Undergrad U. for PhD?

[guenevere01]

One of the schools I've been admitted to is my undergrad institution. I've studied with most of the people in my particular field there, and the person whose research interests are closest to my own was my thesis advisor (go figure!), so I assume I'd be working with her again. I've been accepted to another place, which seems like a good fit in lots of ways, and is actually a bit higher-ranked, but the faculty there haven't done research quite as close to what I'm hoping to work on (though of course the specifics of my intended topic could change, of course!). I'll be visiting the latter institution soon, which will hopefully solidify my decision, but I guess what I'm hoping for input on is this: is it a career-killer to get one's undergrad and PhD from the same university? Especially when one would be working with basically the same people? Advice/opinions on this would be appreciated!

[socialpsych]

Okay. I'm most likely going to stay at my UG school for grad, although my situation is a bit different from yours in that I'd switching fields and advisors, and in that the program I'd be going into is top-ranked in its field. Still, here are my thoughts.

On one hand, yes, conventional wisdom certainly says it's bad for your career to stay at one school. I think I, and you if you stay where you are, will just have to work harder to get to know additional profs at my school and really network hard at conferences to overcome this problem.

Is the slightly closer research fit with your advisor the only reason you prefer your alma mater to the other program? Because...interests do change, so if the other program is higher-ranked and there are multiple people there you could work with, maybe just the slightly better fit is not a great reason to stay where you are.

On the other hand, I keep thinking about some advice I read that says there is value to staying where you are: http://members.terracom.net/~dorothea/gradsch/success.html. I already know and like the culture here, I have a social network, and there are profs who are willing to mentor me and want me to succeed, all of which is very valuable. I probably take things for granted about my current school that just aren't true at other schools, so since I know I like it here I want to stay and not lose those things.

In summary: I think staying where you are will set you back, but perhaps in ways you can overcome by working extra hard; I also think there are advantages to staying.