Is it worth considering attending grad school in Europe for particle physics?

[mgiddy911]

I am only a freshmen in college, but I have plans on attending grad school for physics. Thus far my plans are to go to grad school in Europe. I was just wondeirng if you here could give me some feedback about that idea? Is it silly to think about going to Europe? I am not looking to go to any of the best schools, and the financial situation is important however I assume that many European schools will pay for your tuition and give you a stipend as do American schools. I have always wanted to go back to Ireland, I have been there before and would love to go back to my heritage. I also am studying french and would like to continue that so I have thought about France and Switzerland. I know its ambitious but I have always dreamed of working at CERN. I am interested in particle physics and computational physics. Could anyone set me in the right directions for schools to research?
Is it harder to get accepted as an American to a European University at all?

 

[mgiddy911]

I have come cross an REU thru Univ of Michigan at CERN. That is somethig I am very interested in for my later years, does anyone have any other REU's abroad I should look into to get a better sense of the physics world abroad, or any websites I should check out?

 

[mgiddy911]

I hate to bump my posts back, and Maybe there's a reason no one has responded, But could anyone offer some insight into the otential of going to grad school in europe, where to begin doing resaerch for it maybe?
ZapperZ's be a Physicist thread was mainly focused at the US side of thigns as far as researching grad schools went. The Mathematician thread was a little better but still was mainly focused on the US side of things

 

[Kalimaa23]

I'll share my limited experience...

I've you're interested in particle physics, there are many instituitions in Europe that work on one of the CERN experiments. Check out www.cern.ch to find out who they are.

My university (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) is part of the CMS collaboration. You can find more info here : http://web.iihe.ac.be/

Tuition for PhD students in Belgium is mostly symbolic (€250 first and graduating years, €50 other years) and the "stipends" are rather generous, comparable to the industry wages for physics graduates.

 

[fliptomato]

Hello, I also have only very limited experience. I'm currently spending two years studying physics in the UK doing masters degrees in Cambridge and Durham focusing in Particle Physics. However, my plans are to return to the US to do my PhD. What is worth considering is where you intend to spend your professional career. The physics community (i.e. North American or European) you do your PhD in is the same community that you tend to present your research to and where you make a name for yourself. Thus it's easier to land a post doctoral position in that same community.

In terms of schools, I'm largely unfamiliar with the continental schools, but Cambridge has an interesting theoretical physics department that is within their Centre for Mathematical Science (i.e. not with the other physics disciplines). I find that this is reflected in their research interests (mathematically leaning). Durham has the 'institute for particle physics phenomenology' which is very good for LHC-type theory. The other schools to consider in the UK include Imperial College and Oxford.