BlueSwedeShoes

I know this is a bit of a late reply, but; Most european higher educations underwent some major changes with the Bologna process a couple of years ago. Essentially, the process equated the different degrees in a number of EU countries, so a 2 year master in Sweden should be the same level as one in Germany, Spain, wherever. Also, I got accepted to 5 U.S PhD programs, some top ones, with a Swedish M.Sc. In addition, Swedish university education is free, if that matters at all for you. Feel free to message me if you have any questions about Swedish education

I am also trying to finish up my thesis and was going to recommend the "just keep writing"-method! Glad to hear it's working for you, as well. Although I don't set goals in terms of pages but rather words, something like 1 000 words a day is a nice pace. Also, focus on the thesis. I blocked out everything else in my life for a week when I felt it was going very slow and managed to get 10 000 words (~30 pages) done. Best part: My advisors thought it was fantastic text, just some minor changes needed.

Great advice and information so far, thanks people. Also, it is not decided and certain that I will be moving to Norfolk come fall. So where should I look for housing? Someone mentioned Ghent, are there any other nice areas, or some that I really want to stay away from?

When I write to my current professors, in Sweden, I either just write "Hi", sometimes with their nickname. Never during my 5 years have I called a professor "Dr." or even by their last name, in writing or in person. But when I establish first contact with people in the states I do "Dear Dr. last name". After an email or two I usually drop it to "Dear first name", and after one or two more I just do "First name". Noone has complained or commented on it so far

I got two offers with TA and one with RA. I consider the RA position to be a better one, but that's a personal preference for me (I'm a foreigner and would like to take a year or so of american education first before I TA...also, I love research). Incidentally I ended up accepting the offer with an RA-ship, but it wasn't the deciding factor. And I know I'll TA in at least a semester before I finish, so...

Thanks guys, lots of good advice here. Human factors can also be called engineering psychology. It can be interaction/interface design, risk/accident analysis or a whole lot of other things. Someone has to remind engineers of what humans can and cannot do Yes, but not specifically about the advising style of the adviser but rather about the school, the research etc. Not too late to shoot off another email though ...and I thought the application was the tough part!

Yes and no. It is true that I was (maybe am?) leaning A, but I'm very torn. I'm mostly afraid that I'll toss away the chance to work with a really well-known adviser and that it will hurt my chances (for job etc) later.

You're absolutely right, but I'm afraid B's offer won't cover all my expenses. As in, they just emailed me saying I need to provide proof of other funds (a few thousand $$$) in addition to their offer else they cannot offer me a visa Also, after five years of really tight living on loans I'm just sick of financial insecurities and the stress it brings.

Yes, B would include health insurance. But even when factoring in paying for a decent insurance, I would still get more money at A.

Yeah, surprise surprise, I too need a second opinion (and perhaps a third...) Essentially it breaks down like this; Place A: +Interesting and relevant research +Nice funding offer +Most likely RA instead of TA -Unknown adviser (as in; not many people have herd of this person, pretty young and relatively new out of his/her own phd education) -No health insurance Place B: +Superstar, everyone-knows-this-person adviser (who is late in his/her career) + (or -?) Uni is a hub of interesting research but nothing specific has been mentioned to me (I can probably do a bit of whatever I feel like) +Said superstar adviser is trying to get me an RA position rather than the offered TA -Kinda crappy funding (it will not be enough cover my modest living expenses) -Said adviser is very hands-off and can be difficult to work with (according to several sources including the advisers own words of warning) Places C and D are not in the game at this point, it's either of these two. And I haven't been able to visit either since I'm outside of the US and cannot take the time and money to go visit in person Also they're both kinda crappy places to live, so I guess that's not a factor Edit: Maybe I should add that one of the things I (as a foreigner) am most wondering about is how much the adviser name/reputation plays in to future job prospects etc?

I use Gmail. I have over 60 filters active that catches all kinds of mailing list emails, subscriptions, social networking notifications etc etc. The filters slaps on an appropriate label on the emails and send them right into Archive without touching the inbox. That way I only get things mailed directly to me on important/unique topics. Cut my inbox count down from 30+ daily to 5-10-ish. Much more manageable! I actually put this system in use this fall when I was the producer for a rather large theatre organisation; I just couldn't deal with the 70-80 emails that came every day! With this system I can read all these unimportant emails in a lump during the evening or other free time, rather than being bothered during the day Edit: Ok, I had to go count my filters. 68 total. 34 different labels. God knows my inbox would be a mess without labels and filters!

That's my concern. Can't they all place a "X % of our former PhD students are now employed. Click this link for a breakdown in what areas! Also, the average salary for a grad student from this department is $Y." That would be very helpful

That saddens me, I'm very fond of my bike and bike everywhere (I've never owned a car, but I guess I would look into getting one if I move to the states...when in Rome and all that). Also, it would be nice to live in a temperate climate and bike...this morning it was -19C (-2F) when I biked to the university, last Friday the hadn't plowed the bike lane and it was pretty rough biking in the 7-8" of snow that had accumulated during the night, more where snow plows had thrown snow onto the bike lane.

So just how are you going to check #3? Do you know of any good resources, or would you have to rely on maybe finding something mentioned on the department websites? I'm curious myself

Have you tried searching the results page? If there's nothing on there it's at least an indication that things are still in the works... Edit: Or that noone applying to those programs care enough (or know about this site) to post their results, but that's unlikely