Physics GRE Discussion Forums

Howdy folks.
Im a student from old europe and applying for a phd in the new world.
Been reading this forum since a few days - _it_ _is_ _entertaining_. kudos to y'all

There was some post about "If I dont get into any gradschool, Ill have to look for a job in the real world".
Ever since, Ive been wondering, whether any one of you ever thought about leaving the country and doing a phd somewhere else?
Australia has good Unis. The same for europe. there is a world outside the US. and its not too bad, I can tell you.

so. keep entertaining me!

I've been outside the U.S., and it's just a cold and scary void out there.

lets give ourselves a random applause.

lol will, you are funny.

yes, we are all stereotypical americans who are not aware that there is a world outside the US. I researched schools in Australia, Europe, and Canada pretty extensively and thought very seriously about applying there. I decided against it.

grae, why did you decide against it?
because there is no such thing as gradschoolstatistics and rankings in europe?
example: anyone applying for HEP, especially string theory should have a look at such metropolises as amsterdam or munic.
as for germany, there are excellent reasearch institutes, for example the max-planck institutes. you can do a phd there. most of them are affiliated with the lokal university.
another billion examples will follow by will.

I was really excited about copenhagen until I learned that they only had a few courses in english and I'd have to learn another language to attend. I was pretty much limited to western europe after that. I'm interested in condensed matter and I think Europe is right there with the US if not ahead in terms of nanotechnology funding, but I was pretty much looking at Cambridge or Oxford as they were the only schools making the global top 10 and still speaking english. Cornell, IMO, is better than both of those schools in nanotechnology and as a domestic applicant, I knew I had a better shot at admissions and good funding there.

I also looked at Australia, and they have some great schools and I think it is a great place, but it just couldn't compete with the US's top 10 universities.

From what I've heard about PhD programs in Europe, you jump much faster into research. That means you should have a clearer idea of what you want to do specifically when you apply, and you get take fewer general classes about physics. I think I would really enjoy and appreciate that broader knowledge, a lack of which can apparently also make it harder to get jobs in US academia later

I actually looked very seriously at applying to schools in Europe but ended up deciding against it cos they are very stingy regarding funding. While its good to have a end date being applied, I dont work well under time constraints (which is why I hate the GREs).

I think foreign universities don't treat Americans as nice as we treat foreigners. In most other countries immigration is not encouraged as much as it is here.

heh actually immigration ("potential immigration") is the #1 reason for student visa rejections. from my own experience, the US visa process is one of the strictest around. Quite a bit worse than Canada, UK, and Australia....

Reminds of the Futurama epsiode: Mars University.

Professor: Much like Utah, Mars was once an uninhabitable waste land. But unlike Utah, it was eventually made habitable.

Woah hold on there are other universities outside the U.S.? I thought everyone outside the U.S. lived in grass huts.

I thought everyone outside the U.S. lived in grass huts.

They do. The universities, though, are made of better quality grass.

heh actually immigration ("potential immigration") is the #1 reason for student visa rejections. from my own experience, the US visa process is one of the strictest around. Quite a bit worse than Canada, UK, and Australia....

Yeah, but how will the Australians act when they see a white person for the first time? That's my #1 fear and why I hardly ever leave my house.

ROTFL!

I just realized what a hypocrite I am. The other day I blew up at someone for being a smartass, and the only posts I ever make anymore are smartass. In light of my new found hypocrisy, I think I will join the Republican party.

And move to Texas?

I applied and got accepted to a physics graduate program in Australia (University of Queensland). The problem is, you typically have to get your master's first to start PhD programs there, whereas here you usually go straight into a PhD program from undergrad. The big reason I didn't go was that there was NO funding for international students in their master's program (that I was aware of or offered, including no tuition waiver). I'll get paid to go to grad school here.

I applied and got accepted to a physics graduate program in Australia (University of Queensland). The problem is, you typically have to get your master's first to start PhD programs there, whereas here you usually go straight into a PhD program from undergrad. The big reason I didn't go was that there was NO funding for international students in their master's program (that I was aware of or offered, including no tuition waiver). I'll get paid to go to grad school here.

Wait, then I don't understand how you can make any claim to study outside the U.S. Doesn't matter if a country spends trillions of dollars on something; if, as U.S. citizens, you can't touch it, then it doesn't matter.

Just wondering, how do foreigners who study in America usually get funded? Does the country that is sending them here pay for them?