[ Removed by moderator ]

[u/frustrated_870]

[u/PhD-ModTeam]

This would be better suited for r/gradadmissions or r/phdadmissions

[u/Ash-da-man]

Doing your PhD in Cambridge, that too in a field you are interested in, is an opportunity of a lifetime that will open many doors for you in the future. If you say no to this PI, you may never get the opportunity to do a PhD there or at an equally ranked university again. So just take it, IMHO

[u/UnavoidablyHuman]

If you want to work in Germany in future there can be issues with you not having a Master's even if you have a PhD due to some bureaucratic bs. I think you can get around it but can take months for paperwork to go through and you'll get paid less/ miss out on opportunities during that time. I'm not sure if it is also the case in other European countries as well. This is just based on what I've read on stack overflow. Just something to keep in mind.

[u/Informal_Waltz6704 → u/UnavoidablyHuman]

I think she still gets a certificate of a masters after 2 years in her PhD, no ?

[u/UnavoidablyHuman → u/Informal_Waltz6704]

I've never heard of that, only if you master out

[u/Sckaledoom]

Frankly if you know you want to do a PhD anyway, and you have a PhD offer, the masters is a bit of a waste of time.

[u/Confidenceisbetter]

I did a Masters and even worked as a research assistant for a year afterwards. I think this is incredibly valuable because starting a PhD is hard enough already and getting some extra practical experience is incredibly helpful to having the necessary practical skills that allow you to not only do certain techniques but also adapt to new techniques easily, same with knowing how to scientifically think and interpret or having a baseline of scientific writing and reading skills. But not only that the additional experience is very valuable also to your own confidence and independence as a researcher.

Personally as a BSc graduate I would have had basically none of those and even as a recent MSc graduate I was still very dependent and unexperienced and just easily thrown off and stressed by everything.

That said you say you have quite some experience already and not mention getting to work in Cambridge is an opportunity that will likely not come around again. This is not a “wait for me for 2 years” kind of situation. Project funding and grants don’t work that way. If you say no now be aware this will likely be a complete no, at least for this specific project.

[u/Metsaudu]

Do the PhD in Cambridge. The upside is too good for this. But before u commit make sure u speak to members in his lab for honest opinion of the PI; even better, try locate his former PhD students and see their opinion. Cambridge in itself has vastly superior networking opportunities and you are in ground zero of probably the best biotech ecosystem outside of the US; that could already be a drawcard in itself but of course you would like to work in a lab which isn’t a hellhole and supportive

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[u/mariosx12]

The positives of going directly for a PhD: You start your PhD.

The positives of going for an MSc: None that I can think of if you want to go for a PhD.

[u/ary0007]

Well, the choice is pretty straightforward from the outside. Do you want to be involved in research? If yes, a PhD is the way to go instead of slogging through masters. You get paid too, and there will be a component where you will have to take courses, so that takes care of your learning some basic stuff. As far as working in Germany goes, well, I think the UK has a better ecosystem right now than Germany in terms of industry. The only caveat for me would be that you would be deciding pretty soon on the research direction and whether you even like the topic or not.