After the first year as a master's degree student at the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥, Finland, I believe that I have found a place where I can both live and study and aim to work and settle down in.
Greetings friend! My name is Irfan Durmić and I am very happy you found this website since I have quite the story to share with you. Let me share a little blast from the past with you, my (un)fortunate reader. It was towards the end of December 2021 at Williams College, where, at the time, I was completing my bachelor's degree in Mathematics, Physics and German and I had but one question on my mind: what do I do when this is all over?
After almost a lifetime of studying, I was getting pretty tired, but being the academically curious person that I am, I nevertheless applied to a couple of graduate schools, but something felt off.
Making the right decision
The first time I was moving for college, from Bosnia and Herzegovina to the United States, the task itself didn't seem quite daunting or scary: probably because I was way too young to think beyond university rankings or their endowments.
Over the years, I became a bit wiser and started looking beyond rankings and optimal financial situations. I wanted to make sure that the next step that I take would be both the right career move and the right life move for me: I wanted to go to a place where I could live, study, work and potentially even settle down. Luckily for me, my brother had quite the suggestion.
Finding a place that would fit my life goals
As an experienced software developer, my brother had the opportunity to work with people from around the world and he always emphasized how much he enjoyed working with people who obtained an education in Finland so he suggested I look into it. Beyond the fact that Finland was the home of saunas and heavy metal bands, I didn’t know much about the place.
Long story short, I did the same thing many of you did: I Googled universities in Finland that had master's programmes in English. Clearly, JYU was not the first one that showed up, but something about the university logo just spoke to me and I decided to read more about the place.
Needless to say, after a small eternity spent obsessing about the natural beauty of Jyväskylä, the insanely cool frozen lakes you can walk on during the winter, the iconic City of Lights as well as the fairly interesting and comprehensive curriculum in the MSc of Mathematics programme, I knew I had found the place that would fit my career goals and most of my personal ones, but what really sealed the deal for me was the interview that I had which would foreshadow what was yet to come.
Education with a human face
The virtual interview I had with Professors Hannah and Stefan Geiss, along with the very creative pre-assessment I completed, were definitely the highlights of my application process. During the interview, the two professors made a genuine effort to actually get to know me and to familiarize me with the Department and the University itself. Hannah and Stefan, seeing that I got curious about something that they mentioned, even gave me a sort of guided mini lecture about a topic from stochastic processes.
The interview left me thinking: if the faculty is this dedicated during the admissions process, how amazing is the experience for actual students attending the university.
Luckily, about a month after this interview, I received probably the best news of my adult life and, since August 2022, I've had the privilege to observe the immense dedication people at JYU have towards providing a quality education while letting you be yourself.
Come as you are – JYU is for you
Even though STEM fields are not usually perceived as fields where communication skills are all that relevant, I would argue that they are essential for learning and growth.
I am very grateful for the fact that, at JYU, we get to master the skill of presenting complex ideas to our fellow classmates through weekly demo sessions. The feedback professors give us is absolutely essential in providing us with opportunities for growth: I would even dare say that these demos have been one of the most important and valuable academic experiences of my career.
Beyond the academic richness of the demo sessions, I also appreciate the fact that we are encouraged to let our personalities shine through while presenting. Finally, I find it very conducive towards building a healthy learning environment that we all communicate with each other on a first name basis: even the professors!
A year into this experience, I really believe that I found a place where I can both live and study and aim to work and settle down in.
Discover the jewel of Central Finland
Just like you are reading about my experience, I also spent some time reading about the experiences of different students at the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ and I remember thinking that there is no way a place can be so great. What always bugged me about the student stories is that nobody ever mentioned anything negative about the university, so I will mention the thing that I really dislike about the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ so you know I am objective: we unfortunately use Outlook and Teams, but other than that studying here is as perfect as it can get!
Still don't believe me? Well, seeing is believing: so come on over yourself and discover the jewel of central Finland. Who knows, maybe you yourself will leave a couple of applicants in disbelief in the future :-).
Irfan Durmić
Mathematics
Faculty of Mathematics and Science
