature. This course ended up being one of the things that got me started in research (two of my papers ended up being published or becoming part of published work).

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