i am in the US but have looked abroad for a ph.d. program. there&#x27;s one in germany that is in english. it is meant to attract students across the world and not just the US. US students are actually rare in the program. but back to my original point, the program has no teaching duties, tutoring or anything of the sort. the coursework requirements are very straightforward and not bloated. it has a very strict timeline, but that&#x27;s great. you spend 3-4 four years doing nothing but your work, with both an advisor and a supervisor separate from your advisor. it&#x27;s a great system. i&#x27;ve applied before but went to a US school. i ended dropping out of that ph.d. program with my master&#x27;s. i sort of wish i hadn&#x27;t have been in a relationship at the time of going to graduate school as i might have done the german program.<p>in graduate school, i learned a lot...in the first year. after the fire hose of the first year, i was rather tired of courses, but still had to take 3 full-time courses while teaching and tutoring. ignoring the fact that there were almost no advisors to choose from (that you&#x27;d want as an advisor), i had no time to pursue anything being bogged down with homework and exams, which became very tedious. any time i was trying to read on my own, i couldn&#x27;t concentrate because i knew i had homework and exams to study for.<p>i went to graduate school based upon a very enjoyable NSF REU. that was fantastic because you picked a problem at the beginning and spent the whole summer working on that as your project. it ended with writing a paper and most of us presented at conferences later in the year. it was an absolutely fantastic experience that had no parallel when i was in my ph.d. program.<p>and my &quot;failure&quot; in graduate school was even from someone who had never failed on anything. it was like hitting quicksand. i had even read up a lot on how to be successful in graduate school, but it didn&#x27;t matter. i left because i was miserable and earning $15,000 a year. a mere 6 months or so after leaving i had a job paying $70,000. it would have been sooner, but i was an idiot and thought i&#x27;d go back and finish a second bachelor&#x27;s since i had taken so many courses as an undergrad.