- #1
LastStarDust
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Hello to everybody!
I am writing this post because I am facing an important choice for my future and I really need a piece of advice from someone with more experience about the "scientific world" than me.
I am an Italian boy who is about to graduate at "La Sapienza" University of Rome with a Master's Degree thesis in theoretical cosmology.
In the last years, I have talked to some people doing research in the theoretical physics field and I have read many stories on the internet. I have also read the Feibelman's good book "A Ph.D. is not enough". All of this helped me understand that perhaps it would be better for me not to aim at an academic career and secure a job in the industry or some national lab. Or at least first do a Ph.D. in experimental and applied science and then jump ship if so I have to.
But this is only half of the story. The other half is Japan. The fact is that my girlfriend is Japanese (living in Tokyo) and I really like the Japanese language (I am N2 level). Moreover economically Japan is much ahead of Italy. This is why I would like to go to Japan to get a Ph.D. I have already tried to apply for an internship at JAXA and do some interviews for engineering-like jobs but, even if I was welcomed quite warmly, I couldn't get much out of them, mainly because what I am doing now is very theoretical, exotic and without much real-world application. On top of that, my University name (even if in Italy is one of the best Physics departments, maybe the best), means nothing in Japan. It doesn't ring any bell.
That is why I have applied to 4 Universities in Tokyo for a Ph.D. and I have been accepted in all of them. I now have to choose one. This is why I writing. To ask: What is the best pick in your opinion?
Actually I have a preference (Yokohama University) but it is a very important step and I would like also to get an "external" feedback.
My aim after Ph.D. would be to find a job in a company in Japan. I was thinking about something space-satellites-related or a company that builds scientific equipment. I would consider to work in a national laboratory or to continue with the academic career only if I see concrete chances of success (that I really fail to see now).
My main doubts are:
I am writing this post because I am facing an important choice for my future and I really need a piece of advice from someone with more experience about the "scientific world" than me.
I am an Italian boy who is about to graduate at "La Sapienza" University of Rome with a Master's Degree thesis in theoretical cosmology.
In the last years, I have talked to some people doing research in the theoretical physics field and I have read many stories on the internet. I have also read the Feibelman's good book "A Ph.D. is not enough". All of this helped me understand that perhaps it would be better for me not to aim at an academic career and secure a job in the industry or some national lab. Or at least first do a Ph.D. in experimental and applied science and then jump ship if so I have to.
But this is only half of the story. The other half is Japan. The fact is that my girlfriend is Japanese (living in Tokyo) and I really like the Japanese language (I am N2 level). Moreover economically Japan is much ahead of Italy. This is why I would like to go to Japan to get a Ph.D. I have already tried to apply for an internship at JAXA and do some interviews for engineering-like jobs but, even if I was welcomed quite warmly, I couldn't get much out of them, mainly because what I am doing now is very theoretical, exotic and without much real-world application. On top of that, my University name (even if in Italy is one of the best Physics departments, maybe the best), means nothing in Japan. It doesn't ring any bell.
That is why I have applied to 4 Universities in Tokyo for a Ph.D. and I have been accepted in all of them. I now have to choose one. This is why I writing. To ask: What is the best pick in your opinion?
Actually I have a preference (Yokohama University) but it is a very important step and I would like also to get an "external" feedback.
My aim after Ph.D. would be to find a job in a company in Japan. I was thinking about something space-satellites-related or a company that builds scientific equipment. I would consider to work in a national laboratory or to continue with the academic career only if I see concrete chances of success (that I really fail to see now).
My main doubts are:
- Is it better (future-wise) to go to an higher-ranked University but study a very abstract subject or to go to a lower-ranked University and study applied science with better application in the real world?
- In other words, what would a prospect Japanese employer regard higher (at Ph.D. level)? University "name" or actual skills?
- Yokohama National University (ranked 46 in Japan):
- Field: Experimental Particle Physics (applied science, building detectors, testing equipment, doing data analysis)
- Supervisor: Young and very very supportive, very nice person, very pragmatic.
- Research group: very recently formed group, I am the only Ph.D. student, there are 4-5 undergraduate students, I would be followed by the supervisor very closely, we would work together.
- University: it seems a good academic environment, the dean of Physics department is very kind.
- Saitama University (ranked 56 in Japan):
- Field: Experimental Astrophysics (applied science, building detectors, testing equipment, doing data analysis)
- Supervisor: The head of the group is very kind but he is cross-appointed with JAXA so he won't have time to follow me. I don't know yet who is going to be my direct superior. There are 2-3 other assistant professors and they all seem very kind but I hadn't much time to get to know them well.
- Research group: well-established group, 3-4 Ph.D. students (all Japanese), 10-15 undergraduates and master students, very relaxed environment.
- University: I don't know much about Saitama University.
- Tokyo Institute of Technology (ranked 9 in Japan):
- Field: Theoretical Cosmology (very abstract, not much practical use for it in the industry and real world).
- Supervisor: The head of the group is very strict but he seems a good person. He has many students and he made clear that he has not much time to spend with each of them.
- Research group: well-established group, 4-5 Ph.D. students (even a Brazilian student), some undergraduates and master students, this is a very research-oriented hard-working group.
- University: I don't know much but it is one of the best Universities in Japan.
- SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies) (ranked 90 in Japan):
- Field: Supernova explosion 3D simulation (a lot of numerical simulations but, at the end, not many real-world applications (anyway more than Cosmology)).
- Supervisor: I would be the only student. We would work in close contact. He is kind. Only a bit shy. Not a great English speaker as well.
- University: it is not a real University. It is more a research institute. That is why there are only a few Ph.D. students every year. Very research oriented. There are no undergraduate and Master courses. I would work at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ).
- Field: Supernova explosion 3D simulation (a lot of numerical simulations but, at the end, not many real-world applications (anyway more than Cosmology)).
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