Hey folks, would appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

I've been offered a fully funded PhD which looks really interesting......However, it is with my Undergraduate tutor. I like and respect the guy very much so this isn't an issue at all, but how is it going to affect my academic career? Is it frowned upon to stay with the same supervisor and institution?

I'm currently on a Year abroad programme, with VERY little chance of me being able to come back and meet any other prospective supervisors. If I get accepted anywhere else then I'm gonna have to go in blind and hope I get on with them.

Any advice? Thanks for reading!

Liz


BACKGROUND: Probably should have put this at the top, I study Astrophysics at the University of Southampton and am currently at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, I have also applied to Cambridge, UCL and Imperial. Southampton is pretty well respected in the High Energy Astrophysics "world" or certainly appears to be. If you want to know anymore just let me know :)

Hi Liz...Personally I think that if the PhD is right for you then you should go for it. I have been at the same university for my BSc, MSc and now my PhD (My MSc and PhD, but not my BSc, have been with the same supervisor). I have also heard that it is better to move to a different uni for your PhD, and worry a little that my degrees will all be from the same uni, but the fact is that for a PhD you need to be where the best supervisor and the best facilities are. If they happen to be at the same uni, and you are really keen on the PhD, then I wouldn't worry about it too much. I guess it would be good to make sure your first post-doc is somewhere else tho!

You're right that it should be a concern, but one that is outweighed by the project and Supervisor. Don't underestimate the power of your Supervisor's name...I've been to two job interviews this week, and both of them mentioned at the end "oh, and say hi to Dr. X for me"...

I have been at the same uni for my BA, MA and Phd and had the same supervisor for both the MA and the Phd - but then he is the expert in the field - he wrote the seminal works, he is world renowned for what he does - so to go elsewhere would be madness lol - it would be being taught by the student and not the expert.

I'd also say to you, never go with a Phd and supervisor blind if you can help it. Your relationship with your supervisor is of paramount importance - if you don't gel then you can look forward at best to 3-4 years of hell, at worst bye bye Phd. You work so closely I think(and it is just my opinion) that it is better to go with someone you know you can work with - and you've proved that already.
Go to the best place for you, the place where you'll have the best chance of doing well and the fact that you've been there before is of little importance.

Thanks guys I really appreciate your response!

I do get on really well with my supervisor, this is probably one of the reasons he's offered me the position before even interviewing anyone else. He knows his stuff when it comes to this area of research and has plenty of publications to his name. I'm also hoping that having a year abroad in a different academic institution will help to as it will mean I still have 2 academic supervisors!

This is the only PhD project I've seen so far that has REALLY appealed to me, I've found other titles interesting, but this would also tie in nicely with work I've done here too.........

Thanks again! :-)