My two (Euro) cents about CS PhDs in Europe

Intro 

I'm sharing my experience with the PhD application and recruitment process, specifically for students who share a similar background, field of study, or interests as I do. This post will focus primarily on situations relevant to married American students with children who are pursuing a PhD in computer science in Germany. I recommend checking out this excellent post by the amazing James Yoo for a more general overview or insights from a North American perspective. I plan to update this post as I gain more insights about life in Germany.

Background

Europe isn’t the ideal spot for every North American looking to do a PhD in computer science, but for some, it could hit the sweet spot. I’m not claiming to be an expert (yet), but I can share my perspective. To set the stage, here’s a bit about me: I’m a third-culture kid (TCK) who considers Europe home. My wife, Carly, grew up in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), a place I also think of as a second home. Together, we’re raising two junior TCKs. 

Our decision to move to Germany instead of other options in North America or Europe came down to a few key factors:

1. The advisor. I wanted to work and learn from an advisor who was exceptional in their field, hungry for more success, and would be the right mentor for me. 
2. Family. We prioritized finding a place where our family could flourish—where our kids could have an amazing childhood and Carly could pursue her career aspirations. We also hoped for a lifestyle that would allow us to carve out a day each week for just family time. Though, to be honest, that hasn’t happened often yet.
3. Finances. Graduate school is not exactly the place to make bank. Most of the options we considered came with a slight negative cash flow. Breaking even was a win in our books. While our financial situation isn’t quite in the black yet, we’re managing.
4. Support systems. Having children dramatically changes the decision-making equations. Parents need 24/7 coverage for their kids, especially infants and toddlers. If you want your PhD to count for something, you must pour hours of hard work into it. This means not seeing your family at times. When we lived in Seattle, a combination of daycare and family help (shout out to my in-laws) helped us stay afloat while we were both in school. So we chose cities and schools that had good support for parents.  Still, there are days when we’re completely spent but have to rally for the kids. The daycare centers here have been experiencing a very high number of canceled days, which really messes up parents’ work-life balance. You may find out more here and here.

I will not name the other options that we ultimately chose not to pursue, but there was at least one school where saying no to that specific advisor killed me inside. But we had to make that decision because it was right for us.

Application

European PhD applications, at least the initial step, are a dime a dozen (cheap and easy). In the U.S., students often need to put in significant effort to get application fees waived or carefully decide where to apply due to costs. Fortunately, application fees weren’t an issue for me in Europe. Plus, their deadlines tend to be more flexible, allowing me to send out cold emails to potential advisors and programs. In fact, cold email us!

Visit Days

The process for visiting schools can vary significantly, especially if you're traveling from the U.S. and plan to visit multiple schools in Europe. While flights within Europe are relatively inexpensive, the challenge lies in determining which school or institution should cover the cost of the transatlantic flight.

This situation can become tricky because there is no established process for schools to share the cost of such a trip. If you ultimately decide to attend a school other than the one that funded your primary travel expenses, it might leave you feeling awkward or uncomfortable about having accepted their support while declining their offer. This was the main reason I chose not to do visit days in Europe.

Response Deadline

Response deadlines are variable in Europe, but some schools are willing to match the North American, which I learned from the legendary Dan Grossman to be April 15th. This means that no North American school can demand a decision from you before that.

Final Decision Advice

TODO.

Day-to-Day Bureaucracy

TODO.

The Move

Mostly TODO.

• Scrambling to Move to Germany  
• So much stuff
• German Cars and the Autobahn
• The eSIM hell
• The Driver’s License Saga

Benefits

Germany offers a 250-euro per month benefit to all minors (Kindergeld). They also offer a benefit to working parents who take time off from work to take care of their newborn in the 

(Elterngeld).

Research

TODO.

Language and Culture

TODO.

Misc

TODO.