Prospective biomedical postgraduate students decide whether to enrol on the basis of current salaries rather than potential future earnings, says a study out on 23 December (M. E. Blume-Kohout and J. W. Clack PLoS ONE http://doi.org/qsq; 2013). Data for 1996–2010 showed that postgraduate enrolment for a given year rose by 2.9–3.9% when relative wages for biomedical-science posts rose by 1%. But enrolment in a given year did not correspond to salary changes six years later, around graduation time. Prospective students should consider effects on salary trends, such as dips in agency budgets, says co-author Meg Blume-Kohout, a senior research economist at the New Mexico Consortium in Albuquerque.