Advisor Style & Expectations: Who Do You Want To Work With?

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The Definitive ‘what do I ask/look for’ in a PhD Advisor Guide (minus lifestyle questions)

You’ve been accepted to a PhD program, and have time to ask questions while visiting - what do you look for and ask? Below are some high level ideas to keep
in mind as you start this journey and an exhaustive reference of questions to ask, color coded by who you should probably talk to first.

You’ll have 30 min - full day with each lab, so focus on the questions relevant to your situation. Some have complex, nuanced implications that you should ask
a trusted neutral party about or @ me on twitter (@andrewkuznet).
Good luck, I believe in you. :)

Who best to ask this question to...


0 Before: Understand potential
⠀Advisor’s website / publications⠀ ⠀Advisor’s current PhD students⠀
advisors’ work: read a few, recent,
⠀Direct Observation⠀ ⠀Current PhD students in program⠀
paper abstracts (e.g. prev. 2 yrs for
⠀Department⠀ ⠀Advisor’s current PhD student (candid)⠀
HCI) and check out their
⠀Advisor Directly⠀ ⠀Yourself⠀
academic/lab website. Do this even
for profs you might not be directly
interested in, come in with an open 1 Advisor Style & Expectations
mind and try to learn as much as
◻ Does the professor have tenure yet? [engagement level, PhD might get interrupted]
possible. Never know if you’ll want ◻ What is the professor’s formal training / background / PhD? [helps contextualize problems/approaches]
to add or switch an advisor. ◻ What have previous lab members done after getting their PhD? [Gone to industry?/Post-doc?/Professor?]
◻ What is the lab structure? [how collaborative/disjointed are lab members' projects?]
◻ Does the advisor consider themselves a ‘hands-on’ or ‘hands-off’ advisor?
1
Who do you want to work ◻ How does the advisor give feedback on papers/what is their feedback style?
with? ◻ How often does the advisor meet with their students? [1:1 or all together? Daily guidance by PI or post-doc?]
◻ Are there lab meetings? What are other meetings you will see your advisor in a group with other people?
◻ What does a group/lab meeting look like? [Or other relevant meetings]
Your advisor relationship ◻ How many students are in the group? [Number of undergrad/masters/phd/post doc]
determines quite a bit of your ◻ What progress does the advisor generally expect from a student in the course of a semester? [Submission/Publication pace]
graduate student experience. Pick ◻ What other expectations does the advisor have for their students: time/vacation/paper/project/experiment wise etc.
wisely :) ◻ “When have you given a letter of concern? Why?”
◻ “What do you do when students are struggling”?

2 What do you want to


2 Research Fit & Projects
research?
◻ How directly applicable will your future technical skills be to the roles you want after graduating. [If set on industry]
◻◻ What ‘research methods’ does the lab use? [What ‘types’ of papers / contributions / conferences targeted]
Figure out what topic you’ll be ◻ “What are some of the projects that you and your students are currently working on”?
working on, projects, types of ◻ “In general, do you tend to give your students projects or have them select their own”?
approaches, etc. ◻ “Do you have particular projects that you see me working on”?
◻◻ “How much freedom do you think I’d have in selecting my own projects”?
◻ “Are there other students you are interested in working with? If so, what would they be working on project-wise”?
◻ “Would they have their own line of work or contribute to a bigger project/someone else’s project”?
3 How does funding work?
3 Funding / Obligations
Money is (unfortunately) important. ◻◻ Where does their funding primarily come from? [If military / industry-focused funding bothers you, figure this out]
Figure out how much it will drive ◻ What are their constraints from their funding source? [Some restrict research topic and change final deliverables. Some add
your experience and what to expect. work — writing progress reports, traveling, preparing presentations for the funding source or engineering overhead for
integration]
◻ If your advisor made you work on a project in their area that you are least interested in (e.g. for a grant) would you still be
excited doing that work? [Useful for choosing between advisors]
4 How likely is what you had in ◻ “If you run out of your primary funding for a student how do you expect the student to handle that” [advisor’s responsibility /
mind? you’ll have to write a grant with me / dept will cover the student / you have to find their own funding]
◻ “What does the quals process look like”?
◻ “Is there a TA requirement”? / “How often would I be expected to TA”?
Although you may have time to sort
out the details later, now is the time
to check if a specific arrangement is 4 Student-Advisor Fit / Placement
viable.
◻ [If you are interested] Would the advisor be interested in co-advising?
◻◻ “Are you taking a student” / “Do you have funding to take students in this year (or, for which projects)”
5
Do you want to be ◻◻ “What factors will affect whether or not you take a student”?
◻◻ “How do you anticipate your funding to change during my time as a student”?
co-advised? ◻ “Do you think our research interests are a good match”?
◻ “Are there other students in my cohort that you’re interested in working with”? (If so, are you taking more than one student?)
Co-advising can be useful for a ◻ “I’m interested in working with you. Do you think I’d have a good chance of working with you if I come to [your university]”?
number of reasons. It’s almost ◻ “Are there other faculty you think I’d be a good match for”?
always easier to add a co-advisor
later than to remove.
5 Co-advising
◻ How much overlap would they have in research?
6 What’s the culture like? ◻◻ Have these advisors co-advised in the past? Or worked together in the past?

Much of lab culture will be gleaned


6 Lab Culture
from methods other than direct ◻◻ How often do grad students get to attend conferences? [Pace + What constraints]
questioning but will strongly affect ◻◻ Do students mostly work with senior students or directly with professor?
your experience. ◻◻ How many conferences are students expected to target a year? [remember pubs ≠ submissions]
◻◻◻ How often do students take time off? Are there lab / department outings/events?
Created with input from (No order) ◻ Are there snacks in the lab?
Franceska Xhakaj, Tweet from @doublehelixpod, Jason ◻◻ Is the professor in an 80/20 with a company? Are student’s research projects tied to industry funding?
Gross, Adeel Lakhani, Jiajun Li, Samantha Reig, Cori ◻◻◻◻ Will it be acceptable/encouraged to intern at a company during the summer? [Does this change with seniority?]
Faklaris, Toby Li, Abhiram Kothapalli, Jonathan Dinu, ◻◻◻ Do students work together in common space? Is their common space? Do students often get meals together?
Naren Dasan, HCII’s “So You Need an Advisor”. Colors ◻◻◻ Do students often work late? [Often / only before conference deadlines.]
from B. Wong, Points of view: Color blindness, Nature ◻◻ How often are students expected to be contactable by their advisor. [Email, slack, hangouts. Online around the clock?]
Methods, vol. 8, pp. 441, May 2011.

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