Apply for Grad Schools in Germany: Physics Departments

[lasm2000]

I am considering applying for german grad schools (there is a nice financement agreement between Germany and Mexico, and I like the country). Does anyone know where the good physics departments are (specially in cosmology and high energy physics).

 

[eri]

Try looking for one that's associated with one of the Max Planck Institutes for Astrophysics, like the University in Heidelburg or the Technical University in Munich. There's a few more around the country.

 

[thewhills]

University of Greifswald is nice for Plasma Physics too.

 

[lasm2000]

Thank you for your advice. By the way, has anyone heard of the high energy astrophysics program at Jacobs University in Bremen. The program seems to be rather cool, but it seems to me that is a really small physics department.

 

[thewhills]

You are looking at it because it is English speaking...no?
A lot of German or Swiss GRAD schools use English because it is generally the language of science...other then math of course.

 

[lasm2000]

Well, while the english factor is a good thing (my german is far from good) is not really the principal. They have a high energy astrophysics program

http://www.jacobs-university.de/astroparticle/

which seems to have a nice study plan

http://www.jacobs-university.de/imperia/md/content/groups/schools/ses/programs/astro/ses_ga_handbook_astro.pdf

As you can see they have as part of the main program courses on things like GR, QFT and advanced math, in most astronomy programs (at least in Mexico, and almost surely in most USA universities) the courses are on things like star atmospheres/interiors, observational techniques and related stuff, which is not as valuable for high energy astrophysics or astroparticles, you can take some of this courses in the electives, but is almost always limited to one or two of them.

On the other side, this seems like a very new physics department still in formation...

 

[Future-boy]

Jacobs University in Bremen is a private university.
A pretty new university compared to the others.

Is it for Master or PhD? The tution are pretty high.Other than that, Germany should be pretty good for physics^^
(though i don't like their undergraduate programme..)

 

[Count Iblis]

In Germany you don't have a grad-school system like in the US. If you want to earn a Ph.D degree, you must apply for a Ph.D research position at a university. So, you must be qualified to do research, although some training will be offered throughout your appointment to you, of course.

There is no tuition fee, you are a full time employee of the university or some externally funded employee at the university. Usually you'll be required to have a masters degree, but it's up to the Prof. you want to be working under, to judge whether you are qualified or not.

So, you should make sure you are pretty much ready to start to do the research you want to do for your Ph.D. It helps if your Masters thesis is about the same subject, and if you have already published peer reviewed articles on the subject. This is not absolutely necessary, but you can forget about the Ph.D. position if some other candidate does have these qualifications (which is not very unusual in our system).

 

[thewhills]

Look into ETH Zurich, It isn't Germany,but it is damn good.

 

[Future-boy]

Yeah, Cern is somewhere near there.

High energy physics, particle physics.

 

[Herbststurm]

Hi,

the best places for your interests are:

Freiburg,
Karlsruhe,
München,
Heidelberg,
Berlin,
Greifswald,

greetings

 

[Vanadium 50]

Future-boy doesn't know what he's talking about. CERN is nowhere near Zurich - it's a good 3 hours by train.

As Count Iblis pointed out, the program is very different than in the US. You start as a Diploma candidate, which is largely class-based, and after receiving that degree (like an MS), you can be hired as a PhD candidate, and that program is research-based. Students can and do change schools in between. So having a set of required classes that looks appealing is not as relevant for the PhD as it might be here.

Jacobs University looks to have a very American program. Nothing wrong with that, but if that's what you want, I'd go to America.

 

[lasm2000]

Thanks for your advice. Is it necessary to do a standarized exam (like GRE) for admission?

Herbststurm, By Berlin you mean the Free University of Berlin or Humboldt University?

And, BTW, does anyone knows about university of Hamburg, DESY is in Hamburg but I don't really know if that translates in a good physics department.