Hey you all i'm Apurva and welcome back to WeDesified as most of you already know i'm
pursuing my phd in the united states and i get this question a lot on this channel and also
from the people outside asking me exactly why did i chose united states for my phd over other
countries like uk canada australia or many other european countries i also wondered about the same
question for many days while i was applying and i did a lot of research but to be frank
there was no good source or video that would give a good comparison especially targeting the phd
students so we thought let's do a video since it could be helpful for many prospective phd students
for this video we will be comparing only united states versus uk
but if you want us to compare any other countries then feel free to let us know
we have put a lot of effort into researching and making this video and so if you find this
information useful then don't forget to like the video and subscribe to our channel so let's start
first of all we would like to appreciate you for even thinking of studying abroad
like coming out of your home country leaving your friends and family in the dreams of
learning and achieving something is not easy and you really really deserve an appreciation for that
but once you take that decision choosing which country to go to would be your first puzzle
you might want to choose a country because it has good education system or show some countries which
is offering better jobs or you may be thinking of a particular country because you have some friends
over there or thinking about a country because you think you can make more money over there
so you see there is a lot of confusion if you are also in the same confused state then you should
definitely watch this video so without further delay let's jump into the comparison between
the phd program in the united states versus uk and so our first point is world rankings
take any world rankings like the qs world rankings or
times or forbes rankings you see out of the top 100 universities us has 50 to 55 universities
whereas uk has 15 universities and the rest of the world combined has only 20 to 30 universities
this speaks volumes about the quality of education in the us
now these rankings are comprehensive rankings and not specific to any stream or particular aspects
like they consider infrastructure research opportunities cost of education job prospects
acceptance ratio and many more so usa is a clear winner here since your chances of studying in a
world-class university will be much higher if you come to the us we have already made
a couple of videos on this topic so do watch them our next point is duration of the program
this point is clearly an uk advantage point since the average length of the phd program in the uk
is three to four years while it takes five to seven years to complete phd in the us
come on it's almost double the time and committing six to seven years of your life for one program
is not at all easy in uk you can finish your phd faster and so you can start earning faster so uk
definitely has the advantage here but keep in mind that less time for phd program means you will get
less time for your research or course work and that leads to our next point which is curriculum
if i want to put this in one sentence then u.s curriculum is flexible while uk curriculum is
rigid i say this because for the us phd programs they focus the first two years on the course work
like you have to take multiple courses you have to do your major minor complete
assignments do your classroom projects etc and then you choose your research topic work on it
and finally write and defend your thesis you see this entire process is well structured and you
get a comprehensive learning as in you can take electives and courses from other departments which
provides opportunities for collaboration and it lets you explore many other possibilities on the
other hand uk phd programs are more focused on one single research topic so most of your program time
you will spend on working on a specific research topic working with your advisor and writing thesis
so there is not much scope for you to learn other things in the limited three to four years of time
so if you are someone who values comprehensive growth like me then u.s has the edge here since
we are talking about the coursework that brings us to our next point which is comprehensive exams
if you're coming to the us then this is a nightmare trust me i was so stressed because of
these comprehensive exams in the first two years of my phd because if you fail these then you are
out of the phd program most of the us universities have these comprehensive exams in their first year
or second year of the phd programs like the test students based on the courses
they took either in their first year or first and second years combined based on the program
these are very important if you want to continue in the phd program with your funding
thankfully uk doesn't have these comprehensive exams so one less thing to worry about
and hence uk is a winner here for the next points it's hard to determine which country has
an advantage over the other since they mostly depend on the personal preference so we would
like to put our discussion points as detailed as possible so that you can decide what works best
for you according to your personal preference so let's discuss about the application process
most of the us universities ask for gre or gmat scores for admissions now they have waived this
requirement due to covet but it can come back whereas uk universities have no such requirement
both u.s and uk need some english proficiency exams like the is or toefl
but the major difference is that uk phd programs want you to have a research proposal ready
and also choose your advisor while applying for the program itself
so that you can start working on your thesis as soon as possible
on the other hand u.s phd programs give you first two years to figure out your research topic
and the advisor you can have lab rotations or work with multiple professors before you actually
choose the topic and the lab you want to work with so it's kind of more flexible in that sense
we already talked enough about study research and exams so now let's talk about money
cost of education and living expenses most of the phd programs in the us and uk are fully
funded and provide some sort of stipend so your living expenses will be covered with this stipend
if you don't get full funding then u.s is costlier than uk in terms of tuition fees
whereas uk is costlier than us in terms of cost of living you can expect some scholarships if they
are public or research universities but our advice is that if you don't get full funding it's better
not to consider that university because paying tuition fees from pocket doing part time while
working on the research is not at all easy and it will definitely affect your research work for sure
so think only of those universities that give you full funding talking more about making money
let's talk about full-time think about silicon valley finance industry
automobile industry or healthcare industry us has more jobs and opportunities than uk
and jobs in u.s pay higher average salaries than jobs in uk
the cost of living can also be less in the us since u.s has many tyre two cities
so you can make more money and spend less which means more return of investment in the u.s
apart from these industry jobs you can also go into academic sector and become a professor after
your phd if that is interesting for you since teaching is a requirement in many us phd programs
another important point is work visa and immigration this is an ever changing topic
and you need to get latest information from time to time things have changed a lot from the time
i was researching for my phd program to now but let's talk about the current situation after you
complete your phd us gives one year of opt for the non-stem program and three years of opt for
the stem programs by uk gives three years of work authorization for the psg students regardless of
your program after this period you have to switch to a work visa which is h1b in the u.s or tired to
skilled worker visa in the uk from december 2020 uk doesn't require labour market test for the tire
two visas so it's more straightforward while u.s still implements lottery system for the h-1b visas
so you need some kind of luck too if you are thinking about long-term then you would think
of green card or permanent residency to get the pr in the uk you have to work for five years minimum
they have recently introduced a point-based system for the pr so you have to get certain
points to get the pr and it's easy if you hold a phd degree and have a stable job
for the u.s you might have heard that there is almost 150 plus years wait time for the green
card in eb2 and eb3 categories but if you hold a phd degree then you would be eligible for the eb1
or eb2 national interest waiver categories where the wait times are significantly lower you can
get the green card in even less than two years in these categories and that's even less time than uk
if you're immigrating for the long term you should also think about
uh health care education for children cost of living etc etc but that's a discussion for
another day our last point is about the weather us is vast and it has all sorts of weather
if you like more tropical weather and beaches then you can go to states like florida or california
or if you like snow and cold weather then you can go to new york chicago or boston or if you like
mountains or deserts then you can go to arizona utah etc but uk's weather is mostly rainy and cold
rains reminds me of mumbai and being a mumbaiker myself it is that kind of a city where winters are
declared whenever temperature falls below like 16 degrees or so but after living in indianapolis for
five years now i don't even complain at -30 so you see how things have changed for me i guess it's
just the things we do for the sake of education so these are the main reasons why i chose us for
my phd and i hope that this video helps you in deciding the country you want to go to
if you decide to choose us then do watch our study in the usa series and these videos on
how to shortlist and decide the right colleges we will keep making more videos about my psd
journey to help you all give an insight if you want information about life after phd in the us
you should definitely watch the videos by desi american professor he has covered a lot of topics
that are very useful for the phd students or students in general if you find our videos useful
then like the videos and share it with your family and friends subscribe to our channel
to encourage us to make more such videos if you want us to compare any other country versus us
or if you have any questions then please let us know in the comments box below
we will reply and make videos answering all your questions until next time keep learning bye
you