Are graduate programs in the USA suitable for bachelor EU holders

The reason US degrees are 4 years is because they have no specific subject requirements normally to enter them, and so the first year is usually closer to the final year of high school for UK/EU students, than anything. They aren't doing an "extra year" on top of what you have done - their extra year is to catch up to the standards UK/EU students are at (and to fit in their "general education requirements" - since US universities require all students to take a mix of science and humanities courses on top of their major courses, whereas typically in the EU/UK you almost exclusively study your main subject and relevant ancillary subjects).

The reason US universities don't have masters-PhD options is because the PhD in the US necessarily incorporates a masters degree. The first two years of a PhD in the US is spent doing masters level coursework, and then preparing for a qualfying exam to advance to PhD candidacy. The actual PhD doesn't start until after that - you do not begin doing academic research immediately in a US PhD programme. In fact this is one of the major benefits of EU/UK style PhD programmes, as normally you go directly into a research project and start getting involved in that.

You may want to spend some more time to familiarise yourself with the US format if you plan to apply and study there, but in short there is no reason you could not apply competitively. A masters degree in hand can be seen as beneficial by some unis in the US but is rarely required (and I think even less essential for STEM subjects - it's more of a preference for humanities PhDs).

Also the "Application, UCAS and Clearing" forum is for UK undergraduate study queries. I will move your thread to a more relevant forum.

Thank you very much for your response and for helping me with the forums. Would you advise me to try it, or does ETHZ present a better opportunity long term?

Well, what are your long term goals? That is probably the big factor.

Are you aiming to stay in academia? Get the PhD and then move into some professional role? In either case where would you want to work long term?

My goal is to continue in Academia. The industry is an option, of course, but not the actual goal

In that case I don't think it really matters, except if you want to work in the US having done a PhD there might help you get a foot in the door (visa wise if for no other reason). Otherwise you'll probably get your PhD done sooner and be able to start looking for postdoc positions sooner doing it in the UK/EU - and you wouldn't need to spend two years extra taking classes like a glorified undergrad before you can actually start doing real research!

Thank you very much. The point is, however, that in the EU I ll have to pass through the master. Thank you very much for your help.