What happens when your PI leaves your school

[process chemist]

In my department, one of the younger PIs just left to take a tenure track position at a higher ranked university. I know several people in his group, and luckily, they were all able to transfer to the new univ. with full benefits (stipend, healthcare, acceptance into grad school). Is this normal? Do the schools that your PI leaves for have to accept his/her students, and do they always get benefits. I am wondering about this because my PI is young, very ambitious, publishes alot, and has ties to the New England area (grew up in Boston, PhD at Princeton, post-doc Harvard) but lives in a college town in the mid-west. He has not hinted at leaving, but you never know.

[Amogh]

Well that actually depends on the PI and how he argues his case to the new university when he decides to move. Generally speaking, I've seen that most of the time your PI takes you with him if you are quite far along with your work. They might leave behind the first years unless the said first year has made a mark on him. Hope that helps.

[rising_star]

Another factor is how far along you are in your program... If you're already ABD and not in the sciences where lab space is an issue, it's unlikely that you'd move with your PI to a new institution.