High Rank University or Reputed PhD Advisor: which is Better?

Selecting a high rank university or research institute for your doctoral program, PhD or postdoctoral research versus finding a good PhD advisor, supervisor or guide is discussed. Both university name and advisor reputation play a key role in the future of your academic and research career. Some tactics for making better career decisions are provided.
#phdstudent
#phdadvice
#postdoc

[@ritwikgoswami6704]

Where were you Sir in 2017? We got the most valuable advices so late...

[@Drganguli]

Ya it is always better to start KZbin early on. But better late than never

[@Adventure_with_Homen]

Thak you sir for you suggestions. Sir, if possible Can I get your mail id. I need to discuss related to this matter you mentioned here. Thank you

[@Drganguli]

My email should be there on KZbin. Please post your comment in a general form here and I can answer it or make a video on the issue. That way it helps everyone

[@BransdenJochain]

Hi, I have offers from Universities in the UK (QS Ranked within the Top 70) and Australia (QS ranked within the Top 15). The PI in the UK is reputed and established with a very good research profile and research project in a currently 'hot' area -- but it is my second choice of work. The PI in AUS is very new, I will be their first PhD student, the PI is very supportive and nice and the research fit is very good. The UK position is however in a high crime area and has a high initial cost (the VISA fee is very high but manageable). The students in the UK group however do not publish a lot and I don't have any record for the new supervisor in Australia. I am very confused as to where to go for PhD, I aim for an academic career later on.

[@Drganguli]

First of all, congratulations as this a nice problem to have. From your comment it seems that you like the Australia position more. I also feel that going for the higher rank university is better here. I would not worry about a young advisor. They are more likely to help you a lot in the PhD and have new ideas and training to do research. Further the crime issue that you mention would tilt the balance towards Australia in your case. Safety is very important and unfortunately foreign students are susceptible to crime as they have to walk around campuses at odd hours and may not have car etc

[@BransdenJochain]

@@Drganguli Thanks a lot for your response. Would you think having a reputed advisor makes up for the rank difference, given that letters of recommendation, etc will have more weight? and for what it's worth, the PI in the UK is Indian and I wish to return to India, so I do not know if that is another helpful factor to consider. I think I do like the Australian position better, but the UK position might be more pragmatic overall?

[@Drganguli]

@@BransdenJochain Yes you have to make a decision. If you like the UK advisor then for it. In these cases, one should first think about the pro and cons and then make a decision based on inputs from your own intuition or gut feeling. UK is of course a high tech country relative to Australia in many areas with many industries present and proximity to Europe for conferences etc.

[@BransdenJochain]

@@Drganguli Yes, thank you for your response, I too feel that it is best to go with gut feeling in this case, as the pros and cons in both cases are of quite different nature and it is difficult to make a 'logically' correct decision.

[@shashankshekharsingh4502]

If someone not satisfied with the research he/she done in Ph.D. , is it a good idea to go for PhD again or should go for Postdoc.

[@Drganguli]

I would say it is better to do a postdoc. These videos will help Should you do a postdoc? kzbin.info/www/bejne/qn7Ldp2NlNJoosk The difference between PhD and postdoctoral research kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYDEo2aNjJarpZY

[@gurmanjotsingh4920]

Dear Sir, I've offers from UK and Finland, and I'm finding it extremely difficult to choose between the two. As per the feedback from my MS thesis supervisor, the Finnish position is better in terms of scientific merit (it's an EU project with collaboration spanning various universities, but my work mostly revolves around data analysis, so apart from a few meetings and data sharing I don't think I'll be working across different universities) but the UK position is more applied/industry oriented since there's an industrial partner (6 months, although he's a professor from the University of Copenhagen) and I'll definitely be spending some time in various UK universities- Surrey (my home institution), Cambridge (my co-supervisor, 4 months planned in his lab), and the general training aspect is covered by the University of Bristol (Aerosol Science CDT program). Add to that the my primary supervisor at Surrey is amongst the top 1% scientists. But the issue is that someone who's so well known, would he provide good guidance since he's always moving between countries giving talks etc? On the other hand I've heard some very good things about my Finnish supervisor and she was adjudged the best doctoral thesis advisor recently and very often publishes in Nature, Science, Nature Communications, etc. So I'm quite confused. My Finnish project is academically oriented and the university's rank is around 500. Keeping all this in mind, which would be a better opportunity for me? Thank you in advance!

[@Drganguli]

You have to make this decision yourself. One things about Finland would be the language and the weather though the research is typically conducted in English. But it is a nice country and different from UK. I personally would have gone with the Finland option but you have to consider visa issues etc also and work possibilities after your degree.

[@gurmanjotsingh4920]

@@Drganguli I personally prefer Finnish position but there's a huge difference in the University ranking (UK ranks higher) and UK position being industry oriented seems to hold advantage in the longer run as academic positions are hard to find these days.

[@Drganguli]

@@gurmanjotsingh4920 Rank will matter in academic positions but only if you have a few good journal papers and good references from your advisor and other professors. You need to be able to predict how those will be at the end of the PhD with both these advisors.

[@saddiqueakbar4774]

I have a question. I completed my PhD a year and a half ago and i am currently a postdoc at a new university. I wish to publish additional data from my PhD, but I'm affiliated with the new university, where I receive my salary. Although my PhD supervisor is retired, my current postdoc supervisor wants to publish the data under the new affiliation. I plan to acknowledge my old supervisor as a coauthor, but not as a corresponding author. Are there potential issues with this approach in the future?

[@Drganguli]

You must have him as co-author in the paper as he contributed to it with his affiliation. You can make yourself corresponding author. But make sure you take the approval of all the authors by email and in writing before submitting the paper.

[@OmedyStories]

Hey Dr. Ganguli, I just watched your video and I must say that it was really informative and well-made. I was wondering if I could help you edit your highly engaging thumbnails which will help your video to reach to a wider audience

[@Drganguli]

At this time, I am doing this myself. Thanks for your offer though.

[@abhijitbhattacharjee3157]

Dear Sir, recently I got an invitation from Times Higher Education (THE) to take part in its world university ranking survey. In the email, it has been mentioned that survey is invitation only. I have uploaded a preprint of a research paper in arXiv and my email has been taken from this preprint. I am the solo author of this paper.My question is : weather getting this invitation a good thing or negative thing. I will remain grateful to you if you kindly let me know.

[@Drganguli]

It must be an email sent to collect a sample of opinions from around the world. It is a good sign in my opinion as they are considering you as a member of academic community