Picking your Graduate School Mentor Wisely

The contents of this post come from an earlier post that I wrote in 2012 for another blog, shortly after I completed my PhD.  However, I believe this content is still relevant today.

My former lab director from my graduate school days used to say that the 3 most important rules of graduate school are to, "Pick your advisor well; Pick your advisor well; Pick your advisor well."  Nowadays, I would add a few more rules to this list.  However, I agree with him that picking your advisor well is rather crucial.  After all, this is the person that you will be working for and working with for the next several years of your life.  Your interactions within them will likely leave a lasting impression on you.  They will likely shape who you become as a professional, both in terms of the type of professional environment you gravitate towards after you finish your degree, as well as your ideas of what constitutes healthy professionalism and mentorship.

I am now at the point in my career where others come to me for advice about pursuing education beyond the bachelors or masters degree.  Often, the conversation turns to advisor-advisee dynamics. My husband and I have both been through graduate school, as have the vast majority of our friends.  We all come from diverse disciplines, although the majority are in the sciences.  Most of us have had great relationships with our advisors.  A couple of our friends have not.  My relationship with my own PhD advisor was very good when I was his student, and we are still close to this day.  Yes there were times where we did not see eye-to-eye, were angry with each other, or said things that both of us wish had not been said.  I learned a lot from my relationship with my former PhD advisor, as well as my relationships with other faculty who served as mentors during my graduate school days.  These experiences have significantly impacted how I form relationships with my own colleagues and students in my own academic career.

For the student just starting out on their own PhD journey, I would offer these tips on how to "Pick your advisor well."  Some of these are tips that were passed down to me, and some are from my own experiences/observations.  I list them in no particular order.  I also recognize that not all disciplines operate the same way with regards to how much face time one might have with the advisor or how much of one's tuition/stipend the advisor would fund.  Here they are nonetheless:

1.  Does the prospective advisor have a definite means to fund your tuition/stipends for the duration of your PhD program?
When I was a PhD student, my advisor was expected to bear the majority of the burden regarding my funding, although I had also received a university merit fellowship which offset some of this burden. You may have found the perfect advisor, but if they can't afford you, then you are likely out of luck.

2.  Does the prospective advisor's line of research interest you?  
This probably goes without saying, but if you're going to work with a particular faculty member, you should be interested in their research.  For one thing, you will probably end up doing your dissertation on something that is related to their research line.  Also, you will probably be expected to work on various projects with them throughout your time as a PhD student. 

3.  Where is the prospective advisor in their career?
For example, are they a tenured professor?  Are they a pre-tenure assistant professor?  This is an important consideration for a couple of reasons.  First, pre-tenure faculty members are likely trying to maximize research productivity, so you may get the opportunity to work on several projects, which could bode well for getting your name on publications.  On the other hand, if your advisor is pre-tenure, and for some reason they do not get tenure before you graduate, then you may also be out of luck unless another advisor is willing to take you on.

4.  How much interaction will you have with the prospective advisor?
Will you get to have weekly meetings with your advisor?  Does your advisor hold regular lab or group meetings?   Or is your advisor too busy or too aloof to really interact with you much?

5.  How many other graduate students are working under your prospective advisor?
Are you going to be the only PhD student under your advisor?  Or will you be one of several?  Both have their advantages and disadvantages.  Going along with this, has your advisor mentored many PhD students prior to you?  Or are you their first one? Similarly, what sorts of careers have your advisor's former PhD students gone on to have?

6.  What is your prospective advisor's personality?
This one is pretty important.  You may have found an advisor who has all kind of funding, does research that interested you, etc.  But if this person is an absolute jerk to their students, then you should think twice before joining their group.  

What are your thoughts?  What would you add to this list?

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