4 ms·
It comes down to preferences and priorities. The decision is personal. Here are some aids. US: + once you finish education, and if you start employment in tech
by reacharavindh 3y ago
It comes down to preferences and priorities. The decision is personal. Here are some aids.
US:
+ once you finish education, and if you start employment in tech sector, you get to make more money(I’d even dare to say more than 2x, considering taxes, geography etc).
+ for the tech sector, US is where the hotness is. More opportunities, fuel for ambition.
+ while single and young, US can get you a lot of disposable income(read - less likely to get sick footing a huge medical bill, or avoid expensive child care, or school fees of children)
+ language. You don’t need to spend your time learning a new language that you may or may not use in the long term.
- (cons)
- politics (depends on personal views of course. Ask yourself if you can bear a society in which Trump wins the elections)
- the odd chance that you get in an accident or get sick with a weird/expensive disease, you’re screwed.
- personal opinion - food, lifestyle, and quality of life is comparatively poorer in the US on average than in EU. Read obesity, fatty, ultra-processed and sugary foods.
- Geography - farther to South Asia than Europe.
- Guns (depends on your views)
EU:
+ Safer, more consciously biased towards better quality of life. More public transport, walking cities, higher quality super markets, and produce etc.
+ politics (left leaning compared to the US on average)
+ traveling and cultural diversity - as in you can travel across the continent as even weekend trips and experience rich and diverse cultures - Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Poland, Netherlands, Scandinavia, France - so many experiences to be had.
+ in the long term, you don’t need to be anxious about falling sick, losing your job, education for your children etc. Social system has your back for all the taxes you pay.
+ Easier and probably cheaper to travel to South Asia often.
+ You get real holiday(atleast. 4 weeks or upto 6 weeks per year) to travel and live your life while young instead of bunkering to earn money.
- you definitely won’t make as much as you would have in the US.
- language. Depends on where in Europe you go, you may need to spend considerable amount of time learning the language. It could be a fun experience depending on your attitude, but it is time nevertheless.
- lowered ambition. A personal opinion. Having living equal time at both US and EU, I’ve come to conclude that EU encourages stability and playing it safe while US encourages ambitious attitudes and gets the best out of you. It depends on what you are looking for, and what you enjoy.
Hope it helped atleast a little and didn’t add more dots to your analysis paralysis.
To tip the scales, I live in the EU.
- caddemon 3y agoI think the lifestyle part depends a lot on where in the US OP would end up. Places like Boston and NYC are not car-dependent at all and most people you will meet are a normal weight and have a decent diet. There is also a ton of cultural diversity within NYC and lots of amazing food (especially if you have disposable income). Boston has many students and postdocs coming from all over, so in an academic circle you will easily have a young diverse friend group. It's definitely a different lifestyle than living in some other parts of the US, which probably are more of a negative compared to EU - though if you're into nature there are some really beautiful sights in parts of the US that make for relatively cheap vacations. There's also something to be said for the US college experience, like I wouldn't want to live in a smaller college town as an adult but some of them are super fun while you're an undergrad.
- ghaff 3y agoIn general though, accessing nature from even those cities that are relatively well-situated to nice natural areas mostly requires either leaning on friends who do have cars or belonging to college outing clubs that organize trips.
- reacharavindh 3y agoYou’re right. It is impossible to put US in a box and say this is how it is. It is the land of the extremes. I tried to portray a picture from my personal experience (and hoped that it would extrapolate to the average experience of a student). NYC and Boston (both places I love are more exceptions than the norm. American society for the large part is oriented towards car ownership. Sure, one can bubble themselves the confines of downtown Boston or Manhattan area, but, if you want the “true experience” of American life, with some trips to the beautiful nature the country has to offer, bbq parties at a colleague’s place in the suburbs etc - you’re going to need a car. Yes, I will NOT generalize to say all Americans are obese. I merely went by the stats that says more and more are. I’ve had the American college town experience (college town South Carolina) and I cherish those times. I rode through a scholarship and had a worry free time to actually learn, and have fun while at it. But, I know many of my peers who had to pay USD tuition from their home country cash, and it was incredibly hard for them. Again, it depends…