Where to go for an exchange? Physics Major

[Ashuron]

Hi all,

My university has an exchange program, and I am thinking to apply for it

Some of the notable choices (in Europe) are:
-ETH Zurich
-EPFLausanne
-TU Munich
-TU Darmstadt
-U Stuttgart
-Utrecht
-KTH
-Chalmers

I am a Physics Major (undergraduate) and do not speak any European language besides English..
I am interested to do the exchange in my final year..

want to know if anyone has a personal experience with these universities..?
I prefer those universities that allow me to do a research project under supervision..
also how are they in terms of workload, living expense, environment?

language is also a problem..seems those universities have more Math courses in English than Physics, which is fine for me actually..
I am also thinking to take graduate courses..those are usually in English

Any information is helpful..

 

[Ashuron]

any experience with european education will be useful..
say, will the undergraduates has research opportunities like UROP?

 

[Hypersphere]

I actually study at Chalmers, so I might have something to say about that. The situation at KTH is quite similar, though the rent is likely more expensive. I believe both (it's certainly true for Chalmers) universities insist on Swedish in the undergraduate part of the education (i.e. the first three years, then there's a two year master program). However, both places offer engineering physics programs rather than pure physics programs, so maybe you will have met some or all of the prerequisites for the master courses in the final year of your undergraduate. This would be beneficent as the master courses are all taught in English.

Student research is mainly conducted as closing projects of the bachelor and master programs. These are supervised and result in full theses. Apart from that it is sometimes possible to join in research projects (particularly the laboratory ones), but it isn't too common and certainly isn't as organized as UROP seems to be.

The academic year is divided in quarters and one is expected to get 15 credits per quarter. In most cases this translates to two courses and one can do quite well at 50h/week, though the hours obviously depends on the person and the choice of courses. See http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings_by_country.jsp for comparisons of living costs between the countries.

 

[Ryker]

A friend of mine went on an exchange to Utrecht, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think she's even thinking of going back for a Masters program. Granted, it wasn't Physics (Women's Studies actually ), but in general Utrecht seems to have a good reputation. The city itself from what I hear is also awesome, and given that it's in Netherlands, this is to be expected anyway

I guess if you're going for a name in Physics, Zürich and München would be the way to go, but I'm not sure whether that should be your main concern if you're just going there as part of an exchange. Exchanges are usually there for people to have fun. Sure, you take classes and all, but the general atmosphere is more relaxed, especially if the classes have different weightings or credit as they would back home. Personally, if your aim is to be hardcore, don't go on an exchange, and be hardcore at your home university. I doubt you can gain that much from those short couple of months, and in that case I think it's better to have a continuity of education back home.

 

[Ashuron]

Hypersphere, Thanks a lot for your help..
Engineering physics courses should be OK for me..
The possibility of research is certainly a plus

Thanks Ryker..
It's quite hard to find infos on Utrecth..
The thing is I am planning to do this exchange in my final year...
This is an opportunity for me to take some graduate courses and get acquainted with the professors there..for the purpose of graduate schools applications..