International options for grad school

MarinMom
Fri, 29 Jul 2011 20:57:07 +0000

I’m posting about my daughter’s experience this past year in applying to graduate school because she chose an option that most Americans don’t consider - applying to graduate school internationally. She decided to apply to grad schools in Europe for two reasons. First, she wanted to continue her education in Physics but didn’t feel ready to commit to a PhD program, and European universities offer terminal Master degrees (in fact, at many European universities you are not accepted into a PhD program until you have completed a Master’s). Second, she really wanted the experience of studying abroad but because of various commitments wasn’t able to go overseas as an undergrad.

She narrowed her search to institutions listed in the top 50(ish) internationally with Master programs taught in English. She identified several strong programs in the UK, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Israel and eventally applied to 5 universities. While she didn’t specifically apply for scholarships she was offered very generous ones at two institutions.

She’ll be heading for ETH Zurich in the fall. One attractive feature of ETH is that once accepted into the Master program, you don’t have to reapply if you decide that you’d like to stay and get a PhD. You have to find a professor to sponsor you, and you need to square things with the Swiss Office of Migration, but it’s nice to know that the option is available. Conversely, if you decide during the course of the Master program that a PhD is not for you, there’s no stigma associated with graduating with “just” a Master Degree. This flexibility is very appealing, especially for someone like my d who’s not sure yet what direction she wants to go in.

Hope this is helpful for anybody out there who’s interested in broadening their grad school options.

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