Hello ECOLOG, I'm not sure if a European perspective has been expressed yet, but I will do so anyway. I cannot comment on US PhD positions and the US grad school system, as I have no experience of them, but I do have experience of doing a PhD in Europe (in Britain), and of supervising/observing them in Switzerland and Germany.
I disagree with Jane Shevtov's suggestion that most European PhDs are completely prescriptive, and do not allow the development and implementation of the student's own ideas. It is certainly wrong to suggest they are no more than technician posts. I agree that US PhDs allow the students more time to develop their own ideas. But, my experience is that there should be enough flexibility in European PhDs for the student to come up with and implement their own ideas within a broad question or topic, design their own experiments, analyse their own data, and write their own papers as first authors. It's too simplistic to say the US system is going to be better by default. They're just different, and one system may suit some people better than the other. German PhD positions in some institutions require students to be a member of a graduate school, but usually with choice involved in the precise courses taken. Even without compulsory grad school, PhD students in the UK and Switzerland are often encouraged by their supervisors to take extra courses in advanced statistics, project management, writing a research proposal etc., i.e. in courses which enhance their skills as a researcher. To me, an important function of doing a PhD is to learn how to do research in your given field, and courses taken should perhaps reflect this. That being said- I would encourage a PhD student to take grad school classes or equivalent when they have the opportunity- nobody ever stops learning. Best, Wayne Dawson
