Do European Ph.D. programs are soo different than American Ph.D. programs to treat students?
It is about the person and the committee. If you’re lucky, your coworkers will have excellent people skills and a genuine interest in their student’s growth and development. Although some people value them, others do not. Many individuals have gotten their PhDs in Europe and have never raised this concern. Also, they earned their doctorates from institutions in nations as diverse as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Belgium.
The most delicate piece of advice is never to pursue notoriety; instead, choose individuals to work with that can have genuine conversations with you. Don’t waste your time or convince yourself to lower your well-being if you find that individual challenging to interact with and have no respect for you or your work.
Many argue that comparing Europe and the United States is useless since Ph.D. programs in both regions are so different. In the United Kingdom, for instance, a Ph.D. student receives a stipend equal half of what a recent college graduate may earn at a full-time job. However, in Denmark, doctoral students are compensated more than recent graduates.
Ph.D. students sometimes put undue stress on themselves despite their challenging work and financial situations. It may be less of a challenge if you live in Europe, which typically has more social security protections than the United States; for example, if you opt to forego a Ph.D. and become jobless, you may have more significant financial help in Europe than in the United States. The duration of a Ph.D. program in Europe tends to be shorter than the American norm. There is no distinction so long as the traumatic experience centers on interpersonal dynamics between managers and other coworkers.
If you already hold a master’s degree, you may choose to try your luck in the European Union rather than starting over with another full course load in the United States. However, it may not be easy to get financial aid for a Ph.D. program in the United States, and salaries, in particular, in European Union (EU) nations, such as Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands, may exceed those in the United States. Europe is a great place to settle down if you despise the hustle and bustle of major cities and would instead call Stockholm, Amsterdam, or any other European capital home.
The European Ph.D. system is far less stressful for the student than the American Ph.D. system, with a few exceptions.
There are two notable (non-scientific) aspects: While in many European countries, a dissertation may be obtained by publishing anything one can and then stapling together three separate papers with some prose to link them, in the United States, the situation is somewhat different.
Second, many European doctoral programs treat the student like an employee and provide them with a decent wage; this encourages many individuals to pursue a Ph.D. when they cannot find work in their field of study elsewhere. They enroll in Ph.D. programs less out of a desire to “contribute to the field” and more out of a desire to get experience and a resume boost when job hunting. Compared to their American counterparts, they are frequently considered more like workers and have more significant influence. A Ph.D. student reports to a supervisor in Europe but an adviser in the United States.