Arriving in Delft
Everything between sitting the entrance exam and your first week here — waiting on the result, finding somewhere to live, and the admin that has to be done before term starts. Read it once; almost none of it comes up again.
Before you arrive
- Chat with a Student — ask someone already doing the degree. Worth doing while you are waiting on a CST result.
- Arrive in the Netherlands two to three weeks early. You will need the time for housing, registration, and a bank account.
- TU Delft gives you Pre-University Calculus and Learn Java (Codecademy) free, plus a Mini Java MOOC about a week before term. Do them. Quarter 1 starts at speed.
- Don't waste the summer — there are three maths courses in Year 1 (Calculus, Linear Algebra, Probability). Arriving rusty is a self-inflicted wound.
Housing
Delft has a housing crisis. Start before you have your acceptance, not after.
Start with TU Delft housing, then work through the rest:
| Platform | ||
|---|---|---|
| Room | Kamernet | Pararius |
| Plaza | Holland2Stay | Funda |
| Social Hub | MVGM | Huure |
| Xior | Uprent | Huurwoningen |
| VijfHuizen | Oude | Woonnet Haaglanden |
| Real Estate Ro |
RentSlam alerts you to new listings. Facebook groups are worth joining.
Be ready to raise your budget and to look outside Delft — Rijswijk, Rotterdam and The Hague are all commutable.
Have these scanned before you enquire. Listings go within hours, and the prepared applicant wins:
- Passport
- Credit card
- Proof of enrolment
- Current housing contract
- Landlord's statement
- Rent invoice
- Guarantor's: passport, payslip or income statement, employment contract, tax statement
Keep a viewing-request message ready to paste. State that you're a CSE student at TU Delft, financially backed (family or job) with proof available, tidy, renting long-term (2+ years), available to view any time, and ready to transfer deposit and first month immediately. Landlords are filtering for low-risk and fast — say so in two short paragraphs.
Timing trick: get your 45 EC across the first three quarters so Quarter 4 is free for house hunting. Start searching before Q4 regardless.
Moving in
- Bank: open an ABN AMRO account — you can start before arriving, and it takes longer than you expect.
- Register with the municipality as soon as you land. This gets you a BSN, which unlocks DigiD, which unlocks everything else. Also get your student card.
- Student finance: if you hold Dutch nationality or work 24–32+ hours a month, check student finance.
- Bike: you need one. Swapfiets to start — take the Flexible plan, not the 6-month Loyal one, so you can switch to your own bike. Get an OV-Chipkaart for NS trains.
- Second-hand: Marktplaats is the Dutch Facebook Marketplace.
Admin portals you'll end up needing:
| Portal | For |
|---|---|
| DigiD | Your login to every government service |
| MijnOverheid | Government correspondence |
| DUO | Student finance |
| Toeslagen | Benefits and allowances |
| RBG | Local taxes |
| SVB | Social insurance |
| CBR | Driving licence |
Apps worth installing:
| App | For |
|---|---|
| Tikkie | Splitting bills — the Dutch run on this |
| Buienalarm | Rain radar, genuinely useful when you cycle |
| 112NL | Emergency services |
| SnappCar, Greenwheels | Car sharing |
| EasyPark | Parking |
Reference point: How Much I Spend As A Student At TU Delft.
Social
Go to OWee. Introduction week is where friend groups form, and they are markedly harder to break into afterwards. Freshmen Weekend is also worth it.
Where everyone actually talks:
- CSE WhatsApp community — the main one
- CSE Discord and the wider TU Delft Discord
- r/TUDelft
- Study in the Netherlands Discord — worth joining before you have a place
- Goin' — for meeting students outside your programme
Your graduation year is your CST year + 3 — sit the CST in 2025 and you are the class of 2028. Cohort group chats are named by graduation year; joining the wrong one is a common mistake.