Studying abroad

[Biomiast]

Hi to all,

Since this is my last year in the university, I would like to apply graduate schools abroad for a PhD or MSc degree. I was looking for graduate schools in New Zealand and Australia since you speak English in those countries. My friend asked me today, if I was considering applying a graduate school in Europe. To tell you the truth I am a little scared because it is a different world and most importantly a different language.

I have couple of questions if anybody can answer:

1) In which European countries I can interact with people and live a normal life knowing only English?

2) Which European countries offer better life for graduate students? For example, as far as I know England is too expensive for a student to live. I want to be able to provide myself when I am there without asking something from my parents.(I admit, this might be something I should search, and I am going to search, but I was wondering if you know any sources as a starting point.)

3)This may be a ridiculous one, but it disturbs me, yet it could be a program so any mirror is appreciated. We all know nationalism increases around the world thanks to psychopaths. I am going to that country as a foreigner, as an immigrant from Turkey, lets admit not everybody is pro-Turkey in Europe. Another concern is that I am an Arab and I really look like an Arab and I have an Arab name. So I was wondering if there is any prejudices in those countries. I have to admit, what Sott writes about UK, Big Brother and "War on Terror" business scares me. So any feedback on that matter is also appreciated.

 

[Oxajil]

Does your university have any contacts with other universities in Europe for example? Perhaps it could be cheaper, if it would.

Maybe you can ask the advisor (not sure how they are called) at your university which choice would be the cheapest and (one of the) best.

If you decide to come to the Netherlands, you'll have my support if you need any. :)

 

[domi]

I have couple of questions if anybody can answer:

1) In which European countries I can interact with people and live a normal life knowing only English?

Great Britain and Ireland for sure.
People will be proficient in English in all Scandinavian countries.
Other options may be Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany where I think you will be fine.

 

[Gertrudes]

1) In which European countries I can interact with people and live a normal life knowing only English?

Well, that would depend if you are looking for studying only or working as well. There are a couple of Universities out there in Europe providing their programs in English because a great percentage of their students are foreigners. If you wish to work as well, then it is easier to go for the United Kingdom because of the language.

2) Which European countries offer better life for graduate students? For example, as far as I know England is too expensive for a student to live. I want to be able to provide myself when I am there without asking something from my parents.(I admit, this might be something I should search, and I am going to search, but I was wondering if you know any sources as a starting point.)

That would also depend on whether you would be looking for studying only or a combination of work + study. If for studying only, England can be relatively expensive, but that is depending on which city you would choose to live in. If you intend to work, from my experience it ends up paying itself of. Meaning that even if somethings are more expensive, average earnings would make up for it. Nevertheless, I'm currently living in England and have met quite a few Australians who mention that life quality for students or young people in the beginning of their working career in Australia puts England to shame. How true is that, don't really know.

I agree with Domi in that Belgium, Netherlands and Germany can be good choices. They are popular destinations for foreign students, so it should be relatively easy for you to integrate.

 

[bjorb]

People will be proficient in English in all Scandinavian countries.

At mine experience it does. Germany also. As for Belgium I think that only the Flemish section does, the part where Dutch is spoken. As for where they speak French which is Wallonia. Well I wouldn't really expect it.


I can tell you that in the Netherlands, Nationalism has risen, especially towards the Islam. But not of it’s kind that you will be threaten or be looked at differently. Not buy a long shot.

About the Arab issue I understand that you find it annoying, so long as it does not turn into hate of-course. - As for the Universities there are many nationalities especially Chinese nowadays.
Considering the language barrier. The mind-set has always been international. English is not a problem at all.

Oxajil has some good advice. I think it’s a good way into getting informed about the situation.

 

[The rabbit]

I can only speak for Denmark . As an English man I have been stunned to hear the english language spoken in a better way than I have heard a lot of English speaking peoples speak it.

Danes love to speak english. I have left a table full of Danes who where speaking in the english language for my bennefit , I have left the room for a few minutes , come back and everyone is still talking english

I lived in Germany before Denmark and found it very difficult.

 

[sid]

Just head over to New Zealand. :D I know I am living here right now but it's a great place to live and study, very peaceful indeed or at least percieved to be.

 

[RGG]

Singapore is also an English speaking country with a very eclectic population if your looking for something with an Asian flare. But doing your homework on who you plan to study under is the most important of all. The world of academia is filled with psychopaths too and just this year for example, more than ten years since my husband got his PhD the professor he studied under plagiarized a huge chunk of his thesis, wrote up a paper and didn't even include him as an author! This kind of thing happens everywhere, all of the time so if at all possible, talk to others students at lectures and conferences to get an idea of who's who (helping their students find jobs after graduating, creating team environments for study etc are good indicators of a good prof) and use that as the primary criteria for your move. It is very difficult to judge a tree by it's fruit in this environment since the professors steal the fruits from their post docs so try to be as careful as possible. Having a new cultural experience is a definite benefit of graduate work but a horrible professor will leave you jaded and miserable no matter how cool the location is. I would also suggest looking into the cost of living of some of your choices as well since it is very hard to explore and enjoy your new environment if all of your money is used up paying for rent and food. These are all big lessons my husband and I have learned navigating this same path. Good Luck! This will be a great adventure for you. :)

Rx

 

[Biomiast]

Thank you all for the replies.

Does your university have any contacts with other universities in Europe for example? Perhaps it could be cheaper, if it would.

Maybe you can ask the advisor (not sure how they are called) at your university which choice would be the cheapest and (one of the) best.

If you decide to come to the Netherlands, you'll have my support if you need any. :)

No they don't, unfortunately. I have friends who want to go to Europe with Erasmus, but there aren't such contacts, especially in our department.

My advisor studied in Manchester and London and she was the one who told us how hard it is to live there. Generally everybody in our department studied either in UK or in USA. I think I will ask some of them what they think about it. And Netherlands is on top of my list, if I find my area of interests. It is comforting to know I have your support. :)

Great Britain and Ireland for sure.
People will be proficient in English in all Scandinavian countries.
Other options may be Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany where I think you will be fine.

Ireland is an interesting idea. I wil check it out. And I didn't know about Belgium, another interesting idea.

That would also depend on whether you would be looking for studying only or a combination of work + study. If for studying only, England can be relatively expensive, but that is depending on which city you would choose to live in. If you intend to work, from my experience it ends up paying itself of. Meaning that even if somethings are more expensive, average earnings would make up for it. Nevertheless, I'm currently living in England and have met quite a few Australians who mention that life quality for students or young people in the beginning of their working career in Australia puts England to shame. How true is that, don't really know.

Actually, I want to be a teaching assistant, but I don't know if it counts as a job. For example in our university, graduate students don't pay money if they are teaching assistants, but they don't get anything either except from research funding. This is one of the reasons I want to go somewhere else. If they wouldn't pay me, I think I can work outside. Thanks for mentioning Australians' perspectives.

I can tell you that in the Netherlands, Nationalism has risen, especially towards the Islam. But not of it’s kind that you will be threaten or be looked at differently. Not buy a long shot.

About the Arab issue I understand that you find it annoying, so long as it does not turn into hate of-course. - As for the Universities there are many nationalities especially Chinese nowadays.
Considering the language barrier. The mind-set has always been international. English is not a problem at all.

Thanks for bringing some relief. Being a minority isn't a good thing in Turkey, so I was a little scared about other countries also.

I can only speak for Denmark . As an English man I have been stunned to hear the english language spoken in a better way than I have heard a lot of English speaking peoples speak it.

Then Denmark goes to the list.

Just head over to New Zealand. :D I know I am living here right now but it's a great place to live and study, very peaceful indeed or at least percieved to be.

Yes, these were my reasons for choosing Australia and New Zealand besides they weren't asking something like GRE. I found a really interesting lab there. If I would study biodiversity, I think New Zealand is best place to go. If I remember correctly five of their eight universities had biodiversity departments. Australia have many interesting labs also.

Singapore is also an English speaking country with a very eclectic population if your looking for something with an Asian flare. But doing your homework on who you plan to study under is the most important of all. The world of academia is filled with psychopaths too and just this year for example, more than ten years since my husband got his PhD the professor he studied under plagiarized a huge chunk of his thesis, wrote up a paper and didn't even include him as an author!

I have a friend who went to Singapore, one of the best universities. She seems quite happy, but a little disturbed since people belittle her achievement. I haven't thought about Singapore, I think I will check that also. What you wrote about academic world is so true, we have examples of it in our department. I found a person in Australia whose work was pretty good and he won numerous advisor awards. He seemed like a nice guy and I thought going there would be great.

Thanks everyone again for their replies.

 

[Gertrudes]

Re: Studying abroadhttp://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?action=post;quote=1

Actually, I want to be a teaching assistant, but I don't know if it counts as a job.

As far as I am aware, yes, teaching assistants get payed in England. It isn't comparable to a teacher's salary, but if I am not mistaken, they do get payed.

I would also suggest for you to find a couple of Universities in a few countries/cities delivering the PHD you are looking for, in a language that you can understand, this will already narrow down the possibilities. Then, do a bit of research on the countries and cities where the course is delivered: cost of living, student life, the "feel" of the area. I will be glad to help you with anything regarding England and my experience here as a foreigner and I am sure forum members will also be glad to help you in their experience with the other places.

On a side note, I've been to Turkey this year and loved it!

 

[vinny]

Re: Studying abroadhttp://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?action=post;quote=1

Actually, I want to be a teaching assistant, but I don't know if it counts as a job.

As far as I am aware, yes, teaching assistants get payed in England. It isn't comparable to a teacher's salary, but if I am not mistaken, they do get payed.

yes they get paid. a pittance. not enough to live on.

England has a high cost of living. And there is also the aggressively anti-arab government, with their slimy propaganda. It doesn't work on everyone but it's there in the background.
Some areas are more friendly than others, generally the further away from London the better. (just my opinion!)
There is a thriving and varied student community with a good international mix in many large cities, accepting of people from across the globe. But do you really want to live in the axis of evil? ;)

 

[Gertrudes]

Re: Studying abroadhttp://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?action=post;quote=1

yes they get paid. a pittance. not enough to live on.

Thanks Nomad, I hoped someone would jump in with a clearer idea, I wasn't very sure.

Cost of living in England for the common worker might be alleviated, but students, particularly foreign will undoubtedly struggle a lot.

Some areas are more friendly than others, generally the further away from London the better. (just my opinion!)

I agree, I currently live in London and well...I won't get started on it but will just say I am not a fan (to put it mildly)

 

[bjorb]

[quote author=Biomiast]I have friends who want to go to Europe with Erasmus[/quote]

[quote author=Biomiast]Being a minority isn't a good thing in Turkey, so I was a little scared about other countries also.[/quote]

Sadly I belief it’s like that in most countries. Since the Erasmus University lies in Rotterdam. Maybe this can also give you some relief:

The larger metropolitan area of Rotterdam has around 1,6 million citizens.
Rotterdam itself has a total of 582,949. - 45% of this is Non Dutch. There are some 160 different nationalities, 45,699 of this are Turkish.


I see you have some friends maybe wanting to go to Erasmus. Just to let you know English in general isn’t a problem, but if you truly try to fit in. With the population itself. It won’t be that easy.
I mean most people always prefer there own language. Even if English is well spoken. At least that's my experience.

 

[Biomiast]

Re: Studying abroadhttp://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?action=post;quote=1

yes they get paid. a pittance. not enough to live on.

England has a high cost of living. And there is also the aggressively anti-arab government, with their slimy propaganda. It doesn't work on everyone but it's there in the background.
Some areas are more friendly than others, generally the further away from London the better. (just my opinion!)
There is a thriving and varied student community with a good international mix in many large cities, accepting of people from across the globe. But do you really want to live in the axis of evil? ;)

No, I don't. You pretty much confirmed what I have been suspected. England isn't much different from US, at least for me. I would imagine there are areas that are tolerant-as in every country- but I think I will pass this one.

Cost of living in England for the common worker might be alleviated, but students, particularly foreign will undoubtedly struggle a lot.

I think so. I decided not to go there, especially in my current condition.

So, here is the update after hours of research and exhaustion:

Belgium: Seems friendly and nice and good nature-I mean Flemish region- but all of the things that I might be interested in is in Wallonia, so I don't think I can manage to live there.

Singapore: I looked at research topics, some of them were really interesting, but in general they weren't programs that would accept somebody with my background, it was more for neuroscientists. There were occasional hits, but I either didn't have experience they were looking for, or their research get into the topic of knock-out mice, so I decided not to take part in it.

Germany: It isn't somewhere I like-I don't know why-, though I have many relatives there. I am looking at Max Planck Institutes, there was a hit there, but again knock-out mice issue popped up. :( I am going to look there more deeply, maybe I find something else.

Netherlands: I actually looked at every university in Netherlands and all of them have this website design which makes it hard to navigate or find what you are looking for. I thought I checked everything, but then I realized I didn't read the half of it, so I am going back there and read again.

Sweden: It has some interesting programs and since you apply all universities with a single application, I will give it a try.

Ireland: I didn't get into it much, but I couldn't find anything promising, yet I will look further.

So, here comes the best one, Denmark: There are really few universities, but luckily, I found a lab, they are interested in what I am interested in. Actually reading their research topic was about to make me cry! :) Everything I can think of that should be included was there, and it is pretty much same thing with what we are doing here, so I will have the background and the experience when I graduate! I think I have found what I was looking for, but I will continue to search and be open to the possibilities.

Thanks again everyone. Networking rocks!