How much the region you get your PhD is important to your career path?

Question

I am about to make an important decision for my career. I have a good PhD position (fully funded with a good stipend) in East Asia. The university is one of the top 50 in my subject, which is electrical engineering and computer science (based on QS, THE) and Top 100 generally (QS, THE). The professor is somehow well-known and has an established international connection: He graduated from a top US university and is the author of a well-known book on the subject, associate editor of prestigious journal, etc.I want to say everything is good. However, I ultimately seek a position in the West and not the East. At the moment I’ve missed the opportunity for Western schools for Fall 2018, and such an opportunity might not be offered to me in Western universities. Here is my question: Assuming that I manage to produce good research and a good CV with a good international collaboration, does having a PhD from abroad (esp. East Asia) dramatically lower my chance of a research career in the target country (let's assume the US, but I am asking more generally)?I want to compare the importance of individual merit for career and the region you get your PhD. What’s its impact?

Answer 1

Hi There,

I feel it is becomingly decreasingly important, in terms of which school you attended. The most important aspect is the quality of the work that you are completing and publishing. There was a time, not so long ago, where Harvard and Yale were everything. That is changing a bit and the workforce seems to focus more on the individual applicant instead of just the university.