<p>Hi, I am from a third-world country who studied BSc Physics at Imperial College London (in the UK) for two years. I had to pay 20,000 pounds as tuition fees annually and my parents managed that for two years, but then they had a financial problem when I was about to begin my third year. So, I spoke with my department and they arranged what they call 'Interruption of Studies', Basically, it's like taking a gap year in the middle of your degree bevause of financial, medical or other issues. Mine was financial.</p>
<p>Anyway, Septmeber's coming and I am supposed to go back to Imperial to finish my third year. My parents will pay my third year tuition fees, but the problem is I need to re-apply for a student visa before I go back to the UK, and for the application to be processed I need to show that I have another 9000 pounds to fund my living expenses. Unfortunately, this is too much for my family - they might help me out but it got me questioning what might be accomplished by my studying at Imperial. After all, I am not spending so much money just to get a degree, but for excellent job offers or admission into graduate courses with scholarships.</p>
<p>I checked out scholarship opportunities and given the tuition fees for masters and phd courses, the scholarships appear highly selective and offer only small sums of money compared to my tuition fee. It looks like I may not be able to fund my studies after my bachelor's course. And the job prospects in the UK do not look good to me either. And the UK regulations on immigration policies have got much tougher than before, so I might not be stay if I don't have a job or course. And I don't wanna go back to my country. This is just the way I feel about my prospects after I finish at Imperial. I am not really sure if I should continue at Imperial or try to move to some other university.</p>
<p>I suggest you try to finish your Bachelor’s degree at Imperial. If you want to go to graduate school after that, I can promise you that American graduate programs have plenty of funding for their graduate students - provided that you are willing to commit to a PhD. American physics PhD programs admit undergraduates straight from a Bachelor’s degree (unlike in the UK, where you’d need a Master’s degree first) and PhD programs are normally funded. A standard funding package for a physics PhD student would include a full tuition waiver, health insurance and a stipend for living expenses in the range of $15,000 to $30,000 per year. Generally enough to live on.</p>
<p>I am less familiar with graduate funding in Europe, so I can’t offer you any suggestions there.</p>
<p>Canadian MSc degrees are also funded. Apparently, they are easier to get into than US PhD programs. If one is doing very well in the MSc, one can skip (provided their thesis advisor agrees) the 2nd year of the MSc and move straight to the PhD.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. I am just wondering what universities I might get into in the US and Canada and what funding I might get from them if I get 75% in my BSc degree at Imperial.</p>
<p>I don’t know what 75% at Imperial means. Where does that place you among your classmates?</p>
<p>Imperial is one of the premier universities in Europe to study physics. American graduate programs will recognize that and won’t hold it against you if you are not the single strongest physics major in your year. I don’t know much about graduate admissions in Canada, but graduate admission committees in the US will be looking for evidence of your potential to become a strong research physicist. They’ll actually pay more attention to your letters of recommendations than your grades. That unfortunately also makes it impossible to predict admission outcomes. Who knows what your letters will say and how they’ll compare to the letters of your competitors…</p>
<p>As far as grades are concerned, the physics subject GRE is a great equalizer. It will reflect your mastery of the core material without the bias of institutional grades.</p>