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My advice is find a PhD you want in Norway or the Netherlands. They have programs with competitive research groups, salaries that will get you a quality of life
by mnky9800n 3y ago
My advice is find a PhD you want in Norway or the Netherlands. They have programs with competitive research groups, salaries that will get you a quality of life you will appreciate, they will end in 3-4 years, and they have money to pay for you to go to conferences, etc without you having to fight for it from your adviser. Everywhere else sucks.
This comment is based on my experience working as a scientist in academia in USA, Japan, Germany, France, Norway, UK, and now the Netherlands.
- Beldin 3y agoAdd Luxembourg and Switzerland to that list - at least EPFL and ETH. It's so unbelievably better to be at an institute where travelling within Europe is simply not a budgetary problem at all.
- bafe 3y agoYour experience at ETH might vary a lot though. Their PhD programs are extremely heterogeneous between departments and vary from modern, well structured grad schools to the old-fashioned central European style where the student are basically at the mercy of their advisor for five years.
- mnky9800n 3y agoGood point. University of Lausanne is nice too I hear. Definitely stay away from places like France or UK. They both have terrible salaries and culture (at the university). I would say Germany is a mixed bag. Your salary can be nice in Berlin. The same salary in Munich, and it will be the same, is unliveable.
- abrichr 3y agoAny thoughts on Poland?
- mnky9800n 3y agoCurrently the salary is not competitive however Poland is the shining star of Europe given their growth and everything else these days. I might go there if science funding becomes more inline with other European countries.