Grad School in the Netherlands.
How do people normally decide to move to another city/country/continent? It seems like there are a few established patterns
Sometimes a person visits another place and absolutely falls in love with it, and decides NO MATTER WHAT he wants to live there, and no where else. Then he looks for how he could move there - jobs, schools, anything that would enable him to live there and do what he wants to do. And when he finally finds a way to move there- he moves there.
Or maybe one has a very specific goal in mind in terms of career - getting a job in _________, or studying ___________, or whichever. So he applies to all the top-notch places looks for what he wants and gets a position, or a scholarship - but somewhere halfway across the world. And after carefully weighing the alternatives - he decides that it's worth going halfway across the world to achieve his goal, and moves there.
These ways seem rational, reasonable, and understandable. Yet, that didn't happen to me.
What happened to me were two remarks: Sometime in the fall I realized that I am not quite ready for a PhD program in Economics, and I talked to some professors. And one of them, while giving me ideas on what I should do to improve my chances, in addition to work experience suggested a masters in LSE, and as kind of a last-thing added "or if you're into Econometrics - take a look at some programs in the Netherlands..."
About a week later, I was talking to a friend working in the financial industry, about the same subject. He was asking me what particular field of economics I am into, and when I told him - Econometrics, hе, annoyed with my impracticality said "Тогда езжай в голландию..." [Oh then go to the netherlands]"
And something rang in my head - that just sounded right. After all these months of not knowing what path to take, the idea of going to the Netherlands for a masters just had some allure to it. So I explored - found out there was a joint research program that unites the top 3 Economics schools in the Netherlands. And then as a last ditch effort I applied there - last minute. My stuff didn't even get to admissions in time for the early deadline...
Months passed, I got rejected from London School of Economics, I have started massively looking for jobs, I have basically even forgot I entertained this idea...And then to my shock, this week I open e-mail message titled "admission decision", "It is my pleasure to tell you that you've been accepted to the Tinbergen Institute MPhil program".
So now here I am. I've never been to Amsterdam. Nobody seems to have heard of the program I got into, I don't know if its prestigious or rigorous. All I have is two off-handed phrases from two people, and an offer with relatively inexpensive tuition and promise of stipends in years to come.... all halfway across the world.
And basing on that, I am seriously considering uprooting my life for 2-5 years. Moving away from a place where I have friends who I love and who love me. From job prospects to reduced foreign status... seems crazy, yet ironically I am more inclined to do it than not. I just find it incredibly difficult explaining it to myself and to others around me.
Thoughts?
Sometimes a person visits another place and absolutely falls in love with it, and decides NO MATTER WHAT he wants to live there, and no where else. Then he looks for how he could move there - jobs, schools, anything that would enable him to live there and do what he wants to do. And when he finally finds a way to move there- he moves there.
Or maybe one has a very specific goal in mind in terms of career - getting a job in _________, or studying ___________, or whichever. So he applies to all the top-notch places looks for what he wants and gets a position, or a scholarship - but somewhere halfway across the world. And after carefully weighing the alternatives - he decides that it's worth going halfway across the world to achieve his goal, and moves there.
These ways seem rational, reasonable, and understandable. Yet, that didn't happen to me.
What happened to me were two remarks: Sometime in the fall I realized that I am not quite ready for a PhD program in Economics, and I talked to some professors. And one of them, while giving me ideas on what I should do to improve my chances, in addition to work experience suggested a masters in LSE, and as kind of a last-thing added "or if you're into Econometrics - take a look at some programs in the Netherlands..."
About a week later, I was talking to a friend working in the financial industry, about the same subject. He was asking me what particular field of economics I am into, and when I told him - Econometrics, hе, annoyed with my impracticality said "Тогда езжай в голландию..." [Oh then go to the netherlands]"
And something rang in my head - that just sounded right. After all these months of not knowing what path to take, the idea of going to the Netherlands for a masters just had some allure to it. So I explored - found out there was a joint research program that unites the top 3 Economics schools in the Netherlands. And then as a last ditch effort I applied there - last minute. My stuff didn't even get to admissions in time for the early deadline...
Months passed, I got rejected from London School of Economics, I have started massively looking for jobs, I have basically even forgot I entertained this idea...And then to my shock, this week I open e-mail message titled "admission decision", "It is my pleasure to tell you that you've been accepted to the Tinbergen Institute MPhil program".
So now here I am. I've never been to Amsterdam. Nobody seems to have heard of the program I got into, I don't know if its prestigious or rigorous. All I have is two off-handed phrases from two people, and an offer with relatively inexpensive tuition and promise of stipends in years to come.... all halfway across the world.
And basing on that, I am seriously considering uprooting my life for 2-5 years. Moving away from a place where I have friends who I love and who love me. From job prospects to reduced foreign status... seems crazy, yet ironically I am more inclined to do it than not. I just find it incredibly difficult explaining it to myself and to others around me.
Thoughts?