Choosing advisors: Thinking of your present or future?

[FrodoShaggins]

I've been extremely lucky to have found two labs through my rotations that I love. I feel like my decision is now coming down to between the lab that will likely make the next 5 years of my PhD better, or a lab that might hold more potential for my future. I'm wondering how do you weigh the benefit of your grad school career to the rest of your career?  How can you really tell which lab will be better for your future? I've listed more details between the two labs I'm trying to decide between below, but you can skip that if you'd like and comment in general on if you see choosing a lab is a "for now" decision or a "future" decision. If it's relevant, I'm a science BS in an engineering PhD program.

 

Both advisors are similar; Young, friendly, understanding, while still pushing their students enough. I can see my self extremely happy working with either of them.

Advisor #1 is extremely talented but not tenured yet. They will graduate their first student in the next year or so. They may move to a different institution once tenured and first student is graduated.The lab members are nice and I get along with them, but their relationship with each other all really ends at the lab. I enjoy the research on a theoretical level of this lab much more than the other, but I really don't like doing the physical lab work.

Advisor #2 is tenured and has graduated two PhD and one master student last year. Two found a nice industry job, the other (PhD) is still looking. Advisor will NOT leave this institution while I would be here. I am very good friends with the members of the lab, who are all best friends with each other. This carries over to their teamwork in the lab. We all have a lot in common and they were all extremely welcoming before they ever met me. The work for this lab is interesting to me, just not as much as the other lab. I like the actual lab work way better though.

Just looking at the next five years, I would easily choose Lab #2.

However, I want to become a professor or find some position where I can lead a lab. I want to be able serve as a mentor to students and read literature, write grants, and freely explore research ideas. I don't go to a top institution. I know a professorship at MIT or Berkeley is far out of the question, but it would be great find a job at the same level of institution I'm at now. This will still be hard, and I feel that my topic I choose now and the advisor I choose might make or break my chances.

Advisor #1 works in a field that young. Most of the work is still in academia. It's more of the "science" side rather than engineering. My background fits very well here. The advisor has contacts close by in this field at more prestigious institutions that could possibly help when finding post doc positions.

Advisor #2 works in a field closer to industry and traditional engineering. There is a larger learning curve here but so far, it's been fine. This advisor has close by contacts at a more prestigious institution, but far less than the other advisor. They're students so far have gone into industry.

 

How important will this decision be to my future?

[St Andrews Lynx]

You can always aim to do a postdoc with an advisor who is either higher-ranked and-or has a history of placing their students in academic positions. 

With regards to the "present" or "future" question...well, it's a bit of both. Five years is a long time to be miserable in a PhD program, and you may find that your career plans change anyway. Future job opportunities matter as well, but if you want a particular job then there are ways to sharpen your CV for that particular job regardless of the lab that you're in.

It is a personal choice based upon what works for you and the kind of trade-offs you are willing to accept. I decided that I'd prefer to work in a lab which required longer hours, but would give me more papers: other people made the opposite decision and that's OK. Some people prefer to treat their lab mates as work colleagues (rather than friends), for others they'd prefer a closer relationship.