You can rate the university on its own Facebook page, for example. The results are varied. Quinlan Quan Tran thinks it’s “the best university I’ve ever known”, while according to Nikolai Schörken, the campus is “Full of stupid people”. A certain Lavt Lala gives five stars, but isn’t troubled by any experience: “Don’t know. Never been.”
Ridiculously bad pizzas
Google Maps is another goldmine of interesting reviews about Erasmus-related matters. The university as a whole gets an average 4.3 (on a scale of 5) from 31 reviewers. Marga van Oorschot, for example, gives five stars, but her reasoning is somewhat vague: “Any University can be great, but the real University is God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost. If you get saved and baptized (totally submerged), see where believe can take you. Yale is of the devil.” Eat that, Yale. ‘Gert Pret’, on the other hand, is slightly disappointed about his employment prospects after graduating. Or, as he puts it [approximate translation]: “Got my degree here years ago and it’s changed innit? Working on the Rotte’dam docks is hard going – I barely earn enough for a beer” (4 stars).
Opinions are divided about Erasmus Pavilion: one person finds it noisy, another says ‘good food but not expensive’. On one subject, however, the Google Maps reviewers are in full agreement: the pizzas at the Pavilion are ‘ridiculously bad’. Henk Jansen (1 star) is also deeply disappointed in the soft drinks: ‘disgusting’. On review site Yelp, ‘Chermain W.’ is more positive: “Their beef burger with rosemary fries is my absolute favourite. Only disadvantage is that you can almost roll me home afterwards.”
The other food outlets on campus have few reviews, with the exception of café In de Smitse and Starbucks in the food court. De Smitse on Foursquare only gets a 3.3. “Fairly cheap drinks, but the café closes much too early,” says Peter Christianson. On Google Maps, the café scores a 4.2: “Top location”, according to Remko van Haften. The Starbucks gets an average 3.9 from 36 reviewers. “Reasonable coffee but far too expensive,” says Hugo van der Heide. The campus supermarket scores slightly lower: 3.8. “Good assortment, but high prices.” People also complain about the ‘aggressive music’.
Cheap
People even post online reviews about the study buildings on campus. Although EUR students normally complain bitterly about the lack of study places in the Polak building, the reviews online are remarkably positive: 4.8 stars. ‘Cool building’, ‘lovely architecture’, ‘AWESOME’: the reviewers run out of superlatives. With 4 stars, the Van der Gootgebouw scores slightly lower, while Mandeville doesn’t get more than a 3. The recently renovated University Library has no reviews as yet, so now’s your chance.
In the sports building (4.3 stars), the low prices (in both the restaurant and the gym) receive a special mention. “When I went for the 1st x, I went like Huh? Those prices aren’t right…everything was so cheap :-)” says Yelp. “Rather an old building, but otherwise very cheap and friendly,” says ‘Kareyu’ on Google Maps. And yes, you can even rate the faculties. Take Rotterdam School of Management, renowned for its modest students. “The best school in the Netherlands”, according to N. Kumar, while Mateusz Bochenczak enthuses “Amazing school, amazing people”.
But if you want to know what EUR students really think, go to the Facebook page of EUR Confessions. Here students can post anonymous complaints. For example about the Polak building, that even receives a bollocking in the summer: “Finally some nice weather and there’s still no room in Polak!”
