(edit title) Computer science PhD in Sweden Asian student Options

[rocky59]

Hi all,

I'm in south Asia and wanting to pursue my phd in Sweden. I'm really excited about Sweden! I'm currently in my final year (4th year) and will be completing my final year exams in this (2012) October.

Is university of Stockholm a good one for a phd in CS?
http://dsv.su.se/en/research/postgrad/admission
They say "admission process takes place twice a year with application dates April 30 and October 15". Are they the application deadlines? What is the actual classes starting dates of the above deadlines? Because as i said ill be finishing my exams in this October.
Can I join a Phd program right after with my bachelors without a MSc? I know in US you can do this but i'm not sure how this goes in Sweden.
Also in Sweden if you got selected to a PhD you are free from paying tuition fee right?

What are the other good options than the University of Stockholm. I got to know KTH, Chalsmers and Uppsala are very good right?. But I couldn't find more specific information like how to apply and application deadlines for them.

Is Stockholm a really good place to live, especially when it comes to the climate? My lecturer who is a Uppsala Phd said whether conditions are really hard, sometimes going down to even -30 Celsius in the Winter. How this goes with Stockholm?

Looking forward to hearing from you all.
Thank you!

[johnjohn]

I believe the PhD program in Sweden is a salaried teaching position. Thus you apply for like a job and most likely you would be teaching in Swedish and would require your masters first. Perhaps Puffin will post and she will give you 100% accurate information. Good luck.

[Kibiri]

I am not familiar with Stockholms University, but in a PhD there are no classes starting date (or rather I shall say, it is mostly irrelevant). You take courses, yes, but not on a mostly fixed schedule like in bachelors or masters programs.

PhD students in Sweden do not pay tuition. You receive a salary around 22-23 000 sek/month. It is more like a job. KTH announces PhD positions like jobs, as they become available. Check the website. Others should be doing the same.

In Sweden they normally ask for a masters degree. Still it is possible to start a PhD without a masters degree, but maybe a bit unlikely.

You should check departmental pages, see which people are doing what type of research. If there is anything that really interests you, you may email the professor that you would be working with, to ask if she has any upcoming PhD positions. Not everybody keep their webpages up to date to reflect what they are doing. Reading what they published in last few years can be useful.

Stockholm doesn't get to -30, that's more like up north Umeå, Luleå.

[Fishtank]

Can I join a Phd program right after with my bachelors without a MSc? I know in US you can do this but i'm not sure how this goes in Sweden. Also in Sweden if you got sele ... (show full quote)

Can I join a Phd program right after with my bachelors without a MSc? I know in US you can do this but i'm not sure how this goes in Sweden.
Also in Sweden if you got selected to a PhD you are free from paying tuition fee right? ... (hide full quote)

Where did you get this info from?
AFAIK:
For any PhD level positions you need to have masters degree course work along with Masters Degree thesis. So get yourself into masters program and may be work it out towards Phd positions.. Means doing PhD under same supervisor you select while doing masters thesis.

If you are not aware, during your bachelors degree the courses you take, are on basic and intermidiate level (A or B as they call here in Europe) where as during masters you learn subjects on intermediate to advanced levels. (C or D level).

I have not come across any program that let you do PhD unless you are exceptionally gifted and the department decides that you are worth giving a chance pulling something like this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graduate_school

[Fishtank]

Repeat post...Apologies

[rocky59]

Where did you get this info from?

hey that's really possible. I know few people personally who have done it that way to USA. You don't have to be 'exceptionally gifted' for that. Read this if you want something more about it.

[Puffin]

You need to check out the PhD programme application details on the website of the University that you are interested in taking your PhD at - this is one area where there is little standardisation - all Unis have their own procedures which may/may not include various combinations of
- grades
- Interviews
- blind evaluations of Bachelor and Masters dissertations/theses
Not all involve all 3

You should also check out whether there are specially sponsored places available such as industry sponsored or to work on a specific research project


You will also be able to see the basic qualifications that you need. A few years ago there were some departments that used to accept exceptional students with bachelor exams but most places have closed that loophole now in an attempt to reduce workload as the sheer number of labour hours devoted to reading hundreds of dissertations when they only wanted 2 or 3 PhD students made in uneconomic

Being a PhD student is unlike other forms of student - you are regarded as an employee in Sweden by the Uni - but as a student by Migrationsverket - most PhDs have courses but they may be organised in all sorts of different ways as most are not traditional "student" lecture/classes.

[Puffin]

By the way it's a good idea to check out University websites for PhD programmes - many only recruit PhDs once per year in the spring

[rocky59]

problem is most of them I looked, do not mention about application process and the deadlines.

[skogsbo]

I'm really excited about Sweden!

My favourite bit but why are you excited? have you been here before? been watching Melodifestivalen?

[Puffin]

problem is most of them I looked, do not mention about application process and the deadlines.

Because of the salary and training commitments it costs a department around 5-10 million kronors or more to have a PhD student - so not every departments recruits PhD students (doktorands) every year

You can also look at the government job centre site at www.ams.se as most are advertised there

You can also check out University websites under "lediga tjänster" (vacant positions)

I had a quick look at AMS and found

PhD in Computer science at Örebro
http://www.arbetsformedlingen.se/4.38a41af...d99fbdb65800021

PhD in computer science at Blekinge technical College
http://www.arbetsformedlingen.se/4.38a41af...d99fbdb65800021

PhD in multimedia sensornetwork at KTH
http://www.arbetsformedlingen.se/4.38a41af...d99fbdb65800021

[Fishtank]

A blog link of some indian dude? Nice.

From your so called blog link:
Rutgers:
The minimal requirements for admission of a student with a baccalaureate are identical with the requirements for admission to our MS program. See section 3.1 of this brochure. However, for students who indicate their intention of pursuing a doctoral degree program, the Admissions Committee seeks a substantially higher undergraduate GPA, substantially higher GRE scores, and outstanding letters of recommendation.

Of course first two parts of substancial (how substancial is not mentioned ...)GPA and GRE scores are damn easy or?
How about last part? Outstanding letters of reco??

Ohio state Univ link provided does not work

Thrid one is PhD in economics...

Are you for real?

Mate, if this is level of your referencing skill, no wonder you want to skip the normal routine process of achieving academic maturity and learn (isn't it the purpose here or you have a fascination towards getting referred as Dr.?

Good luck with your short cuts.

[Puffin]

Some us have got onto PhDs through bachelor exams but it's a rarity as your Bachelor Disstertation my compete against Master dissertations - my department just admits through dissertation quality without interview.

Until 2006 Sweden didn't have separate Masters degrees but instead had the so called magister degree which was like a 1 year taught Master - so admission by Bachelor was more normal then. However now that the 2 year Master has taken off it has become the standard for PhD admission

However it is no longer possible in my department as it just proved too expensive to pay salary costs for the admissions committee to read 300+ dissertations to rank a top 25 of which only 1 or 2 had bachelors- where only 2 or 3 PhD students were needed per year. They found that many of the "Bachelor rejects" became much stronger applicants when they came back a few years later with a Masters

[Andrey Kiselev]

Check http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/index.cfm/jobs/index for phd courses and requirements.