Disclaimer for Aspirants thinking about PhD in Foreign Countries
Yo youngsters, I'm a recent graduate from IISER Kolkata. Recently I am seeing a lot of posts about queries regarding PhD in abroad, PhD in top 50 universities, etc.
I know in many (most) of us were attracted to the idea that it's very easy to get a PhD position outside India from IISERs, but you might have gotten answers thati it is not that easy. But you all shouldn't obsess over the idea of doing things abroad.
I want to point out a few things. 1. Rankings are not everything. A foreign university ranking 150-200 can have great research environment and results for some particular domains of research.
Many Indian institutes are doing great research in various domains. Do not neglect them.
Money is a big factor for the dream of doing PhD outside but the amount of money made outside might sound rich generally the salary/fellowship is roughly the minimum wage in Western countries. You will not get rich doing PhD outside.
IISERs are great place to explore not only science but a lot more than that. You will meet a lot of people and even if you are confused you will figure out about what to do in future. Even if you are scared about job prospects, I'm sure things will work out.
Many of my batchmates went to USA, UK, Germany, Singapore for their PhD. Many decided to continue their PhD in India. Some decided to take a break and explore other things. Mostly we don't know what's gonna happen in future so my advice is to just focus on getting into iiser (if you really want to) and think about PhD and all after you are sure about PhD. By the end of final year, we get to know a lot about reality of research (in good Ways and bad ways)and various other factors which encourages many people to do PhD in India or unfortunately leave academia and pursue something else.