Hi folks
I’m outside the country right now (Canada), after having spent most of the period from 2004-2007 in Taiwan (I returned to Canada at the end of 2007 summer to start at PhD here). I really have a desire to return to Taiwan though, and I was thinking of doing it as a student at NTU.
Specifically, I was thinking of doing the MPH at NTU. I know someone from Canada who did that exact program recently. Was just wondering if anyone here might have experience with it, or something similar?
What’s grad school like in Taiwan? Is it busy? How does the workload compare to grad school in North America? Is it “legal” for me to work on the side if I’m on a student visa? About how many hours/week of class am I looking at? I’m also really interested in having a decent social life - do Taiwanese grad students generally get out much?
Thanks in advance.
I have a friend who attends graduate school as a Taiwanese person in computer science, who reports the program is so insanely hard that she doesn’t have time to do anything, and limits her meals to 20 minutes each, and only studies all the time. Most of the students I know in Taiwan are workaholics, but it might just be they’re putting lots of time into little result.
Taiwan grad students socializing?
HAHAHAAHAAHAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAA
um, no.
not unless you can survive on -5 hours sleep. most of them here are in at 8, out at 10 or 11 or so, 7 days a week.
Suckers. I’m glad that’s all well behind me.
Come to think of it, why AM I still at work at 11pm?
Bye!
Come on! Being a grat student in the education system of Taiwan isn’t that pathetic! We just came back from traveling in Yilan and Hualian and had funny New Year Eve party, and we will have crazy party this weekend.
We work hard, study hard but play harder!! 
The abovementioned is useless defense for Taiwanese, I think.
To be honest, the study load for grat students is huge, and we are forced to be workaholic, the average sleeping hours is 4-5 hours per day, and having no sleep for 2-3 days because of your research is common. And usuallly your professors take all credits even though you are really the one who completes studies. You are the cheapest labour, being exploited, in the bureaucratic education system.
I don’t think Taiwan’s system is much different from other countries’. Human nature is universal. But I am having great fun in my study. Much happier because I am learning new things.
Damned! I hate writing negative comments.
I’d repeat the usual cautions:
How is your Chinese? How much Chinese will you actually need to do the program? Can you write papers in English? How will you deal with lectures? School bureaucracy (NTU’s is pretty thick at times)?
How is NTU ranked, objectively, in your desired graduate field? If you work your behind off to get an advanced degree, it should be one that is well-regarded. There may also be some people wondering about why you chose to do an advanced degree in Taiwan in a field that isn’t obviously something one would study in Taiwan because of specific in-country benefits (Chinese language, history, something like that).
That being said, the scholarships are pretty good if you live simply, and you probably won’t end up with a mountain of debt. That is one attractive factor.
I did an MA at Fujen but it was a rather specialized program and there was a specific reason for doing it in Taiwan, so some of the factors I considered were quite different from your decision-making. Don’t take everything I say above to apply to your situation, but I think they are points worth considering.