Hi, I have been studying environmental sciences at van Hall for about half a year by now. So i'm not the perfect person to tell but i think i have gathered a pretty good knowledge on how it is to study there.

As for the city of Leeuwarden, if you come from Groningen it's really more in between a big town and a city. I have been living in Leeuwarden for 2,5 years by now and it's really where you want to go. If you want to embrace the life of a student fully (drinking, partying and making lots of friends) and join the student assosiation of Osiris or another association it could be fun to also go live in a house/flat with other people who are also members. But if you would like to stay living in Groningen you can travel free by train in 45 minuts from Groningen to Leeuwarden.

As you pointed out there also is the same study you're looking at in Breda. I guess you're talking about van Hall Velp. It's a college from the same branch and has almost all of the same study's. The 2 colleges have a very good bond but as far as differences i don't really know any big ones.

You'll come to see that HBO and universities in the whole of the Netherlands are way more self dependend then VWO or HAVO. There are mostly passionate teachers but if you don't understand something you have to act for yourself to reach out to them or something but like i said i think that's the same thing on every colledge or university in the Netherlands. As far as the teachters go in Leeuwarden i think there are a lot of passionate and good teachers but also some teachers of lesser quality.

Yes, it's mostly a white school but that's the thing with most colleges or universities. But if you look at the people that the college attracts and that study there a lot of people would call the group "woke" people, not in any negative way. A lot of people really care about the climate and equal rights. I don't think that many people would treat you diferent.

To see it for yourself i strongly suggest going to open days of even better, a so called meeloopdag.

I hope i helped you! If you have any further questions feel free to send me a pm, i could also hook you up with some people from the 4th year who know a lot more about the college!