Today I want to discuss some of the arguments that should play a role in the decision for students to send  out an application to a particular principal investigator in a particular institute in, very often, a foreign country.

Mobility
How mobile should a junior scientist be? I know some very successful scientists that went to high school, college and university in the same city. And even became professor at that university, with as their research theme a continuous iteration of their PhD thesis. But I think they form a minority.

Leaving your own university, or even your country
The majority of junior scientists struggle. Should they leave their country? And if so, at what level of their education? Leaving one’s country is usually either done to get a PhD abroad, or to get first a master abroad and then a PhD abroad. But even if staying in the same country the question arises whether or not one should continue to go for a PhD in the same group where the master degree was acquired.

Quality of applicant
Principal investigators(PI’s) get daily email applications from students from China and India. But also other nationals, like Iranians and Indonesians, regularly apply. Scientific institutes of the size of 150 to 250 employees have at least one full-time employee whose only  task it is to filter those applications. Some applicants clearly have sent out hundred of email applications, whereas others obviously sent out just this one application.

For group leaders it is very difficult to judge the quality of an applicant. Comparing the quality  of university educations in various countries is difficult. In addition the candidate very likely did not have had  the chance to proof his experimental skills. That is why candidates that first come to complete a master are much easier to assess.

Which group should I choose to apply to for a PhD position?
The answer to this question will for a large part determine, if you want to become a full-blood researcher, what your subject of research will be. What are important factors? I do not know for certain what is in the minds of the applicants but important factors include, I guess, quality of the group leader, leader style of the group leader, quality of the institute, scholarship/salary (or is the university so famous, like Harvard, that you have to bring your own money), length of contract, size of teaching duties, quality of life in the city and country of choice.

Quality of group leader and style of leadership
It seems clear that group leaders that are mediocre scientists are not an ideal person to choose for your PhD. I expect prospective PhD students to check this quality before they apply. Given public c.v.’s on the internet, public list of publications, public record of invited talks at conferences, citation scores, and a number of other criteria it is not to difficult to find out the scientific quality of the group leader. Applicants, please do this before you apply. For your own sake.

Much more difficult is to find out the quality of leadership. Does the PI have 20 PhD students and 10 postdocs in his group, and no time for any scientific discussion? Is the PI coauthor (and last author) of all papers of the group? Is the group leader delivering all invited talks himself? Does it take three months before the group leader returns a manuscript, and returns it unread, but with a lot of criticism? Is he always away for conferences? I think it is quite difficult from the outside to find out about these habits. The best source of information is former and present PhD students. So when you are invited to come over for an interview try to get to talk to several PhD students in the same group. Have dinner with them.

Countries
Even now, with the all the homeland security nonsense and visa-problems, the USA is still often the first choice for a student applying for a PhD position. Students should realize that in contrast to some other countries, getting your PhD in the USA means joining a graduate school, with still a lot of courses to follow and examinations. The period necessary for getting your PhD can in the USA also be much longer than anticipated. In other countries students get a four-year PhD contract with no obligatory courses and a guaranteed >90% time for research. Before you apply you should try to figure out these circumstances.

I think applicants for PhD positions should spend quite some time checking out a group before they are  going to apply for a position in that group.

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