(Studying "abroad"/Academia Thread)

[Defiance]

Hej all!

A thread that has nothing to do with Vintersorg or music whatsoever.

I've decided that next year I want to (finally) go and study abroad. So, I need to know many things, and will really appreciate any recommendations you may have.

As you may know, I'm a professor/translator. I teach EFL, and translate (95% of the time) ENG <&#8211;> SPA. So, I want to know relevant info. about studying said areas (especially translation) abroad.

By abroad I mean Canada, US, UK, Germany and Sweden (or Scandinavia and Finland).

More specifically, my questions, for now, are:
01) Average fee for non-Swedes to study in Sweden.
02) "Prestigious" Unis in Sweden that have translation/linguistics./literature programmes. (I saw Lund and Stockholm Uni).
03) I'm diabetic, so I need to know if, as a student/professor/whatever in Sweden and other European countries, how easy/difficult it is to have access to insulin. (I'm Type 1, so I need 4 shots a day.)

I'm really hyped about all this, and I mostly ask about Sweden because it's a nice country in which I could live and yada-yada-yada; however, I'm also thinking of Pryfisgol (Uni) Bangor (Wales), UofT (Uni of Toronto), UdeM (Université a Montréal) and MIT.

That's it for now, thanks!

PS: Feel free to post any other academia related information so that the thread doesn't die in 1 month .

 

[Draugen]

Hej all!

A thread that has nothing to do with Vintersorg or music whatsoever.

I've decided that next year I want to (finally) go and study abroad. So, I need to know many things, and will really appreciate any recommendations you may have.

As you may know, I'm a professor/translator. I teach EFL, and translate (95%) of the time ENG <&#8211;> SPA. So, I want to know relevant info. about studying said areas (especially translation) abroad.

By abroad I mean Canada, US, UK, Germany and Sweden (or Scandinavia and Finland).

More specifically, my questions, for now, are:
01) Average fee for non-Swedes to study in Sweden.
02) "Prestigious" Unis in Sweden that have translation/linguistics./literature programmes. (I saw Lund and Stockholm Uni).
03) I'm diabetic, so I need to know if, as a student/professor/whatever in Sweden and other European countries, how easy/difficult it is to have access to insulin. (I'm Type 1, so I need 4 shots a day.)

I'm really hyped about all this, and I mostly ask about Sweden because it's a nice country in which I could live and yada-yada-yada; however, I'm also thinking of Pryfisgol (Uni) Bangor (Wales), UofT (Uni of Toronto), UdeM (Université a Montréal) and MIT.

That's it for now, thanks!

PS: Feel free to post any other academia related information so that the thread doesn't die in 1 month .

1. It has always been free for foreigners to study in Sweden, but I think as of last year, they changed that. Don't know what the cost is - but I'm sure you can find whatever you need here:
http://www.studyinsweden.se/
http://www.hsv.se/2.539a949110f3d5914ec800056285.html

2. Lund is probably THE most prestigious and "classic" university-city in Sweden, along with Uppsala. If you go to Lund, be prepared to fight a lot in order to get somewhere to stay. The positive thing though, is that I live 10 minutes (by train) from Lund

3. No idea. Though I don't think this should be difficult in any country in the world today. It's 2011 after all...

 

[NovembersDirge]

I've decided that next year I want to (finally) go and study abroad. So, I need to know many things, and will really appreciate any recommendations you may have.

As you may know, I'm a professor/translator. I teach EFL, and translate (95%) of the time ENG <&#8211;> SPA. So, I want to know relevant info. about studying said areas (especially translation) abroad.

By abroad I mean Canada, US, UK, Germany and Sweden (or Scandinavia and Finland).

More specifically, my questions, for now, are:
01) Average fee for non-Swedes to study in Sweden.
02) "Prestigious" Unis in Sweden that have translation/linguistics./literature programmes. (I saw Lund and Stockholm Uni).
03) I'm diabetic, so I need to know if, as a student/professor/whatever in Sweden and other European countries, how easy/difficult it is to have access to insulin. (I'm Type 1, so I need 4 shots a day.)

01) Studera.nu should have that information, but it's quite expensive now. This is a recent change and if you wanted to get grandfathered into the new system you had to have come this year. Important links: https://www.studera.nu/studera/1374.html (that should be the English) and http://www.migrationsverket.se/info/studera_en.html

01b) If you're an exchange student you just pay whatever you would pay at your home university.

02) Lund is a very prestigious university as is Stockholm and, of course, Uppsala. You should also look into Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH) because they are rumored to have a very good linguistics program, but I've never looked myself so I know very little about it. Get into housing queues NOW in every place where you're looking to come. Also, Umeå is an up-and-coming university and they get a lot of good funding, it's worth researching into and it's also in Norrland which is the home of all good things in Sweden.

02b) You don't want to learn Swedish in Skåne.

03) If you have a visa that permits you to stay in Sweden for longer than a year than you are covered under Sweden's very good health care program, that means that insulin should not be a problem for you at all. I don't know the details, however, but I can't imagine that you should have any issues so long as you have the diagnosis.

Also, my understanding is that if you've got the credentials, it's pretty easy to get hooked up with a side job as a translator.

 

[Defiance]

Wow lots of info., so much it's overwhelming.

1. It has always been free for foreigners to study in Sweden, but I think as of last year, they changed that. Don't know what the cost is - but I'm sure you can find whatever you need here:
http://www.studyinsweden.se/
http://www.hsv.se/2.539a949110f3d5914ec800056285.html

2. Lund is probably THE most prestigious and "classic" university-city in Sweden, along with Uppsala. If you go to Lund, be prepared to fight a lot in order to get somewhere to stay. The positive thing though, is that I live 10 minutes (by train) from Lund

3. No idea. Though I don't think this should be difficult in any country in the world today. It's 2011 after all...

01. Bastards! Yeah they did the same in Germany; my guess is that they did it due to the so-called crisis (i.e. I have to pay Uni thanks to some rats in Wall Street. Fuckers.)
02. Yeah, I discovered Lund thanks to Bergman (and I like strawberries). Hurrah so I can stay with you .
03. Oh well it's 2011 and there's hunger everywhere, Haiti is worse than ever, and the US wouldn't cover me if I were to go there.

01) Studera.nu should have that information, but it's quite expensive now. This is a recent change and if you wanted to get grandfathered into the new system you had to have come this year. Important links: https://www.studera.nu/studera/1374.html (that should be the English) and http://www.migrationsverket.se/info/studera_en.html

01b) If you're an exchange student you just pay whatever you would pay at your home university.

02) Lund is a very prestigious university as is Stockholm and, of course, Uppsala. You should also look into Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH) because they are rumored to have a very good linguistics program, but I've never looked myself so I know very little about it. Get into housing queues NOW in every place where you're looking to come. Also, Umeå is an up-and-coming university and they get a lot of good funding, it's worth researching into and it's also in Norrland which is the home of all good things in Sweden.

02b) You don't want to learn Swedish in Skåne.

03) If you have a visa that permits you to stay in Sweden for longer than a year than you are covered under Sweden's very good health care program, that means that insulin should not be a problem for you at all. I don't know the details, however, but I can't imagine that you should have any issues so long as you have the diagnosis.

Also, my understanding is that if you've got the credentials, it's pretty easy to get hooked up with a side job as a translator.

Thanks for the links!

01. So, overall, how much would a B.A., M.A., or PhD cost in Sweden? I know it's all relative, but I want to know an approximate number.

01b. It won't be as an exchange student, I don't really want anything to do with academia in Costa Rica or owe money to the Uni here.

02. Thanks, will look into KTH; it's good to have options besides Lund and Stockholm.

02b. OK, why?

03. I guess the first I should've done was to check if there was a Swedish embassy here haha . I don't think there is, so I'll probably have to go to México for that.

04. Excellent, I guess that my aim is to be an ENG <&#8211;> SPA <&#8211;> X translator.

 

[tobz]

2b. 'Cause we have such a kick-ass accent so the rest of the country is jealous of us

 

[Defiance]

2b. 'Cause we have such a kick-ass accent so the rest of the country is jealous of us

Ah har har .

Ticket to Sweden? $1500
Registring fee to study: 900 SEK
Fish: 35 SEK
Learning Skåne Swedish, and finding out no one in Sweden, Finland or Norway understands what the bloody heck you're talking about: Priceless.



---
Back on topic, is it possible to start courses in a period that is not autumn?

 

[Agah]

Whats the deal with the Japanese (I presume) in the title? I find it unlikely that anyone here can read it.

 

[Thidrek]

As you have 2 master's degrees, why don't you rather go PhD? Or do you like studying that much?

Another prestigious uni in the USA is UCLA (regarding linguistics). In Germany you should check out Leipzig and Freiburg.

 

[NovembersDirge]

01. Bastards! Yeah they did the same in Germany; my guess is that they did it due to the so-called crisis (i.e. I have to pay Uni thanks to some rats in Wall Street. Fuckers.)

To be honest it's got (in my opinion) more to do with ideology than anything else.

01. So, overall, how much would a B.A., M.A., or PhD cost in Sweden? I know it's all relative, but I want to know an approximate number.

I'm not sure, but I remember reading that it was going to cost like 140 000 SEK every year for courses, so a BA would be that times 3. Pretty costly.

01b. It won't be as an exchange student, I don't really want anything to do with academia in Costa Rica or owe money to the Uni here.

Yeah, then you pay, unless you do what Thidrek suggested which is go for the PhD. I believe everyone with the brains to do so should get higher education, so I encourage the PhD route myself.

02. Thanks, will look into KTH; it's good to have options besides Lund and Stockholm.

Don't forget Uppsala. I live in Uppsala (though not sure how that'll look in two years) and it's a great city, so long as you discount the history and the race biological institute.

But really, this is a fantastic university and then you could join Birkarlarna and learn all about Swedish drinking rituals.

02b. OK, why?

2b. 'Cause we have such a kick-ass accent so the rest of the country is jealous of us

Well, Tobz has one spin on this.. My comment is this: I can't imagine trying to be a foreigner in Sweden learning Skånska. Of all the dialects I find it the most difficult to understand because it is basically the bastard child of Swedish and Danish. Also, it drives me into hysterical laughter when people speak it angrily.

Anyway, as it's the most difficult dialect to understand (aside from those random backwoods dialects that are actually still using a case system and are only spoken by a few hundred people), it follows that the majority of immigrants land there.

03. I guess the first I should've done was to check if there was a Swedish embassy here haha . I don't think there is, so I'll probably have to go to México for that.

04. Excellent, I guess that my aim is to be an ENG <&#8211;> SPA <&#8211;> X translator.

Yeah, Spanish is actually fairly sought after, though obviously you'll need some time to improve your Swedish.

 

[Defiance]

As you have 2 master's degrees, why don't you rather go PhD? Or do you like studying that much?

Another prestigious uni in the USA is UCLA (regarding linguistics). In Germany you should check out Leipzig and Freiburg.

I like studying that much . I haven't stopped studying since&#8230; well I was born. I hope there won't be a time in which I'll stop studying, but I guess I'l take a break after my first PhD. Who knows.

Indeed, PhD is the way to go, but I'd really like (at least) a BA in German and/or Swedish literature.

I'll check out UCLA, completely forgot about it haha. I alreadu got some info. on Freiburg but not Leipzig. Is it still 500&#8364; pro Jahr in Deutschland?

To be honest it's got (in my opinion) more to do with ideology than anything else.

I'm not sure, but I remember reading that it was going to cost like 140 000 SEK every year for courses, so a BA would be that times 3. Pretty costly.

Shit, that is VERY expensive, more than in the US. Did you intend to write 140 THOUSAND SEK? Because that's insane, going from "free" to&#8230; that.

Yeah, then you pay, unless you do what Thidrek suggested which is go for the PhD. I believe everyone with the brains to do so should get higher education, so I encourage the PhD route myself.

Yeah if possible I'd go for the PhD. Problem is that in Sweden I'd probably have to take a BA/MA first.

Don't forget Uppsala. I live in Uppsala (though not sure how that'll look in two years) and it's a great city, so long as you discount the history and the race biological institute.

But really, this is a fantastic university and then you could join Birkarlarna and learn all about Swedish drinking rituals.

I'll take Uppsala into account too, thanks.

Yeah, Spanish is actually fairly sought after, though obviously you'll need some time to improve your Swedish.

Indeed. I have a Swedish friend that lives in México, and I've always wondered why the heck she'd prefer México over Sweden (in terms of "jobs"). I'd have to be at least a B2 to interpret Svenska <&#8211;> Castellano.

But the 140K SEK sum is starting to slightly depress me .

 

[NovembersDirge]

RE: fees here is what I found on the Uppsala website in a course description:

From Autumn semester 2011 application and tuition fees are required for students outside the European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. Formal exchange students and doctoral students will be exempted from tuition fees, as well as the application fee. The tuition fees vary between SEK 80 000 and SEK 180 000 per academic year. Application fee is SEK 900. A limited number of scholarships are awarded for this student group. Read more about fees and scholarships.
Tuition fee, first semester: SEK 9750
Tuition fee, total: SEK 9750
Application Fee: SEK 900

 

[Defiance]

RE: fees here is what I found on the Uppsala website in a course description:

But I don't get it. It says "tuition fees 1st sem.: 9500SEK", but the fees vary between 80K and 180K SEK per year. Defiance is confused.

 

[NovembersDirge]

Well, here's the break down.

If you pay 9500 for this course, but then you take four courses in a semester, then you pay 40K for a semester. Double that.

 

[Defiance]

Well, here's the break down.

If you pay 9500 for this course, but then you take four courses in a semester, then you pay 40K for a semester. Double that.

Ahh OK, jag förstår. That's not so bad, but it's much more expensive than in Germany, though. I don't think money will be a problem; nevertheless, I'll still apply for a scholarship. Hopefully I'll get to work for/at whatever Uni I'll go to.

 

[NovembersDirge]

Apply for the PhD first, I think.

 

[Thidrek]

I'll check out UCLA, completely forgot about it haha. I alreadu got some info. on Freiburg but not Leipzig. Is it still 500€ pro Jahr in Deutschland?

It depends on the Bundesland. As far as I know, Saxony (where Leipzig is) doesn't have fees while Baden-Württemberg (Freiburg) has. And there is an additional fee of like 200-300€ for the infrastructure, social stuff, bus ticket, etc. But I don't know what it's like for students from outside Germany. Perhaps it's cheaper or free. Sorry, just don't know.

 

[Naglfar]

If you do a Ph.D. at a top American university, where most of the best programs in linguistics are located (not for Scandinavian languages, though), the schools pay you a stipend to attend. You do not pay them for the education. Stipends completely depend on the university and the program. They range from complete free rides to only a few years of guaranteed funding. This means you have to apply for outside fellowships, which are plenty, although by no means easy or automatic to obtain. But it depends on the university and the program within the university.

Your university here would provide you health care. It's not free in the sense you still do things like co-pays (ranging from $5 to $100, the difference depending on whether it's, say, physical therapy in-network or out-of-network surgery) and you might pay 20% of the bill when you use an out-of-network doctor, but it's still pretty good. Some schools have better insurance than others. I just mentioned there how mine works, but it varies. Health care isn't universal here, so you're at the mercy of your employer or your ability to purchase it yourself.

As for the top "linguistics" departments... UCLA, Cornell, University of Chicago (I've attended the last two mentioned for B.A. and Ph.D.), I think Yale may be up there, UPenn probably has a really good one, too. Some schools have the study of a particular language subsumed in another department. At Chicago, the study of Middle Eastern languages was part of the Near East Languages and Civilizations department. That included the study of history, archeology, language... and it included Central Asia. I know little of the field, but if you do a Ph.D. in the United States and get into a top dept, you will be paid for it and you will have health care (and getting drugs here is not a problem).

 

[Naglfar]

01. Bastards! Yeah they did the same in Germany; my guess is that they did it due to the so-called crisis (i.e. I have to pay Uni thanks to some rats in Wall Street. Fuckers.)

Ahehehehe Germany's current economic troubles are the exact opposite of US, Spain, Greece et al. Strong export industrial economy that went kablooie when no one could buy their stuff anymore and their imports made domestic production unprofitable in many of their primary trade partners, making the inability to purchase their stuff more acute. =) Can't blame the big banks for that one. Merkel gets to eat sand after pretending Germany was some sort of economic miracle while the recession was at its worst.

Off topic, anyway.

 

[tobz]

Well, Tobz has one spin on this.. My comment is this: I can't imagine trying to be a foreigner in Sweden learning Skånska. Of all the dialects I find it the most difficult to understand because it is basically the bastard child of Swedish and Danish. Also, it drives me into hysterical laughter when people speak it angrily.

Jokes aside, I actually feel pretty much the same as November's on this one, even though I'm a native Skåning myself. Skånsk is a dialect which sound-wise differs quite a lot both from riks-svenska and generic Swedish which you would hear through the most of the country with little variation. Also, because of the proximity to Denmark (and I'm sure history has something to do with it as well) Skåningar tend to use a lot of words which are actually Danish, and would not be understood in the rest of the country.
Also, even I can't help smiling when I listen to especially immigrants speaking native, redneck Skånsk. Heck, there are even some rapping in this dialect, and that is humour at a level!

Göteborg is also a good town for studying, and it probably has the best atmosphere of all the Swedish cities I've been to. Plus, a lot of great metal here.
Stockholm people seem to me a bit more stuck up and snobbish, but I've only visited two-three times so I could be wrong on this one.

 

[Defiance]

Apply for the PhD first, I think.

Okey-dokey.

It depends on the Bundesland. As far as I know, Saxony (where Leipzig is) doesn't have fees while Baden-Württemberg (Freiburg) has. And there is an additional fee of like 200-300&#8364; for the infrastructure, social stuff, bus ticket, etc. But I don't know what it's like for students from outside Germany. Perhaps it's cheaper or free. Sorry, just don't know.

OK. So it depends on the land? And there are still ones in which higher-ed. is free?

If you do a Ph.D. at a top American university, where most of the best programs in linguistics are located (not for Scandinavian languages, though), the schools pay you a stipend to attend. You do not pay them for the education. Stipends completely depend on the university and the program. They range from complete free rides to only a few years of guaranteed funding. This means you have to apply for outside fellowships, which are plenty, although by no means easy or automatic to obtain. But it depends on the university and the program within the university.

Your university here would provide you health care. It's not free in the sense you still do things like co-pays (ranging from $5 to $100, the difference depending on whether it's, say, physical therapy in-network or out-of-network surgery) and you might pay 20% of the bill when you use an out-of-network doctor, but it's still pretty good. Some schools have better insurance than others. I just mentioned there how mine works, but it varies. Health care isn't universal here, so you're at the mercy of your employer or your ability to purchase it yourself.

As for the top "linguistics" departments... UCLA, Cornell, University of Chicago (I've attended the last two mentioned for B.A. and Ph.D.), I think Yale may be up there, UPenn probably has a really good one, too. Some schools have the study of a particular language subsumed in another department. At Chicago, the study of Middle Eastern languages was part of the Near East Languages and Civilizations department. That included the study of history, archeology, language... and it included Central Asia. I know little of the field, but if you do a Ph.D. in the United States and get into a top dept, you will be paid for it and you will have health care (and getting drugs here is not a problem).

Yeah, I've heard of UPenn having great linguistics programme; however, I'm going more towards translation. IUP has a very good programme too, apparently.

I'd really like to go to MIT, but they don't have a translation programme . I'd go for literature there. Or computing. Hehe but that'd mean a "slight" change of career.

But what's this about "you don't pay them for the education"? Please explain .

I'd like something like the one of "Near East Languages" you mentioned, but with Scandinavian/European ones.

Göteborg is also a good town for studying, and it probably has the best atmosphere of all the Swedish cities I've been to. Plus, a lot of great metal here.
Stockholm people seem to me a bit more stuck up and snobbish, but I've only visited two-three times so I could be wrong on this one.

Yeah, Göteborg is really nice; I went there to stalk DT members lol:, couldn't find any, though). Stockholm is cool too, lots to see. But I guess that for Sweden I should aim for Lund or Uppsala.

UCLA seems great too, but slightly similar to UofT, to which I'd rather go instead.