system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Choosing an advisor who produces only professors when I’m not sold on academia

I have a pretty incredible offer on the table for a top US PhD program in applied physics; I am currently a senior undergrad. I met with an incredible advisor there last week who expressed an interest in taking me as a student. For reference, he has an H-index > 150 while only taking a couple students annually, and is very renowned as a mentor. 14 of his last 15 students are either group leaders at national labs or professors at R1s, the last being in industry (you get the picture—I’m probably doxxable at this point), and while I think it would be an incredibly edifying experience for me and my best shot to do high impact work in grad school, I am not totally sold on academia as a career path. I value being geographically unconstrained + starting a family + being able to participate in startups ~mid career, though in principle I love the idea of pursuing an academic career. Based on this I am probably likely to look for industry group leader positions and the like post-PhD. Based only on this information, does it sound short sighted or self sabotaging of me to choose his group over one where I would do lower impact work, complete an industry internship, etc., but graduate as pretty objectively less of an expert in my discipline?
gpt
Mentorship and expertise are huge selling points regardless of where you end up. If his last mentee ended up industry, that's a good sign and also a potential contact for when you make that jump after grad school. Regardless, it's worth having another discussion with your mentor about your career goals - being transparent with them is your best strategy for making an informed decision.