European vs American math phd programs

[randomman]

How would one compare IST Austria and a mid-ranked American university (nationally ranked top 30 or top 50)? I received offers from ISTA and a few American universities and am trying to decide where to go. All of these institutions have a few faculty members who I want to work with, but there may be differences in working environments, cultures, rankings, the fame of institutes, the geographical considerations (e.g. attending school in the US has advantage of more closely connected to other schools in the states) etc. As IST Austria is a rather young institution, it seems a bit hard for me to do the comparison by only looking at the info online. So, I'll appreciate it if any of you could tell me something.

Edited March 11, 2021 by randomman

[csheehan10]

One thing to take note of in comparing US and European programmes is the lack of coursework in European programmes - they generally expect everyone to have a master's already, so you go straight into research and most people finish in 3 or 4 years.

 

[randomman]

Hi@csheehan10! I did notice that most European programs are 3/4-year, but this is not exactly the case for IST Austria which leans toward the American system. 

[StatsG0d]

The biggest deciding factor to me would be where you want to work post degree. If you want to work in the US, I think most people would say it's advisable to do a PhD in the US. Whether or not that's based on actual evidence I'm not sure, but I do think it's the consensus.

[Euler17]

I agree where you want to live afterwards should factor in somehow. Though if you're interested in computational topology, it's hard to beat working with Edelsbrunner at IST Austria. 

[randomman]

Hi@Euler17, yes I do consider the geographical proximity and tend to work in the US after my PhD (doing a postdoc at a renowned European institute is also great though). As you mention Edelsbrunner, who's indeed a great mathematician I might want to work with, I'm wondering about the advantage of working with such a great expert versus that of doing a PhD at a good but not top (say top30 or 50) American university in terms of the competitiveness in the American academic or industrial job market.