Bjørn Sæter Sjue '03, Norway.
Bjørn Sæter Sjue is from Oslo, Norway, and currently serves as an officer in the Royal Norwegian Army. He graduated from St. Olaf in 2003 with double majors in political science and history.
How did you learn about St. Olaf and why did you choose to study here?
I came to learn about St. Olaf by chance. I was set on studying in the US, but I had no clear thought as to where I wanted to go. As chance would have it I got in contact with the Norway-America Association in Oslo. They had a list of several institutions they cooperated with amongst them was St. Olaf College. As is the case for many Norwegians wanting to study in the US, a lot depended on being able to finance their studies. Since education in Norway is generally speaking free, we don't necessarily save up money in advance for college as is often the case in the US.
In addition to being a great school compared with the other schools on the list, St. Olaf was aware that Norwegians don't get funding from our loan system for a Freshman-year in the US, and as such had some scholarships to alleviate that problem. In retrospect, this was what made me come to St. Olaf in the first place. I must admit I didn't know too much about the school to start out with, but the more research I did the more I understood that it actually was a great place for learning, which of course is a bonus when you're planning for higher education. As it turned out, coming to St. Olaf has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.
St. Olaf College provides a liberal arts and science education, how does that different from (or is similar to) university education elsewhere? Could you explain a bit what a liberal arts education meant has meant to you?
When it comes to higher education I guess I'm a part of a minority in Norway since I have chosen to take my entire higher education abroad (BA and MA). Because of this I have not studied at any universities or colleges in Norway. However, I have some ideas and opinions about the Norwegian system compared to the US system. The main reason for me to go to the US, apart from the general allure of the American culture, was that I feel that studying in the Norwegian system forces you to narrow your field of study at a relatively early stage. To me, taking a liberal arts (and science) education, meant that I could pick and chose a combination of topics and subjects that I was interested in, often across different disciplines. For me this is the main reason I wanted a liberal arts education.
What did you major in at St. Olaf? If you went to graduate school or in your current work, did your St. Olaf education help prepare you for your further studies or your current work?
My majors were political science and history, and I tried to have a focus on international politics/foreign policy in political science and ancient and medieval history, mainly European and Middle Eastern, and some Asian history. They were perhaps not the biggest departments on campus, but the resources they had through their professors and lecturers by far compensated for lacking in size. Combine this with the semester I was able to take in Washington, D.C. with The Washington Semester Program at the American University; I feel that I possibly couldn't get it much better.
The combination of my studies and experiences during my 4 years at St. Olaf was a decisive factor in getting me accepted into graduate-studies at King's College London in the UK. In my current work I guess one of the more helpful things with my St. Olaf education is the variety of classes and subjects I undertook, from the political science and history classes, to astronomy, experimental psychology and statistics, and also the opportunities that were offered to do sports and physical education. I was a part of the men's track and field team all four years at St. Olaf. A liberal arts education, in my case, has given me a solid foundation to continue to build on, both in further studies and in my career.
Do you miss anything about St. Olaf?
The social life, classes(!), and simply being at St. Olaf are things that I do miss nowadays. I'm very pleased with where I am and what I currently do, and I wouldn't change this for the world, but I do miss those things from St. Olaf.
Why should other international (or specifically Norwegians) choose St. Olaf?
I'd definitely recommend others, especially Norwegians, to choose St. Olaf. Not only will you get a great academic education, but you will also develop great personal friendships. For us international students it is also of course a question of achieving far better English skills compared to people at home, as well as immersing ourselves in a culture other than our own.
