Grad School in Ireland: Questions & Answers

[lubuntu]

Hello,

I am interested in attending a graduate program in Ireland after completion of my BS in physics but am unsure of the lay of the land. A few questions I have are:

1. Is it possible to get into the Ph.D. program in the Ireland w/o a masters? If it is difficult is it possible to do the masters in the Ireland?

2. What is the funding situation like for a US student doing a Ph.d. and/or Master's in the UK?

3. Would it be possible to bring my wife along to work in the Ireland with I go to school? Also, we probably plan on staying after I am done to seek employment.

4. I am coming from a rather average school that would probably be mostly unknown in the Ireland(University of Massachusetts) and expect a final GPA in the 3.3-3.6 range. I don't expect to be going to Cambridge but are there reasonable school I could apply for in the Ireland?

5. Do you have to be ultra exceptional to get into anywhere abroad as a International student or will some places look at your qualification more lax as they want to promote an "international image" or something? Or atleast judge you the same as domestic applicants?

Also I'm am of Irish heritage, unfortunately just one generation off of being again to become an Irish citizen I think, I have 3 Irish Great-Grandparents, does anyone know if there is any loop hole towards getting Irish Citizenship?

 

[MissSilvy]

No loopholes, sorry. For the EU in general one of your parents must be an Irish citizen. Great grandparents don't count. You could maybe bring your wife along, but I would check the status of visas for that sort of thing because she would have to apply for a work visa (not a student visa, which is easier to get).

Honestly, with your GPA and school, I wouldn't count on Cambridge (which is in England, not Ireland) but there are plenty of good Irish schools which accept internationals.

 

[cristo]

For the EU in general one of your parents must be an Irish citizen. Great grandparents don't count.

This is true. Note, however, that your parents are, by definition, Irish citizens if their parents were born in Ireland, so you can go as far back as grandparents. Still, this doesn't seem enough in your case (if you think about it, if they did allow you to claim citizenship off the back of relatives higher up the tree, half of the US would be eligible!)

You could maybe bring your wife along, but I would check the status of visas for that sort of thing because she would have to apply for a work visa (not a student visa, which is easier to get).

In general, dependants are permitted to accompany students, but I don't know the immigration law for Ireland.

Honestly, with your GPA and school, I wouldn't count on Cambridge (which is in England, not Ireland) but there are plenty of good Irish schools which accept internationals.

Doesn't Ireland only have about 6 universities?

 

[feely]

Doesn't Ireland only have about 6 universities?

You have University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, then moving out of Dublin you have the National University of Ireland (NUI) at Maynooth, the NUI Galway and the Univeristy College Cork. Of these, Trinity is probably the best University, closely followed by UCD. There are lots of other smaller colleges and institutes of technology, but you of course would want the big hitters.

If you wanted to go north of the boarder, there are two Universities -- Queens University Belfast, and the University of Ulster, with has three campus' in the north (Jordanstown, Magee, and Belfast) however, UU does not have any physics courses, so here, your only option is Queens.

I took a look at the Trinity website for internation students, and I would agree with what the others have said, you would be considered a 'non-EU' applicant. This makes things more expensive. It seems that for a non-EU student doing a PhD, it will run you about 8,900 Euros per year.

 

[xepma]

Note that in Dublin there are also the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) and the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) both of which offer PhD programs in physics.

However, the recession has hit Ireland really hard. So there is already a shortage of funding.

 

[feely]

However, the recession has hit Ireland really hard. So there is already a shortage of funding.

Ain't that the truth!

 

[lubuntu]

Turns out I might be able to get EU citizenship through my great-grandfather who came from Poland, that would make this whole thing much easier!

 

[mgb_phys]

Eu citizenship doesn't necessarily get you home/eu fees. There certainly used to be a rule that you had to have been resident in the eu for a certain number of years and it couldn't have been purely for educational reasons - so you couldn't go back for a couple of years to do A-levels or IB and then get your fees paid for the degree.

But rules vary between countries and change with time - you should check it out.

 

[cristo]

Eu citizenship doesn't necessarily get you home/eu fees.

Even less so does it qualify you for (at least in the UK) research council studentships. You have to show residency in the EU for something like a period of 3 years prior to the start of your degree; citizenship does not suffice (presumably, so that international students can't just find a passport in the months before they plan to come over!)

 

[mgb_phys]

presumably, so that international students can't just find a passport in the months before they plan to come over!

that's what happened to a friend on my course, he was from S. America but also had a French passport. He had lived in the UK for 2 years doing A levels and learning English (and having to eat English food - his main complaint) but still had to pay overseas fees.

 

[lubuntu]

You guys are just cruel. :(

 

[MissSilvy]

You guys are just cruel. :(

Dashing your vague hopes? I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I'd rather be told in advance the reality of something rather than to delude myself and then find myself up a creek without a paddle later on.

You COULD probably get admitted. You probably CANNOT get EU rates (at all, don't expect it). You perhaps COULD get a work visa for your wife. Having European great-grandparents CANNOT qualify you for a passport/citizenship. Questions?

 

[Vanadium 50]

You guys are just cruel. :(

If you don't want to hear unpleasant facts, but facts nonetheless, I think you might want to reconsider a graduate degree in the sciences. Science is all about seeing how things really are, as opposed to how we might wish them to be.

 

[lubuntu]

Dashing your vague hopes? I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I'd rather be told in advance the reality of something rather than to delude myself and then find myself up a creek without a paddle later on.

You COULD probably get admitted. You probably CANNOT get EU rates (at all, don't expect it). You perhaps COULD get a work visa for your wife. Having European great-grandparents CANNOT qualify you for a passport/citizenship. Questions?

No, actually I am pretty sure I am entitled to a Polish Passport, I am starting the process now, does anyone know if there is a residency requirements for research grant funding and what not?

 

[lubuntu]

If you don't want to hear unpleasant facts, but facts nonetheless, I think you might want to reconsider a graduate degree in the sciences. Science is all about seeing how things really are, as opposed to how we might wish them to be.

I understand this and am the same inclination, I was just joking around, but it is disappointing when new problems keep cropping up.

Can anyone produce a list of all continental European grad school that teach in English, as that might give me some more options to look into?

Thanks

 

[cristo]

No, actually I am pretty sure I am entitled to a Polish Passport, I am starting the process now, does anyone know if there is a residency requirements for research grant funding and what not?

Surely, before you try and get a Polish passport through a great-grandparent (which is not going to be straight forward!) you should look around yourself for residency requirements. I've already told you ones that exist in the UK; perhaps you should focus on a particular country that you want to apply to.. at the moment, you seem to be throwing chips at everything!

 

[lubuntu]

Actually, I would like to get the citizenship anyways if I can, as it would make living and working in the EU, in or out of school much easier! I may perhaps just move and live there for a bit and take up finishing schooling at a later time. Who knows, just looking at my options.