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Which advisor is better? (FINANCIAL ADVISORS?

What are the pros and cons of having multiple co-advisors as opposed to one advisor for a graduate program?

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    I'm probably in a relatively unique position to answer this.  I was advised by two professors at Berkeley (John Kubiatowicz and Anthony Joseph), and I routinely co-advise students at UCSB with my colleague Heather Zheng. Here are some pros and cons.  The high level is that it can work strongly in your favor, *if* your co-advisors work well together and they know how to manage the relationship.  If, however, they're new to this co-advising thing, it can be more difficult.  Details below. Pro: 1. You get multiple perspectives, which is generally a good thing if the advisors have different angles of looking at a problem, writing a paper, etc. Usually this helps you catch problems that 1 person overlooks, and gets you a more complete and comprehensive view of any research problem. 2. Generally, advisors differ in how well they do any particular thing: writing papers, getting data, managing your time, etc. If you can take the best of both worlds, that can help you in a lot of different contexts. 3. Simple logistics: if one is traveling or busy, you get the other to step in. Cons: 1. If they don't work well, they can argue and have conflicting opinions a lot, which means you're on your own (whoever you agree with wins). That's not always desirable, but does help/force you to develop faster. 2. It's usually the case that if 2 advisors try to split the responsibility 50-50, then you fail, because they'll both try to take over some responsibilities, and both back off others.  That's the worse case. So it's generally good to know who is your "primary" advisor, who will always step in if there's a question of who's responsible for helping you with what... 3. you have to get more signatures when you file your dissertation.

Ben Y. Zhao at Quora Visit the source

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There are various reasons for having multiple formal co-advisors.  Maybe your work really requires the input from experts in two different areas, maybe one has the funding and the other one has the time.  Maybe the two just always like working together. In such situations, I like to have a clear understanding of who is going to be the PRIMARY advisor and take responsibility for the student, even if that is not reflected in the formal setup.  Otherwise, there's a danger that the student may fall through the cracks, with each advisor assuming that the other is keeping an eye on the situation.  And some students (consciously or not) do tend to play one advisor off against the other, telling them different things about how the work is going.  So having a clear understanding of who is in charge can avoid a lot of problems.

Scott E. Fahlman

Pros: 2 people that are guiding you, reading your work, writing initimate letters for you. Cons: what about when they (inevitably) disagree? Pleasing 2 people while making sure that you're not underminding what 1 wants is a lot of work. I'd talk frankly with both about how they feel about being a co-chair. If anyone you know had both on their committee, find out how the dynamics were. If you suspect any drama, flee!

Katy Pearce

Pros: Multiple prospectives on same problem, assuming they have expertise in different fields. You would be getting best of Both worlds. Easier when one or the other is on a sabbatical, or leave, or busy, and you're having a tough time. Sometimes its just easier if there is an authority figure. Many eye balls can spot a problem easily, be it writing or ideas. Cons: It is sometimes difficult to figure out coadvising dynamics. Its hard when you like one of them and not the other. Some people enter meetings and give blowhard advise on irrelevant fields, just to make a point. It is sometimes difficult to collate advise, when it is drama filled, like Katy mentioned.

Vignesh Radhakrishnan

In addition to the other answers, it's also important that you make sure you end up being given a proper project. I feel like some collaborations could be forced and no real project comes out of it, with a lot of time spent on the attempt. If you have a great project going then by all means, two heads is probably better than one.

Sulimon Sattari

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