41–48 of 48 posts
If you already know what you want to do during your Phd, definitely go to the UK. You will be done in 3 years, and the quality of universities is world-class. Everyone is talking about Oxford and Cambridge, but the best rated Computer Science department in the UK is actually in St Andrews[1], the third oldest university in the English-speaking world. It's more focused on software engineering than theoretical mathemat…
If you have the option then the country is not your primary concern. The quality of your PhD experience is 95% determined by the quality of your supervisor and lab-mates. So you should judge based on that irrespective of the country. How much attention can they give you, how successful have previous students been, etc?
On the average, US PhD students graduate with more, and higher impact, publications than UK PhD students. The reason for this is that US PhD graduation is typically contingent upon producing two or three significant publications in your field. So you might have to stay for six or seven years, but you will have an established publication record when you leave.
As far as I am aware of, no such publication requirement exists for any UK university. UK PhD graduation is contingent upon completing a thesis and viva (defense) but often times the research within the thesis has not yet been published. There is typically a period after PhD graduation where UK students then focus on publishing.
You may also wish to compare the funding situation for the various advisors. Each country and university has access to different grants and other sources of funding. You have to keep in mind that doing a PhD is a full-time job. You won't be able to have a part-time job and do quality research, so unless you are able to self-fund, the money aspect is critical. I believe that, in general, PhDs take longer to complete i…
> the money aspect is critical Any reputable PhD or DPhil in computer science is fully funded. You don't need to think about a part-time job or self-funding. > In my experience it is very difficult to be accepted when you propose specific research and it is outside any existing scope. This is more common in the UK and isn't seen as a problem here.
You will possibly never have a chance to study abroad again. If you don't have a partner or children, I strong consider taking the chance now while you can.
Also as a practical matter it's my understanding there's more work life balance in a UK PhD, better pay (you won't get rich but less worry about rent etc) and often subsidized housing.
To be honest if I had to choose between Oxford and a top place like Stanford or CMU, I'd take the chance OP. I think in an increasingly global word, you should seize the chance to extend uour network abroad.
And on a practical note, doing weekend trips to Paris or Amsterdam instead of Santa Cruz or Vermont is preferable IMHO ;)