I am working on my bachelors here in my home country, and after that wish to get a higher degree abroad.
I heard that in the US you normally go from bachelors straight to PhD, and I have a few questions about this.
Which universities should I be looking at for a STEM degree? I'm not 100% sure which field I'll be going into(Probably genetics or biotech, my bachelors covers quite a few subjects though so I have quite a few choices) but either way I know I need to research and find ones that are actually good and give me an advantage with future employers, as I'm hoping to immigrate legally after finishing my degree(most likely to Canada, I'm pretty sure the US is near impossible) and in general would want the degree to be useful for all the work I'd be putting into it.
Also, I heard that PhD students often don't have to pay tuition, they get paid a stipend for living and insurance every year and that's it. I've been told foreign students often are able to receive this funding.
So which places should I generally be looking at? I'd like to find a good university that is known to be good for STEM and that I possibly have a good chance to receive funding.
My other option would be getting my masters in Canada(Apparently they require a masters degree for PhD applicants), in which case I'd also need some recommendations?
I'm not 100% sure which option is better. Naturally if I could get a PhD it would be better, but if I can't get funding and will need to pay 40k$ a year for tuition alone for 5-6 years it'd probably be better to go for a masters degree in Canada. I'm not sure if one of these options is better than the other in terms of my odds of getting approved for permanent residence but I should probably go somewhere else for information on that part.
TL;DR PhD in the US, need to find good universities that graduating from will make it more likely to get a job later, and potentially offer funding, or which Canadian universities are good for STEM masters degrees.