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[jadams4]

Does a new PI prefer to have masters or PhD student if they can only choose one?

[sagit]

It isn't that simple.  I have met masters students I'd rather work with than PhD students and vice versa.  Depends on the type of skills I am looking for on the project. It is more likely though, that the PhD student has taken course work that would be helpful for my project (research methods, etc.).

[polly_mer]

That's a solid "it depends".

In some cases, I'd rather have an undergraduate than a doctoral candidate because of the kind of grant and the activities we will be doing.

In other cases, I must have an advanced graduate student who has a certain background.

In any case, I'd rather work with the person who is diligent, bright, and excited about the project than someone who is looking for a few bucks or an easy way to complete a thesis.

[prof_j]

I have to say, all things being equal (work ethic, abilities, stability of funding, etc...) a PhD student is preferable in my field ... (broadly, experimental science).  By the time the masters student is hitting a stride, its time to defend and graduate.  In that sense a lot of training and acclimation to grad school ends up consuming a greater % of the time we will be working together.

[msparticularity]

In six years of active research, my two strongest co-researchers have been an undergrad and a master's student, in terms of diligence, autonomy, and total contribution to the outcome. I have also had two doc students who have been phenomenally helpful as a co-researcher because of the ways in which they have expanded my horizons through their expertise in areas quite different from my own--although they have actually been substantially less helpful than my undergrad and master's student in taking initiative and seeing segments of the total project through on their own. The others have been fine, but not notable--and the masters students have been at least as strong as the doc students.