European vs US PhD?

[cast2022]

So I have been accepted into a couple schools but my real decision so far is between University of Edinburgh and University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Both are funded, and both feel like pretty good fits for research.

If I want to go into academics afterwards, is a European PhD going to hurt me?

On the other hand, I went to undergraduate at UMBC, so is going to the same institution for my PhD going to hurt me there?

 

Any help you guys can provide would be awesome!

[Izakawa]

One of my professors did his PhD in one of the small universities in Europe, but was accepted by Stanford for postdoc and offered a faculty position there. Even though the ranking of institution is important, the research that you do matters most, I guess. 

[PokePsych]

theres more than country; such as the prestige of the institution; prestige of your advisor; what and how much you publish, etc.

[fortsibut]

I know that in some disciplines, “academic incest” (or doing undergrad/PhD at the same place) is viewed pretty negatively because it doesn’t show that you can necessarily thrive in two different environments, plus the fact that going elsewhere and learning from different scholars for another degree teaches you new perspectives.

I’ve thought about this myself and the main issue between US/EU doctoral programs that I’ve found is the fact that most US programs (this is likely field-dependent as well) have doctoral students teaching undergrads and TA’ing while many European programs (at least in history) are pure research degrees that don’t give you that teaching experience unless you seek it out.

Best of luck as you make your decision!  I’d opt for Europe myself, but that’s just me.