I've been offered 2 phds both of which the projects seem really interesting, the supervisors seem nice and the labs seem good so how do I make a decison? Do I take into account the universities ratings, the fact that one is a CASE studentship, location, what? because at the moment they're both waiting and i'm stuck

Hey- don't worry. If both positions are that good then you can't make a wrong choice, non?
You can either go to the lab with the nicer people or choose the bigger lab because they will be more experienced postdocs to ask for advice if you need it. Or sit down and have a nice long read in the two groups latest publications and then take the one with the project that interests you more.

This might sound stupid, but when I’m facing a difficult choice I always do like this:
1. Make a list of different aspects of the two possibilites (location, friendliness of supervisor, job prospects, research theme etc. include everything you can think of)
2. Give each aspect points according to how important they are (for example, if you don’t mind where you’ll live, you give that 1, research theme is really important, give it 5 etc.)

3. Think through the alternatives and assign them points according to how well they fulfill your criteria. (one is in London, where you’d like to live, so you give that 4. Since you don’t find location important (gave it 1), this alternative gets 1x4=4 points for “location aspect”).
4. Sum it up and see what alternative gets more points.

This method really helps me to structure my thoughts. Hopefully it works for you too. :)

I would say, choose the department with better RAE rating, and a supervisor who has published more. Also I would look at the location - what do you prefer (city vs. country or smaller town), and size of the department, univesity and which university is better known.

Hi B

As I said in the other post I'm in the same situation. Just wanted to wish you good luck with the decision.

hi b,
if i were in your position, i would e-mail exisiting phd students in the lab to feel how is it and if it is near to your place you could go there and have a look yourself. good luck with your choice

I totally do what Jenny does, I'm not as analytical about it, but I do add up points and such.
Another trick I have is to flip a coin, head one place and tails the other. Some times I get the tails and I feel totally disappointed and I know then that for some reason I really want to go with heads, I just couldn;t admit it out loud.

And also anon has a good point, you can't screw up too much!

What if after you do all that you still can't decide? Or the decision you really want to make is the risker one? One is a funded position that would be your second choice but you are still waiting to hear about the possibility of funding for your first choice (very uncertain but dream PhD in ideal uni) but you may get offered a place if you find your own funding (which you think you can get to cover the fees)

Just bear in mind CASE studentships are very hard to get so worth considering seriously as it also gives you contacts in industry or field your collaborator is working in. Is other position funded? But ultimately lots of things will affect your decision! Good luck.

thanks for all your advice, i'm still fairly confused but at least i have some ideas what to go on and have realised that i shouldn't complain i'm in a lot better situation than a lot of people. they are both funded and i am very tempted by the case one as i think it has really good prospects but to take that i would be turning down imperial which just feels wrong :)

I know what you mean! That is a top uni! Where is the other one? I am in similar situation and fast running out of time! Given that the RAE are in the same band how important is the uni?