European BS - American PhD (Graduate Admission)

Question

I posted something similar a while back and it was closed, but I believe this post will be more suited for discussion.

I'm heading to Europe from the U.S. to complete my BS in physics. I intend on returning to the U.S. to complete a PhD (ie. no masters degree in-between). I'm aware that the European system has a three year BS program, as compared to the four years that are done in the U.S.

The central question is: Does having a three year BS affect admission into a competitive American graduate program?

From where I sit, I can't help but feel PhD programs will raise an eyebrow at applying with only two years of experience. All of the graduate application deadlines available online (Princeton, Cornell, Columbia) have a deadline of the 15th of December, which correlates to a little over two years of undergraduate education.

I've been lucky enough to have a huge head-start on the material (few formal credits, however), which means I could start research within my first year of study.

Some US universities are unwilling to consider a 3 year BS as equivalent to a 4 year US BS and insist that students have at least another year (e.g. an honors year or a master's degree) before admission into their graduate programs. At other institutions it may be up to the admissions committee in the individual department or their may be some universal policy that 3 year BS degrees are acceptable. It all depends on the particular institution and department, so I've voted to close this question as being dependent on institutional rules. — Brian Borchers, Sep 15 '16 at 23:27
Possible duplicate of How does the admissions process work for Ph.D. programs in the US, particularly for weak or borderline students? — jakebeal, Sep 16 '16 at 07:48

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 04 '13 at 05:16

I don't think there will be a huge problem in taking a European bachelor's degree to a US institution, so long as you do a little explanatory work in getting ready to apply. The reason for this is that in those first two years, you will often have more major-specific work than most US students will have completed in three years!

So, I would recommend contacting the graduate admissions of programs you're interested in applying to, and explaining your situation to them. Take a look at the undergraduate programs they offer—and in particular, the list of required courses, and show that you have a similar amount of preparation (or more!). Then ask if there's anything else that you need to do.

I've done a lot of research into physics programs from top tier schools here in the U.S., the university I'm looking at(Universität Wien) has a solid physics program, and I shouldn't have any problem when it comes to knowledge, I'm a bit concerned about "how it looks". I suppose that the worst case situation is finishing an MSc before applying to the U.S.
Will European institutions accept students for REUs after only a year of study? — Astrum, Sep 04 '13 at 06:47

European BS - American PhD (Graduate Admission)

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