Estera Ondrejčáková

Study program: Doctoral School of Literary Studies

Country: Slovakia

Scholarship: self-funded

Period of studies at ELTE: 2014.09.01 - 2017.06.30

“What do you like most about being a student at ELTE? My university classmates. It is a pleasure to work with them… I think that our collaboration will be very useful in the future.”

Why ELTE?

Because I feel good in Budapest, and because of the topic of my dissertation and the wide range of subjects.

What do you like most about being a student at ELTE?

My university classmates. It is a pleasure to work with them. They have very interesting thoughts that they share with each other at the seminars, and I think that our collaboration will be very useful in the future.

What are the challenges in your study program?

The challenges of the program are exciting and achievable for me. The Literary Studies program requires the skill to appropriately interpret texts, frequent reading and rereading, and the ability of continous reinterpretation. The courses I attended before I started studying at ELTE had a much more ample range of requirements, including having substantially more material to read. As far as my experiences go, the expectations at ELTE are not overly high, on the other hand independent thinking, expressing your own opinions and interpretations play a much bigger role. Majoring in Hungarian literature and linguistics and history at J. Selye University, I was able to gather an extensive knowledge and competences in both fields, also developing an interest in other nations’ cultures, a willing to collaborate with different nations, and adapted a general mindset of tolerance and acceptance. Studying at Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary (Literary and Culture studies) has helped me in further increasing the aforementioned knowledge and keep those values as well. ELTE’s Doctorate School of Literary Studies has helped me to develop critical thinking, academic independence, has improved my writing skills and my ability to raise questions and elaborate on them. I reckon all my experiences listed above are responsible for acquiring certain competences and a fairly wide horizon, also gaining valuable information in my field of study, which I will definitely need to move forward.

How do you think your degree will help you in your life and career?

It is necessary to get a PhD degree in my field of study, but I also need experience to get on in life and in my subject, and because of this I try to gain as much experience as I can. Having a postgraduate PhD degree increases your credibility as a researcher and grants you a more successful academic career, both by providing more special and in depth knowledge and creating an opportunity to extend your social network - thus enabling you to establish important relationships with fellow academics who can help (in research and different tasks) and might facilitate your professional progress.

Do you have any advice for future students at ELTE?

I had the opportunity to attend courses of the other PhD programs, such as the connection between Russian and Eastern European literature, which has widened my horizon. Because of this, I highly recommend to the other university students to pick up subjects that deal with the language and culture of another country. They will enjoy it.