Kin Chao

Kin Chao

Computational Chemistry PhD student (Essex group) | Multi-disciplinary studies | Molecular Sciences Research

The good, the bad, and the ugly about UK

2 minute read

Published:

The good, the bad, and the ugly about UK

I actually love UK

It’s my 4th year in the UK now and I think I have fallen in love with this country, even though it has many bad things - e.g. UG tuition fee is high af for international student; PhD funding is extremely hard as well for international student. The tax is absurdly high while the pay is not good at all (many strikes in academia); Train/ London tube strikes all the time. UK weather is also bad and raining most of the time … etc.

But I think I love the community here - UK is about the right size that you can basically go from one city to another using train. I have been to many different cities this year (mostly for conferences), e.g. Oxford; London; Nottingham; Manchester; Bristol etc, and I just love most of them. E.g. Oxford is very nice as a city (city center is v nice) and I love the academic vibe there. London is always busy and you can get whenever you need there etc (memory to night out in London).

It’s also small enough (relatively) that different scientific community exists in the UK, e.g. CCPBioSim; CCP-EM; GPCR endocrine society; Antibody society etc, and most of them host various conferences in different cities throughout the year and it’s easily reachable by train. The same thing just couldn’t happen in the US bc it’s too big.

People here is also very nice, and London is very international so you won’t really feel any “outsider” feeling etc coz it’s just so diverse. The UK pub culture is also fantastic (coz I really love drinking beer), it’s just different when you drink in a pub VS e.g. drink at friend’s place (I’d pay 7 pounds per pint every time if you let me decide whether to go to a pub or drink at home).

Going forward I think I will try to get the residence permit in the UK (either through living 10 years or find a visa-sponsored job etc). I think I have fallen in love with UK despite its ugly side. Maybe 4 years UG, potentially 1 year Masters, then 3/4 years PhD, then 2-years of graduate visa etc

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