Lol at "even better than UPF (e.g. EUI)"
Anything in US top 50 > anywhere in Europe except LSE, UCL, and maybe (depends on the field) TSE, Oxford, and Cambridgehmmm. UPF is very good and ahead of places like GSU which is US top 50
GSU (I guess you men Georgia State?) is not Top 50. Top 50 would be about Georgetown/Indiana/Notre Dame. GSU is more like a Top 100.
Those places are about as good as UPF so yeah... Vanderbilt should be better.
Now, UPF is great. Quality-wise maybe better than some in the Top 50 and as good as some Top 30. However, the recommendation"US Top 20 > EU Top 5 > US Top 30-50 > EU Top 6-15" takes into account your job market outcome prospects that are much better in the US.
In EU, you can end up hovering from postdoc to postdoc after graduating from places even better than UPF (e.g., EUI).
My two cents.