What are the pros and cons of doing a PhD at your undergraduate institution?

I did my BS and PhD in the same place, albeit with a different research adviser, as did several of my peers.  Here are some things you might want to consider: 1. The argument against staying at your undergrad institution is usually along the lines of 'seeing new ways of doing science' or 'gaining a new perspective.'  I don't think these sorts of arguments are always valid in modern times, because interactions with and close collaborations with professors at other institutions are much easier than they were in Feynman's days.  Additionally, the nature of your interaction with professors as an undergrad is different from as a PhD student.  You will likely have the opportunity to gain perspectives by collaborating with, or at least communicating with, other professors at your institution.  To this end, something you should consider is the breadth of collaborators your adviser has and also the viability of collaborating with other professors in your department.  Figure out for yourself if your perspective will actually be limited by staying in the same place. 2.  Are there personal or family reasons why you need to stay at your undergrad institution?  Since you said it was a good school, this should trump other arguments.  On the opposite side, are there personal or family reasons why you might aim for professorship at your undergrad institution?  Since your PhD adviser greatly shapes your academic 'personality' and research direction, you would want to go to another university in this case. 3. If you have offers from multiple universities, you should compare them and see which is objectively the best one, as usual.  Some things to consider: professors you might work for, program requirements, reputation of program, how much stipend you get.  I ended up staying at my home institution because I pretty much knew what I wanted to do and that university has a dozen professors in my area. 4.  At many institutions, the undergrad and grad student cultures are very different.  Will this be upsetting for you?

The unspoken benefit of doing a PhD at your undergraduate institution is that marks don't matter as much for you. As long as you have networked well with your potential supervisor, you're set. The typical path is to register for all the classes taught by the Prof that you intend to have as your supervisor. Besides doing well in those classes in particular, you will have to participate a lot in those classes and be the one that's always asking questions or contributing to the dialogue (especially the higher level courses). If you're in science you would then ask if the Prof has a position in his/her lab over the summer and you would most likely get in. From there it's all about being a diligent assistant. If you're in arts, you would ask the Prof to be your honours thesis supervisor and things would progress further from there. So long as you do that, you're pretty much guaranteed admission into the graduate program even if your GPA is a low 3.0 In short, if you aren't the most academically robust student but still want to pursue a PhD, doing it at your undergrad institution is an ideal option, provided that you're good at networking - in the end, it's all about who you know. EDIT: Since you updated your question, my response is pretty much irrelevant. I just know the path that some "keeners" take to doing a PhD at their undergrad institution. Nonetheless, from what you're writing, it seems like you're on good terms with your supervisor. It doesn't seem like it would be too much of a struggle for you to complete the PhD there. You should ask yourself: "Do I really want to make things harder on myself?" If you've got a good mentor relationship with your supervisor I see no reason to discontinue it. You've already built up a good hand for yourself - you might as well play it and cash in while you still can. I'm sorry that I'm getting all utilitarian on you but that's just how I see Academia. In the end, a university is just a company and your supervisor is just your manager. If it's working out alright at the moment, ride the wave a little longer.

I think of Science as discovery, and Engineering as advanced applications.  Given that, at MIT for many years, the Chemistry department Refused to allow a MIT undergrad in Chemistry to become a graduate student in Chemistry at MIT.   They wanted you to Expand your knowledge base, in order to help you in achieving the Discovery that will be necessary to get that PhD.  That changed sometime in the 1980s and one is allowed to continue in Chemistry at MIT. However, through-out all of that, the various Engineering departments encouraged students to stay for graduate school.   I never applied to the Aero Astro department at MIT.   They asked me to stay and do my graduate work.  I knew one of the Aero structural professors quite well, and he was doing work in areas that interested me, and he needed a research assistant, and we had a special lab (that was unique), and we had colleagues in other departments that were supportive.   I went for an Engineer in Aero & Astro rather than a PhD, and that requires breadth in courses as well as a specialization in the thesis, and I was correct that MIT would support all of that.   Additionally, my professor encouraged me to travel to other universities to collaborate, and we hosted two international symposiums in our field while I was a graduate student, that allowed me to meet many others from around the world, in my field. Had I been majoring in Physics, I probably would have followed Feynman's lead and go to a Different university for graduate work in order to get more breadth while preparing for the Discovery phase of science. There was no discovery phase in engineering.  Therefore, base your choice on the colleagues that are there, the capability of the testing and research facilities, and the professor(s) with whom you will be working.   Make certain that your adviser is Tenured or you risk having your adviser leave for another university while you are in the middle of your thesis.   I have known several who faced that and had to move with their thesis adviser or start all over....... Of course, if you have a spouse and children, then Location, Location, Location is essential for family life, and they will be a Big part of your decision process.  All the best.

There was a similar question some time back: and I had Please refer it.