German University with a strong reputation plus international outlook

University of Delaware

7.8(7 Reviews)

Purdue University

7.9(18 Reviews)

Missouri University of Science and Technology

8.7(1 Reviews)

Reason for choosing my college

• Professor was well-recognised in research, plus guaranteed 4-year DAAD funding, which was not the case for the US universities; only Missouri offered me a teaching assistantship position.
• Prior experience of 1 semester as an exchange student at the University of Stuttgart was helpful.

Georgia Institute of Technology

8.0(12 Reviews)

University of Illinois

7.9(19 Reviews)

University of Michigan

8.5(17 Reviews)

Reason for Rejection

• Probably tougher competition for funding for PhD positions. Besides, some professors were retiring and unwilling to accept new students, while new ones were not having funding to host new students in the next 2 years.

• Being specific with the research proposal and having something concrete instead of a generic proposal is important for the professor to accept you as a PhD student in terms of the DAAD scholarship rules.

• Germany is a safer country compared to many others, like the USA. Strong economy, decent job prospects. The university is also pretty well known in academic circles, with many foreign colleagues and not only Germans.
• Postdocs were super helpful and research facilities were among the best in Germany when I started.

• Classes start at 8 in the morning and might even go till 8 pm at night. But generally till 6pm. A class typically lasts for 2 hours.
• Each course has generally 2 lectures per week; one is study matter, while the other is tutorial. The subsurface engineering course is offered in English and has around 10–12 Indian students out of around 60 in the class.
• Around 2-3 hours for daily assignments is enough.

• Faculty are well known, especially courses like computational engineering and subsurface engineering, which are pretty popular among international students. Due to data protection rules in Germany, it is not advisable to name professors without their prior written approval so I will skip this part.
• Faculties also assist in making contacts for potential employers; however, this is not their job, and its much better to do this by yourself or through online applications.

• Ruhr University Bochum has 1 main campus and some small departments, like sport and fitness, on a nearby campus.
• The library is centralized and huge. Sports facilities are huge, with nearly all types of sports played on a regular basis.
• There is a summer fest every year on the campus during June and July. Fitness studio, volleyball, and hockey are played daily professionally.

• A lot of them work at Amazon warehouse packaging and parcelling, but this is strenuous and many students complain of sore backs a few months later. Also, working hours are odd and might be during the night. Pretty easy to get this job.
• Other than that, many work as food delivery agents or also in restaurants as waiters. Pay is usually 12–13 euros per hour. Max 20 h per week is allowed. Applications for jobs are online or through referrals from friends or existing employees.

• TA DA roles are not existing for students in German universities; however, they can work as HiWi or assisting scientific staff, where they are paid for assisting PhD students in their research by doing smaller tasks, which saves time for the PhD student. The pay is around 500 euros per month and they work 8 hours per week.

• For a PhD, everyone is employed within 6 months after graduation, either as a postdoc or in industry. Salary range is debatable but depends on location, but in general it is in the range of 50-65k after PhD and without prior experience or only PhD work experience.
• Students find jobs via networking or applications online through LinkedIn, Xing, and Indeed.

• Immoscout24 was the best option for finding accommodation. If you are looking for shared apartments, wg-gesucht is another great option. Typically, you receive responses at a ratio of 1:10, meaning 10 applications 1 response for viewing since the competition is significant.
• But even after rent, electricity internet heating charges are generally to be paid separately unless mentioned in the contract.