Several places in Europe are like this. E.g. in my home country Norway you also don't have to pay tuition: https://www.studyinnorway.no/study-in-norway/Tuition

Several places in Europe are like this. E.g. in my home country Norway you also don't have to pay tuition: https://www.studyinnorway.no/study-in-norway/Tuition https://www.studyinnorway.no/study-in-norway/Tuition, and a lot of courses are taught in english. In the Netherlands all master level degrees at all universities are taught in english if there are any non-dutch speakers in class. Both Norway and the Netherlands are perhaps easier if you don't speak the native language than Germany as pretty much everybody speaks quite good english in both places. I have friends in Norway I've known over decades who still don't speak a word of Norwegian. For an english speaker dutch is probably easier to learn than German, as dutch is closer to english. E.g. "I sit in the train and drink water", in dutch becomes something like "Ik sit in de trein en drink water". Not sure about Norwegian, but it is probably an easier language than German. Not quite as complicated grammar. Having studied at very different universities with respect to ranking, I got to say I don't think ranking means very much for the average student. It is overhyped, I can't see a huge difference. Ultimately results are going to depend on you and your efforts. In fact there has been studies of this. Ivy League universities don't actually improve your grades or earning prospects. It just looks like that due to creaming. But when they compare SAT scores of students who could get into an Ivy League but chose not to with those who did, one doesn't see a difference in salary afterwards: https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/the-college-solution/2011/03/01/the-ivy-league-earnings-myth https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/the-college-solution/... I read in another study that if you are at the lower tier in an ivy league you will actually end up worse, because it will kill your confidence to be around so many people smarter than you. Go to a normal college where you are among the better and it will boost your confidence and ability to excel. And many might already have read that Google does in fact not favor ivy league students as they are typically to dependent on external drive, grades etc, rather than internal drive to make good products which is what matters at google. Anyway I think people should focus more on going a place they would enjoy. I think many European universities are very nice to attend because in Europe there are lots of cities which are easy to walk and with great public transport. That makes life a lot nicer for students. You can easily get around town and do all sorts of stuff, either, with bike, walking, tram, bus etc. Also at least in northern Europe societies tend to offer more freedom for youngsters. I've studied in the US for a year and found it too restrictive. There is too much control on young people. You can't drink until 21. Dormitories have a lot of rules and are gender segregated. In e.g. Norway or the Netherlands, student housing means sharing a real apartment with people. You got mixed gender and you cook food together, can invite people over, come and go when you like.