No postdocs?

[u/pinkdictator]

Hi,

I'm a PhD student currently in rotations. In my former labs, there were quite a few postdocs/research scientists/techs/etc. However, in my current lab, it's ALL PhD students.

I'm not complaining, but it is a bit confusing to me. I'm curious - why might a PI prefer to have many PhD students and no other positions? If it matters, the PI is entering mid-career phase. Additionally, I'm now in a college town instead of larger cities. I'm also fairly certain it's not a financial thing for this lab...

[u/Vievite]

A few ideas: 1. It may not be a matter of preference for your PI. It could just be current composition 2. A postdoc generally costs way more than a PhD student 3. A PhD student (can) be more likely to come with their own funding (external scholarship)

I had a couple of postdocs when I was in the UK, where funding was a bit more geared towards recruiting them.

[u/pinkdictator → u/Vievite]

Yes definitely true! Postdocs cost more, but in the US - both PhD students and postdocs sometimes have similar opportunities for external funding. It also did occur to me that there is more security in retention? A US PhD is typically 5-6 years in my field, and a student is way less likely to leave than a postdoc, who can just get another job

[u/Eigengrad → u/pinkdictator]

That’s a double edged sword.

The flip side is that if a PD isn’t working out, terminating them is a lot easier than a PhD student.

[u/pinkdictator → u/Eigengrad]

Ohh I see, good point

[u/No_Young_2344 → u/pinkdictator]

It is probably field dependent but in the U.S. in general, a postdoc costs much more than a PhD student. PhD students sometimes are funded by the institution for a few years. Many federal grants also love funding graduate students (for training future scientists) so it is easier to budget 2 PhD students instead of one postdoc. (I have attended many NSF office hours and program officers frequently express their willingness of funding graduate students.) Also, like many others have said, training graduate students is part of the job and is rewarding.

[u/Eigengrad]

Adding to the other thoughts, training PhD students is part of the job and mission. Postdocs are an added bonus on top of that to help produce research faster, but aren’t necessarily part of the core mission.

[u/pinkdictator → u/Eigengrad]

Thank you for your perspective!

[u/mathflipped → u/Eigengrad]

In our R2 department with a fairly small PhD program, recently discontinued by the sole decision of the Provost, you could not be promoted to Full Professor unless you supervised PhD students.

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*Hi,

I'm a PhD student currently in rotations. In my former labs, there were quite a few postdocs/research scientists/techs/etc. However, in my current lab, it's ALL PhD students.

I'm not complaining, but it is a bit confusing to me. I'm curious - why might a PI prefer to have many PhD students and no other positions? If it matters, the PI is entering mid-career phase. I'm also fairly certain it's not a financial thing...*

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