Which is most important when choosing a supervisor?

[AllergicBrieaction]

Hello academics! I could do with your advice/thoughts.

I have two different supervisors interested in supervising my PhD. Both are at great universities, I will need to secure funding.

University A is renowned for its work in my field, the potential supervisor seems fine. This university is basically the gold standard in my field.
University B is not renowned for work in my field but is a great uni, and I get on with my potential supervisor like a house on fire - I think shes wonderful. There will however need to be a co-supervisor for my project.

Im not sure what to do! Apparently choosing the right supervisor is vital, so on that basis, University B would win. But objectively, wouldn't University A make most sense + stand me in better stead for securing funding?

I'm back, having just met with Supervisor A. It was great, I really loved meeting with her and seeing the university.

Supervisor B/University B is a different DTP. I still don't know whether it's stupid not to try and pursue an application + application for funding with them, too.

My heart is set on A, but is it short-sighted of me to put all my eggs in one basket? If I do pursue with B, how do I do this with integrity?

I don’t know the details of Humanities and SS funding, OP, but it is brutal. As PP said, you need to submit 3-5 applications and they will necessarily be different. The different universities and supervisors will have particular strengths and areas of expertise. You need to site your strengths and interests within each local environment and tailor your dissertation accordingly.

As PP have said, making multiple applications is only sensible. No need to conceal the fact. Just be very careful only to use ideas and feedback from a potential supervisor at University X in your application to University X, for work with that supervisor.

If it arises naturally I see no harm in telling Professor A that with the proviso of …. (adequate funding being the obvious one) her university and supervision is your top choice. But only if this is ironclad, and done in a way that cannot be construed as seeming to pressure her.

Best wishes

Ethically, as I explained upthread, be frank with each potential supervisor. I advise applicants to apply at more than one DTP.

But do not use materials from discussions with one potential supervisor to apply elsewhere. Particularly if that potential supervisor has spent the previous resource of time in reading drafts of your proposal. I have mental black marks against a couple of people who’ve done that to me - I will not offer them help again (and my help in my field is not nothing).

Back in the 1980s/90s I did all my degrees in the same uni, My final year I worked with a prof who was very well known in the subject area and was asking if he would be my supervisor even before I got my first degree results. In fact it was he who rang to tell me I had got a very good first. It never occurred to me to ask anyone else to be my supervisor. I never realised there was a competetive aspect to it. I was fortunate ebough to get a 3 year studentship from the uni to do my masters and begin my Ph.D. Finally I got state funding to complete the doctorate.. Looking back I realise how lucky I was to have someone take an interest in me like that. I never had to scrabble around.

My relationship with tutors was a much more equal one as I was a mature student who had come in from a management background.I was very political and made sure I had a highly visible profile with staff members by becoming involved with various committees. They knew who I was and I came to be familiar with the dynamics in the department.