UK PhD or re-apply?

[jamjar]

Looking for some help making this decisions. I only applied to 4 schools (3 in US and 1 in UK). I am not originally from the US or the UK but have my MSc from top London school. I have been offered a place at Oxford for PhD but am concerned that I am making a mistake by staying in the UK. Long term, I would rather be in the US and am waaaay more excited about programmes there...

Options include:
1) Take Oxford offer and enjoy!
2) Start at Oxford and try to re-apply while in first year. Is this a really bad habit?
3) Decline Oxford and re-apply to US schools for 2020.

Would love some advice!

[neurosoc]

Congratulations! I'm no expert, just a fellow applicant, but my impression is that Oxford is seen as a great school and offers you similar chances at postdocs and faculty positions as top US programs.

I don't think you need to worry about seeming too UK-centric, if that is your worry.

2) sounds quite bad to me. I think 3) only makes sense if you will do something in the meantime that will make you significantly more competitive, and I can't really assess that factor without more information.

[sociopolitic]

As far as I've been told the structure of UK PhD programs tends to be rather different than those in the US, and US programs have a definite bias towards hiring US PhDs. If your end goal is a TT job in the US, options 2 and 3 might be safer bets. 

Edited May 29, 2019 by sociopolitic