Grad School Outside the US for an American

[lubuntu]

What do people know about this?

I want to leave the US for various reasons as soon as a finish my undergrad degree, what opportunities are there for a funded Ph.D. program abroad?

I plan on applying to most non-US schools, I'm mostly interested in the other Anglo-phone countries but have heard there are opportunities in continental Europe as well.

I take a particular interest in Australia and NZ. I've seen very few American applying anywhere besides maybe a handful of UK school, so I am hoping someone might know some more about details.

Thanks.

 

[Reshma]

Netherlands has some very good universities (Leiden University, University of Twente, Utrecht University). I don't know about New Zealand, but University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, University of Queensland and Monash University are some of the Australian universities having good overall reputation.

 

[lubuntu]

Netherlands has some very good universities (Leiden University, University of Twente, Utrecht University). I don't know about New Zealand, but University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, University of Queensland and Monash University are some of the Australian universities having good overall reputation.

Instruction in English is also a requirement for me. At Ph.D. level is that an issue at most European universities? Not that I'm not willing to learn a new language, but I don't want to make a Ph.D. more difficult than it already is.

 

[Reshma]

Instruction in English is also a requirement for me. At Ph.D. level is that an issue at most European universities? Not that I'm not willing to learn a new language, but I don't want to make a Ph.D. more difficult than it already is.

Most post-graduate level programmes in Europe i.e. MSc and PhD are conducted in English. Non-native English speakers have to demonstrate English language proficiency (which is not a problem for you I think).

 

[Ai52487963]

The reason few US grads apply to the UK for PhD's is due to funding. It's next to impossible to get the level of funding the US requires, though you have to jump through less standardized testing.

For example, I'm doing my MSc at University College London right now after graduating from the US last year and it's a veritable nightmare for me to find funding since I'm not an EU or UK national. I think it's a similar process for continental Europe. The only avenues for funding for me are either loans, scholarships or the rare studentship. UCL has maybe 1 or 2 foreign funded Overseas Research Studentships and the astrophysics department doesn't fund overseas students to do PhD work.

Unless someone can correct me, the only way you're going to fund a physics PhD in the UK is through a scholarship like Marshall, Fullbright or Rhodes. The UK doesn't do things like TA or RA assistantships to help in the cost of tuition and living expenses for PhD applicants.

 

[Reshma]

The other important factor is, most PhD programmes in Europe require you to have a Master of Science (MSc) degree, unlike PhD programmes in US. The PhD student typically gets only 3-4 years of funding. Universities in UK are quite difficult for international candidates to get into, but Netherlands, Germany Sweden, Denmark usually do accept foreign students.

 

[elduderino]

If you just want to leave the US, have you considered Canada?

Good Physics places that come to mind, in continental Europe are ETH Zurich, Max Planck Institute in Germany (different for nano/theory/etc) , Utrecht in Netherlands, and some in France whose names were too French for me to remember. A lot of places in Germany are quiet good and can compete with the best US programs, and almost everywhere the academic language is English at grad level. In the "english-speaking" outside UK/US/Aus/NZ, there's Queen's university in Belfast which is good (Northern Ireland, though as a non-native speaker, I find it hard to understand their english.)

Another option available is that universities in the US sometimes have a fully functional program overseas. For example I know that MIT has one in portugal, and Harvard was planning to develop one in India. I have no clue how to find out others like this though.

 

[cgk]

About the funding: Note that this is not a problem in German speaking countries. There PhD students, at least in science and engineering, are typically employed by the universities or research institutes in question (e.g., Max Planck, Leibnitz or Fraunhofer institutes). Depending on the circumstances the payment may be sufficient or good (e.g., if you manage to score a rare "full position" in Germany, your payment will be better than that US postdoc salaries; In Switzerland it will typically be far more than that).

However, for these options you need to have an MSc first, and to get along well in German speaking countries, you need to learn German. Not necessarily for the studies themselves, but for getting along in everyday life.

 

[Schrodu]

Starting this year, the physics and biology departments at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), India, will be offering admission to international students. TIFR graduate school was modeled after US grad schools and so should be easy to adjust to for those who did their undergrad in the US. All grad students get a stipend which might seem tiny when converted to USD, but pays for all local expenses.

As far as I know, TIFR has some of the best groups world wide, particularly in theory physics (string theory, cond-matt, astro etc.)

(almost forgot, all instruction is in English, good command of English is required of applicants)

See http://univ.tifr.res.in/gs2011/index.html for details

 

[AndersonMD]

Most (if not all) Canadian schools give full funding to all incoming graduate schools. Not sure if that's far enough from the US for your tastes though.