Ranking the faculties: “I am not comfortable wearing a jumper”
Law students Joni (left) and Ralph. Photo: Niels Kramer
Law students drink a lot, are the best dressed, have a lot of sex (but are not very good at it), and go on to make a lot of money. That is what the other faculties have been saying until now. What do these future lawyers think about that?
Ralph (“no last name, please”), 3rd-year law student
“The bit about drinking is really true. We have a lot of free time, so we can do a lot of drinking. Yesterday, we went out and an unbelievable amount of drinks were consumed by all. It is also true that we are neatly dressed – that has a bit to do with our programme. The lecturers almost expect that you be smartly dressed to practice addressing the courtroom. I also feel bad if I walk into the building wearing a boring jumper. But we are not just spoiled rich kids in sharp shoes! That is what a lot of people think. They also think we are arrogant, which is not entirely untrue. We are just very sure of what we want and, in our programme, it is clear what you are going to become later on. About whether we earn a lot of money later? It is good, but not spectacular. The big money is in medicine or dentistry. We make jokes about other student groups as well. The psychology students are the primary targets – they strike us as the tree-hugging, peace-and-love types.”
Ranking the faculties
What stereotypes do students on the Nijmegen campus have about each other? Ranking the faculties – a bit like Ranking the Stars, but without Paul de Leeuw – is finding that out. How do students at the Faculty of Arts feel about students at the Faculty of Law? What about the other way around? And how do they feel about students in the social sciences? During Vox on Tour, we asked students to complete a survey about this. We discussed the results with several students from the relevant faculty.
Anna (“no last name, please”), 3rd-year law student
“We are getting a bad rap here, as if we are bad in bed. I do not really agree with that. If, as law students, we have a lot of sex, then we are just going to have more ups and downs. You cannot say anything about that with these questions. Students of physics, or a comparable programme, might have very little sex and, as a result, a very small frame of reference. So, who are they to be the judge of that?”
Joost Middelkamp, 2nd-year law student
“The stuff about the smart clothing is definitely true. I came to school in workout pants once and I immediately showed up on Jodel (the anonymous gossip app for students, red). I wanted to get out of the Grotius Building as soon as possible.”
