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Non-Scientific Reasons To Do A PhD In The Netherlands
- betawolf33 13y agoI'm not convinced that a salaried PhD would be an advantage. Is there not something rather bizarre about the government taxing the money it's giving to you to support your studies? I'm not sure how it works in the Netherlands, but in the UK you can claim unemployment benefits without having to have been paying taxes (so far as I'm aware). Surely people applying to PhD positions aren't so incapable of managing their finances that they require payment monthly rather than quarterly? That's the only difference I can see between a grant system and a salaried one.
- mayank 13y ago> Is there not something rather bizarre about the government taxing the money it's giving to you to support your studies? My PhD in the US was funded by NSF dollars, ie public money. I went to a state school. My stipend was taxed like regular income. On top of that, I paid Medicare and Social Security taxes (publicly funded government programs), which as a non-US citizen, I cannot use anyway. When you're making less than $20k a year in downtown Chicago, all this hurts quite a bit.
- Ihmahr 13y ago"Is there not something rather bizarre about the government taxing the money it's giving to you to support your studies?" Not at all. Its just like mp's, staff and everyone else employed by the government. "I'm not sure how it works in the Netherlands, but in the UK you can claim unemployment benefits without having to have been paying taxes (so far as I'm aware)." No, in the UK and the Netherlands they won't hand out money to unemployed foreigners who choose to come and live there. "That's the only difference I can see between a grant system and a salaried one." You can still get a grant. Lucky you!!
- throwaway_phd 13y ago> I'm not convinced that a salaried PhD would be an advantage As someone who is just about to complete a PhD at Delft, I agree. If you are paid a salary, you are treated as an employee. In my opinion, this is not a good fit for the PhD process. That said, it was nice not having to scrape by. > Is there not something rather bizarre about the government taxing the money it's giving to you to support your studies? At least at Delft, many PhD's are partially funded by private corporations.
- Kartificial 13y agoFirst time I've read an argument against the lack of language barrier, interesting, and point well made.
- forgingahead 13y agoRelated: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_the_Netherlands http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_the_Netherlands
- Gmo 13y agoI think the so called "30% rule" has been made stricter lately though. So don't count on it as a 100% sure thing.
- Gmo 13y agoSomehow, the article is polluted with islamophobic/racist comments. But being a foreigner living in the Netherlands, I can say that most of what is said here is true (I would put a few nuances for some points but well, everybody has a different view on things :) )
- fennecfoxen 13y agoReason 12, I suppose, is the 22 American nuclear bombs stored there? :P
- davedx 13y agoAnother nice fact about being a scientist (well OK, engineer) in the Netherlands is the European Space Agency have an HQ here :)
- nextscientist 13y agoTrue, it's located near Leiden, where I live. They have excellent research programs, exciting projects and great working conditions (salary and benefits). It's full of international people and close to an international school (for those moving in with a family).
- davedx 13y agoI'd love to work there, though it'd be an evil commute for me (I'm in Ede). I'm even subscribed to their jobs mailing list. I haven't seen any software developer jobs come up, though. :(
- asifjamil 13y agoAs an American student studying for a PhD in Germany, I would say that basically all of the reasons listed here could be applied to Germany as well (except maybe the 30% rule).
- pame_paralia 13y agoI had the impression that is quite hard to survive in Germany just with English.
- sentenza 13y agoIt depends on what you mean by survive. If you work in an academic context, you will get by with English for work purposes just fine. I personally know various PhD students, postdocs and professors that use only English in their work life. There are, of course exceptions. I could imagine that you might run into trouble in a very small university (as in only teaches brewery engineering) or in a medium-sized university in east Germany. As to general life, it depends. In population centers you usually always find somebody who speaks English. In rural areas, it might be a bit more difficult. My recommendation is: If you don't understand or can't make yourself understood, just look for somebody below the age of 30 and you will soon enough find an ad-hoc translator. Nonetheless, if you want to inmerse yourself in the culture and feel "at home", you have to learn the language. This, however, is the case for every place on the planet.
- keiferski 13y agoAny thoughts on Americans studying for MA's and PhD's in Koln/Cologne?
- asifjamil 13y agoI've heard many good things about Cologne, but most of them being more geared to the touristic/cultural side of the city. It's apparently one of the most multi-cultural cities after Berlin I think.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- Vivtek 13y agoLet me add a real #12 - restaurant food there is plentiful and fantastic. While I was courting my wife, she did a month in Delft. I was living in Stuttgart at the time and went there every weekend. We repeated only one restaurant in all that time and ate like kings.
- 1morepassword 13y agoThat's not a very representative sample. Restaurants tends to be better in Germany. And in both countries, prices are much higher and service much worse than in the US, because waiting staff doesn't depend on tips.
- DigitalTurk 13y agoHaving lived in Amsterdam I would strongly deny this. Restaurants in NL are below Western European standards. And a quasi-monopoly by one particular supermarket chain means it's a hassle to find quality ingredients for home cooked meals too. For instance, if I recall correctly, Albert Hein ham has about 60% meat in it and it looks really pale.
- Gmo 13y agoOh yes, don't talk to me about the food :)
- basseq 13y agoAnd according to the other front-page post on the Netherlands on HN right now[1], because there are 22 American nuclear bombs stored there. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5853081 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5853081
- nextscientist 13y agoI am the author of the blog post. I went for a walk and when I came back I found this mess. Excuses to those that could have felt offended by the comments posted by some readers. Nasty comments have been deleted. Insults and personal fights are not acceptable in the comments section. Please, feel free to contribute new comments to keep a useful discussion going. Cheers, Julio
- kirk21 13y agoThey are indeed very open minded and interested in new technology and ideas. We hope that they will like our tool for PhD students: bohr.launchrock.com
- kirk21 13y agoThey are indeed open minded and interested in new ideas and technologies. We hope they will like our new tool for PhD students: bohr.launchrock.com
- kirk21 13y agoThey are indeed open minded and interested in new ideas and technologies. We hope they will like our new tool for PhD students: bohr.launchrock.com