Australia is a tough 'mother' to migrate into. I wished to stay after a 6 month work permit in the early '90s. Was a 'sponsored' contract Engineer for my Numerical Control/machining skills. After X'mas visit back in states, they wouldn't even let me on my return flight, even with a current residence and belongings still in Melbourne. Eventually got back in, tried to 'disappear' but they tracked me down quickly. Deportee
ok, we can leave the posts as is so others will see them. I crinbged when I thought where this one might go and I was really hoping it wouldn't degenerate so thanks for everyone's understanding and cooperation.
I was trying to point out that you can't judge an entire country by a narrow slice of news. Chicago statistics are a big part of news reporting in the USA. It biases everyone in their view of what is going on here.
Canada has a quota system for immigration. It's true that we accept more immigrants per capita than almost anywhere, but your chances are dependent on where you are coming from. As I said in an earlier post, from Germany we accept about 1250 immigrants per year. If you are from a non-European country or not from the USA, the quotas are much larger.
I would explore the Canada-EU Free Trade Agreement and see if there is a clause that allows workplace mobility for Professionals. As an Engineer you would qualify if such a program exists. It does exist with other FTAs Canada is a signatory to.
Basically what it means is if you are an accredited professional, you can get a work visa, and you are treated as a Canadian as far as eligibility to work goes ... in other words the requirement that a company does it's best effort to hire a Canadian and fails before a foreigner can be hired does not apply.
In my opinion ... and the warning that this is an internet forum, not an immigration branch of Government certainly is a good one ... that would be your best option at this point going forward.
Yes, we have snow in Canada in winter. But it's a big country; there are many parts of Canada that get less snow and are warmer in winter than parts of the USA (for example). The lower mainland of BC and Vancouver Island can be essentially free of snow in winter. And I think Minneapolis is a great city to live in, relatively safe, lots of opportunities, not terribly expensive cost of living. But it's colder than Toronto.
Then again Saskatchewan is cold in winter, but the summer weather is to die for. Almost every day is a bright, cloudless blue sky and temps in the 80's, sometimes 90, and over 100 is not unheard of, low humidity unlike Southern Ontario where those temps would be sweltering. Similarly there can be very little snow in winter ... low humidity again, big snowstorms are possible but maybe none, maybe one, rarely two a winter. (My birthday is in November; about half my birthdays there hasn't been any snow fall yet). And if you like the outdoors ... well Minnesota claims to have 10,000 lakes. I've been to many of them, we would call them ponds. There are 94,000 lakes in Saskatchewan, and by "lake" we mean something at least a dozen square miles and with a fish population. Three are over 1000 square miles.
Calgary is warmer but they get big storms in winter, followed by warm weather. Just a few examples.
You can find a climate you like in any of the three countries you are looking at. All three are very large countries.
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Capstone is well defined in Wikipedia
Capstone course - Wikipedia
If you mean what it looks like for an MBA specifically, it is basically writing a paper on a real business problem sponsored by a real corporate client, but with academic rigor. Sort of like a light thesis.
TA is teaching assistantship, a job for a student to help a professor conduct a course, can consist of things like grading papers, running laboratory classes, running tutorials, even lecturing.
RA is research assistantship, a job for a student to conduct research towards their degree. It's a mechanism to pay a student to do graduate work.
EDIT: and back at the OP´s travel/work doubt.
I think that even with the current statistics , "gun crime" will NOT be an issue for someone who is middle class, professional, and works at a Corporation ... he simply will live in a safe neighbourhood and presumably move inside a similar safe, educated circle of acquaintances, doing similar things.
Statistics do exist and I don´t challenge them, but look *where* bad things happen, you have absolutely no need or motivation to be within miles of "bad spots" .
Will you go to a bad neighbourhood to buy some dope ?
I very much doubt so, and if you do, (which I find impossible) , then you *searched* for a problem, deal with it.
Not speaking idly or "because of things I saw on TV": my Brother emigrated to LA in 1986, originally lived in Silver Lake, then Hollywood , then Malibu until today: has never ever had any brush with any crime problem, never had a friend mugged, a car stolen, anything.
Of course : "I never ever went to East L:A. .... what for?" ... looks like there´s a couple rough spots there but since he has no need of anything there, they might as well be on the Moon.
Yes, going from Malibu to Downtown L.A. (to Argentine Consulate, etc.) he drives through Santa Monica and told me "there´s a lot of bums, some dangerous, some desperate, living on the beach" ... so what? he drives by.
My Sister emigrated in 1989, married a then young Accountant, later MBA, who eventually became VP at Unocal76 oil company, lives in Rancho Santa Margarita in Orange County , again has never ever had , witnessed, had a friend or family reached by any kind of violence, even less gun related.
My 18 y.o. nephew is studying Record Production at a San Diego school, same thing.
I have Family in Washington and Maryland (they were Diplomats), never ever a problem.
What´s the point?
Statistics are real ... but mostly apply to "bad spots" ... avoid them and you avoid problems.
Just don´t base *Country* choice on bad things that happen at certain places and where you have NO need at all to visit.
USA is a HUGE country, I bet 98% of it is as safe as anywhere else.
As of "living by the sea or near salt water", my Sister has her Yacht anchored at Dana Point Yacht Club and typically sails to Catalina Island on weekends for a sea salt sprinkled picnic 😉 , you might eventually do something similar if you feel so inclined.
I think that even with the current statistics , "gun crime" will NOT be an issue for someone who is middle class, professional, and works at a Corporation ... he simply will live in a safe neighbourhood and presumably move inside a similar safe, educated circle of acquaintances, doing similar things.
Statistics do exist and I don´t challenge them, but look *where* bad things happen, you have absolutely no need or motivation to be within miles of "bad spots" .
Will you go to a bad neighbourhood to buy some dope ?
I very much doubt so, and if you do, (which I find impossible) , then you *searched* for a problem, deal with it.
Not speaking idly or "because of things I saw on TV": my Brother emigrated to LA in 1986, originally lived in Silver Lake, then Hollywood , then Malibu until today: has never ever had any brush with any crime problem, never had a friend mugged, a car stolen, anything.
Of course : "I never ever went to East L:A. .... what for?" ... looks like there´s a couple rough spots there but since he has no need of anything there, they might as well be on the Moon.
Yes, going from Malibu to Downtown L.A. (to Argentine Consulate, etc.) he drives through Santa Monica and told me "there´s a lot of bums, some dangerous, some desperate, living on the beach" ... so what? he drives by.
My Sister emigrated in 1989, married a then young Accountant, later MBA, who eventually became VP at Unocal76 oil company, lives in Rancho Santa Margarita in Orange County , again has never ever had , witnessed, had a friend or family reached by any kind of violence, even less gun related.
My 18 y.o. nephew is studying Record Production at a San Diego school, same thing.
I have Family in Washington and Maryland (they were Diplomats), never ever a problem.
What´s the point?
Statistics are real ... but mostly apply to "bad spots" ... avoid them and you avoid problems.
Just don´t base *Country* choice on bad things that happen at certain places and where you have NO need at all to visit.
USA is a HUGE country, I bet 98% of it is as safe as anywhere else.
As of "living by the sea or near salt water", my Sister has her Yacht anchored at Dana Point Yacht Club and typically sails to Catalina Island on weekends for a sea salt sprinkled picnic 😉 , you might eventually do something similar if you feel so inclined.
Thanks 🙂
Once you spell full name of RA and TA, I know what you mean, it´s just that a simple pair of letters is not enough 🙂
In fact, RA and TA *to me* evoke Yamaha and Trace Elliott amplifiers, go figure 🙂
In my case, I was born in a middle class neighborhood, but a local "bad spot" was less than a mile away.
Neighborhoods evolve over time. The middle class neighborhood that I was born in was rural rough country in 1949 when my parent's house was built. Now, it's an upper class exclusive neighborhood, primarily because all available land the Miami area has been built out, and our house was on a lake. The "bad spot" is now a "worse spot." It's also about 1/2 mile from the University of Miami, a rather exclusive expensive private school.
The neighborhood where I lived in western Ft. Lauderdale was a mix of young families and older retirees when I moved there in 1977. As the house prices escalated, many of both demographics were forced out of their housing due to higher taxes and insurance costs. Empty houses breed trouble.
This is true in many schools, particularly those who offer advanced degrees. "RA" also means Resident Adviser in some schools. It is usually free or subsidized housing in exchange for being somewhat of a security guard in dorm housing or fraternity houses.
The term "thesis" can apply to a masters degree or a PHD, at least in the USA. It is not clear which the OP was referring to. Both must be agreed upon in advance by the student and a faculty committee. The PHD thesis involves a significant body of research and work. The scope of this must be agreed upon in advance and progress milestones need to be met. There are credit hours associated with each milestone, with associated tuition costs.
Getting the thesis topic agreed upon in advance by a faculty committee can be a daunting task even at the masters level if there are preconceived notions or disagreements among the faculty members. It would be wise to contact the mechanical engineering departments of possible schools in advance to discuss these options.
In the case of a PHD, it is possible to get free tuition, housing, and a stipend sufficient for college living IF the proposed research aligns with something that the school is looking for or already involved in. It should be unique enough that there aren't a dozen other people looking to do the same thing, but not so unique that the faculty doesn't understand it. A lot of school professors are not up to date on the current leading edge of technology even in their chosen field. The stuff I did at work was beyond the scope of knowledge of all the EE professors in the college where I got my masters degree.
I had a friend with a masters degree, who proposed some unique research in the field of exercise physiology. He had applied to at least a dozen colleges for an assisted PHD program, and was eventually accepted, but it took nearly 3 years and several trips to the school for meetings. If this is your proposed path, it may be wise to put the chosen school ahead of the chosen country. As stated, there are good and bad points and places among all three countries, but college campuses tend to be relatively safe places.
Great Mexican food. 😀 Sunday lunch no problem all I got was a $90 parking ticket from LAPD.
I believe it was implied in the op's snap preference for California and essentially ignoring the rest of the country. 😁
Also, I can say that unfortunately a lot of the talk of graduate programs financial support in this thread (whether it applies to the op or not) is outmoded. Point of reference here is having graduated with a PhD from UCSD in January and having a very large percentage of my friends with graduate degrees from all over the US as well.
Yes I had a place on Third St. a mile further down was another planet. Never had a problem, though I played golf with a homicide detective who had stories of 5-10yr. earlier.
SF is packed with things to do/see and has a lot of great food, especially if you have $$$. San Jose has lots of tech but housing is difficult there too.
Vancouver is somewhat like San Fran but is often 5º-10º cooler, it rains a little more, and housing near the city is very expensive. Food and culture is aplenty and the natural beauty never wears off. They are both on the Pacific ocean and have plenty of water activities available.
Right now SF is 14º we are 9º. We have a light rain falling, they do not. They have 4.5 million people, we have 2.5. They have earthquakes, we are waiting for our big one. We have a hockey team, they have to head south to San Jose. We have an MLS team, they have to head south to San Jose. The San Jose team is named the Earthquakes (what a surprise). We have world class ski hills, they have Oakland.
I was born in Vancouver and have no plans to move away. I will visit San Fran again one day.
Right now SF is 14º we are 9º. We have a light rain falling, they do not. They have 4.5 million people, we have 2.5. They have earthquakes, we are waiting for our big one. We have a hockey team, they have to head south to San Jose. We have an MLS team, they have to head south to San Jose. The San Jose team is named the Earthquakes (what a surprise). We have world class ski hills, they have Oakland.
I was born in Vancouver and have no plans to move away. I will visit San Fran again one day.
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To be fair and taking everything into account I've heard so far I wouldn't be in hurry to move away from Vancouver had I been born there.
San Fransisco and the Bay Area is a cool place to visit - especially for an electronics geek. I used to go to HSC Electronics Supply when National Semiconductor sent me on business trips to the company headquarters in Santa Clara. Cool place! The Bay Area is also unique in that if you don't like your current job, you just walk across the street and hire on with the company over there.
I don't think I could live there, though. I've spent enough time sitting in traffic in the Seattle area. I don't need to go do that in the Bay Area. As one of my colleagues at National commented about his BMW one time, "I don't need The Ultimate Driving Machine. I need The Ultimate Sitting-in-Traffic Machine!" 🙂
For some, the concrete jungle with job opportunities is a good tradeoff. I was certainly tempted to move down there at one point. In the end I decided to forego some of the opportunities in exchange for mountains, trees, and a more laid back lifestyle. I like it. Each to his own.
Tom
I don't think I could live there, though. I've spent enough time sitting in traffic in the Seattle area. I don't need to go do that in the Bay Area. As one of my colleagues at National commented about his BMW one time, "I don't need The Ultimate Driving Machine. I need The Ultimate Sitting-in-Traffic Machine!" 🙂
For some, the concrete jungle with job opportunities is a good tradeoff. I was certainly tempted to move down there at one point. In the end I decided to forego some of the opportunities in exchange for mountains, trees, and a more laid back lifestyle. I like it. Each to his own.
Tom
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Victoria is much like Vancouver but tends to rain less (in the rain shadow of the central mountains), is mostly a bit warmer, cleaner, slower, housing not as expensive (but not cheap), ski hil is a bit further away, surfing is probably closer, population 300-350,000 in the greater area.
dave
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