Choosing an Advisor / PI / Boss

Up to Essential Skills

Choosing a Postdoctoral Position

Choosing a Thesis Lab: "A thesis lab is a place that you will spend much of the next several years of your life. The work you do in your thesis lab will influence the work you do in the rest of your career. The recommendation you receive from your thesis advisor will determine what options will be open to you after you receive your degree. Choosing your thesis lab is an important decision, so take it seriously and make it carefully."
How to Succeed in Graduate School: A Guide for Students and Advisors: by Marie desJardins. "This paper attempts to raise some issues that are important for graduate students to be successful and to get as much out of the process as possible, and for advisors who wish to help their students be successful. The intent is not to provide prescriptive advice -- no formulas for finishing a thesis or twelve-step programs for becoming a better advisor are given -- but to raise awareness on both sides of the advisor-student relationship as to what the expectations are and should be for this relationship, what a graduate student should expect to accomplish, common problems, and where to go if the advisor is not forthcoming."
How to Get the Mentoring You Want: A Guide for Graduate Students at a Diverse University: The Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan created this resource in response to numerous discussions with graduate students and faculty in various disciplines at the University of Michigan over a period of two years. It provides advice on establishing mentoring relationships based on mutual understanding and realistic expectations. It also features summaries of the challenges that face historically underrepresented and other student groups, as well as observations and suggestions for the ways faculty and students can address those challenges.
The Computing Research Association Distributed Mentor Project: "The goal of the Distributed Mentor Project is to increase the number of women entering graduate school in Computer Science and Computer Engineering (CS&E). To achieve this, the project matches outstanding female undergraduates with female mentors for a summer of research at the mentor's institution. Students are thereby provided with a window on research and graduate life, and enjoy the benefits of a close mentoring relationship."
Forecasting Compatibility: How to Select Your New Boss: Dave Jensen, ScienceCareers. "I know that selecting a new boss is the farthest thing from the minds of many readers of the Next Wave. You may still be in a graduate program, concerned about your ability to find a job at all, let alone choosing one with a boss whom you might do well with. But I believe that thinking about this now is not only smart, it is something that should be considered at any time a career transition is pending. Many of the ideas that follow would apply equally well to selecting a graduate advisor or postdoctoral position as they would for my stated purpose -- to assist in determining whether your possible new boss in an industrial position would be compatible with your personal work style and needs."
Choosing The Right Research Adviser: by Richard Reis. "This month, I want to explore the other side of this research coin -- how to go about finding the right adviser -- an issue that is important not just in the sciences but in the humanities and social sciences as well."
Choosing an Advisor: Harvard GSAS Student Survival Guide: "Probably the most important factor in your success at Harvard is your advisor. This is the person who will guide you in your research and help chart a path for your future career. The advisor-student relationship can be a complicated one because advisors must ideally try to fulfill the roles of mentor, teacher, colleague, boss, friend and advocate all at once."
When hard work doesn't pay: In some high-pressure labs, training is an afterthought: US News & World Report, March 29, 1999. The report card on graduate doctoral programs in research universities, part of the annual ranking of graduate schools, is less than glowing.
In search of the truth: Naturejobs, August 22, 2002. "In an ideal world, lab heads would adopt a 'truth in advertising' policy when it comes to academic career prospects for new graduates."
Graduate School - Choosing an Advisor: Grad school success hinges on finding your perfect match
How to choose an advisor: Questions to ask
Finding and Dealing with an Advisor: Advice written by Katie Gurski and Ruth Pfeiffer, members of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Maryland, College Park. (Postscript file)
An Insider's Guide to Choosing a Graduate Advisor and Research Projects in Laboratory Sciences: "I discuss below, some of the most important factors for evaluating potential advisors."
The "Right" Postdoc Mentor: by Robert J. Dooling. "What should a new trainee look for in identifying a postdoc mentor?"

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