For starters, let’s hope that you are actually having regular, one-to-one meeting with your lab head. Throughout visit day, get to know more than one potential advisor; committing to a PhD program that has several aligned professors is a highly underrated safeguard (see: Bus Factor). I suspect that there were a few things that your potential supervisor was seeking to establish in this line of questioning: You may be correct that in reality, once you start the MSc, you would end up just "contributing to the current project" in a way largely dictated by the supervisor. → What do students do during summers? In particular, some students find working on one of each concurrently to be ideal. Are students expected to apply externally for travel funds, or will the advisor just cover all costs? Another special case is work that is unpublishable due to a corporate or government non disclosure agreement (NDA). Input your search keywords and press Enter. Found inside – Page 16... a teleconference or face-to-face meeting if required. In any form of contact, you need to leave your potential supervisor with a good impression of you. MoBlo Badges: 0. I have several strong recommendations. Leave the supervision with no idea what I was talking about. On the other hand, some advisors will treat students with and without fellowship funding the same. This post is meant as a followup to a poster I made in 2019 with the help of many people. After you begin your PhD, explicitly communicating your preferred style with your advisor is important to getting the support you need, and modifying it as needed. Much of the selection process is making sure that you have the necessary support to do (and continue to do) good work throughout grad school, and that others have the proper incentive to provide that support. In your statement, specify up to three research groups you find the most interesting. This should extend past research pace and into process: will you be expected to generate insights or systems and then turn those into a paper when ready, or target yearly conferences and work backward from submission deadlines? Can I convert a volume from journaled to non journaled without formatting it? GSK, Pfizer, etc.). +1 for the suggestions on how to improve. In particular, this is a good time to explore how active the specific direction/field you are excited about is, as it may help to be in a field with a lot of attention. This might also be a good time to shop around a potential research project/direction idea. Observing authorship order in published papers helps, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. What you’re enquiring about: e.g. Often, before having a meeting with a potential Ph.D. adv In my first two years I was busy with coursework and qualifying exams, but in my third year I started to experience self-doubt: ... but I worked hard to get into this PhD program and to pass my exams. When you meet with a potential supervisor, you do not yet need to have a definitive research question. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. What a jerk. , which can manifest as guilt of not getting enough done, or not being good enough. → How do you know when to stop working or pivot on a project? Before approaching potential supervisors, do some brainstorming on your own. During visit day you’ll also want to get to know current students (and how they made their decision) — reaching out to them will be particularly invaluable later when you start deciding between specific schools, labs, projects, and non-grad school opportunities (example: AI residency). Updates to Privacy Policy (September 2021). This is a big question if you have reservations about funding sources. Joan Bolker, midwife to more than one hundred dissertations and co-founder of the Harvard Writing Center, offers invaluable suggestions for the graduate-student writer. Ah, the ultimate Big One™️; this one pretty much determines everything. • Be proactive in your approach. Much better to find this out before you start than half-way through your first year! Found inside – Page 72Jo and I discussed how we would manage this as I was her only supervisor (something the ... I vividly remember my first supervisory meeting with Ann, ... How do I impress my prospective grad advisor? Found inside – Page 82Developing Team Building Skills in Collaborative Doctoral Research Margaret J ... in her first meeting with her supervisors, Nadine said that she explained, ... ... resolve them before the meeting by speaking with your supervisor or department chair to ensure that the meeting goes smoothly. I have had one meeting with another PI last week, but it went bad. You’ll also learn what you’ll be expected to present (amount of progress) each week and what happens after presenting it. The second question is more so about the immediate configuration — some advisors prefer to pair students up with a senior student’s project during their first year, etc. Unlike the previous ‘taking a student’ question, this is specifically about locking down an arrangement informally (which makes comparing opportunities later infinitely easier). This question is about expected research progress, and how your future advisor may judge if you are thriving or struggling (especially during evaluation periods). To ask about desire to go to academia vs industry, this is another issue of fit. Found insideFrom your own understanding and experience of academic supervision: How does it feel for a student to be meeting a supervisor for the very first time? It's also worth finding out how many other students they have, and what kind of interaction there is between students (are there research group meetings, for example). Professors will also have different approaches to navigating the ‘repeated trying and failing experience’ – some who are more open to failure will allow an attempt to stall quickly before moving onto another idea, others may want you to continue working on a difficult project for years. BrianDHall's answer has some great advice, in particular the idea that these meetings are for your benefit as well as the potential advisor's, in finding out whether or not the two of you are a good match. In some disciplines, this is straightforward and determined by the field of study. Perhaps, these will be important for your first meeting with graduate advisor, but I think these points are … Another potential problem is when supervisors leave or retire. You need to drop a mail to Thesis supervisor for informing them about the first meeting. Details that might seem small, such as whether you will have an office with a window and how many people you will share an office with (which correlates with the amount of noise in the office), are important to pay attention to. "The best advice I would give to any graduate student is to find a supervisor that is actually interested in your ideas, or whose ideas interest you." Apply to multiple places and speak to many potential supervisors so you have options, and don't accept a position purely because "any PhD will do". Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Perhaps I should have lied? The supervisor’s principal role is to help students achieve their academic potential. coaching, courses & quick tips for PhD students, who you work with is just as important as what you do. If the group largely works as part of a large collaboration, it may be valuable to ask about the interaction and how much it will determine your project / thesis topic(s). Most graduate students experience imposter syndrome at some point. What does the process for finding those positions typically look like? → Do you think our research interests are a good match? Questions to Ask a Prospective Ph.D. Advisor on Visit Day, With Thorough and Forthright Explanations, Federated Learning: Challenges, Methods, and Future Directions, Understanding the Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 with Limited Diagnostic Testing Capacity. → Do students work together in a common space? This is a good question for follow-ups and a good one to look out for dodging. Thanks for contributing an answer to Academia Stack Exchange! Look up online information on potential supervisors. → Are there any specific courses that students in your lab take? The supervisor-supervisee relationship has a significant impact on the success of a graduate student. Anecdotally, this is a difficult situation to be in: you’re likely not going to enjoy doing the work, you’re likely to not get a good paper about it, and you might feel extra bad because other students don’t have to do the same, and instead can focus all of their time on research. The role of the dissertation supervisor is to guide you through the process of your research project. While preparing to meet a potential PhD supervisor for the first time, it’s a good idea to have an idea of several questions you’d like to ask them. Sam’s industry experience gave him false self-confidence, and he thought he knew things better than his thesis supervisor who was a junior faculty member. Addressing your supervisor. Essentially he was repulsed when I told him about my GPA and mostly, when he asked me specifically what exactly I want to get out of the MSc experience at his lab (e.g. Are you able to show some independent/creative thought? Found insideOrganized into sixteen chapters, this book provides a foundation for academicians and practitioners, and addresses several important issues faced by strategic, tactical, and operation planners of Responsible Manufacturing. Understanding these will help you see the week-to-week experience, and hints at any lab-specific obligations and culture. Follow-up questions should therefore try to establish. How to write to a prospective PhD (or Post-Doc) supervisor. Written by Sarah Ayyash Though most people believe that it is the supervisor’s position to ask the questions, my personal experience has taught me that you (the PhD student) have a lot to ask as well. Dear Professor______, My name is (write your name) and I have completed (your degree title) from (Full … Some professors may prefer that you pick projects involving ‘low hanging fruit’, while others will prefer you boldly pick ambitious, ‘high impact’ projects (and this may change throughout your PhD). These meetings may take place as a series of scheduled rotations where you meet professors in their offices, unstructured time where you tour labs, or a variety of arrangements. Found insidePresents advice and guidance for postgraduate students in Great Britain, covering such topics as the application process, research proposals, academic writing, networking, and teaching opportunities. Found insideHere is how she described her expectations before her first supervisory meeting: I wanted to get a plan and to talk about every detail of the plan so I ... Going to grad school to learn to use a centrifuge might sound unambitious. In addition to a one-on-one weekly meeting, some advisors will also host a lab or project-specific meeting. Why is chemistry based on rules and exceptions when everything can be simulated? A term for the German word "Aufbruch" with some deeper meaning. The following is the email that I have sent him " Dear XXXXXX, I look for curiosity and tenacity. I don’t want students who are looking for an easy project or who aren’t willing to tackle a hard problem. I requ... In my opinion, once you begin your PhD, you will likely realize that you’ve overestimated your understanding of what research is. Found inside – Page 79Whichever way you go about identifying potential supervisors, ... to set up a meeting to discuss the possibility of them supervising your doctoral research. Other professors may want their students to apply for fellowships to help cover the student’s costs and to impress future employers by the credential. First, send a meeting agenda a few days ahead of time detailing a few topics you want to discuss. By getting an early understanding of what is. A meeting every 6 months is not enough. What is the physical reasoning behind metal becoming stronger and harder if heat treated? It only takes a minute to sign up. [Furthermore] What does that entail? Before your visit day, make sure to schedule a private chat(s) with currently advised students outside of this time (although those valuable conversations aren’t the focus of this article). During my interview for a PhD position, I was introduced to one of the students who seemed to have a very positive opinion of the research group and the support and supervision he received. Work towards that. In my experience, this was partly a factor of department, and partly an individual factor. What do you typically discuss in meetings? Most graduate students find their passion once they start their program. • The first email is very important, as is the meeting that may follow. Certain funding sources involve opportunities/obligations such as preparing tech demos for industry visits, writing up progress reports, attending conferences, or participating in competitions.You’ll particularly want to scope out if there are any deliverables unrelated to research, especially if these are mundane. Here are five questions you may encounter in a Ph.D. interview with example answers: This is a nuanced question and also a Big One™️. Found insideThe definitive career guide for grad students, adjuncts, post-docs and anyone else eager to get tenure or turn their Ph.D. into their ideal job Each year tens of thousands of students will, after years of hard work and enormous amounts of ... Commonly, an internship is approved by the lab advisor. → Are there other faculty you think I’d be a good match for? Closer to visit day, try to get a copy of your schedule to check that you’ll have time with everyone you’re interested in talking to. A Ph.D. adviser can be a wealth of information about potential funding options for your doctoral degree. I’ve noticed recently that a lot of people make their way to this site while searching for advice on how to write to a potential PhD supervisor. However, attendance is typically decided by advisors since they are the ones providing funding. → How do you feel about students applying for fellowships? Check other online sources. Please let me introduce myself. One plan, two completely different responses. To beat my thesis guilt, I had to finally realize that failures were part of … Found inside – Page 46Succeed with Your MA, MPhil, EdD and PhD Gina Wisker. Before going to the first supervision you need to decide what kinds of activities you will be involved ... How to inform an emotionally abusive advisor I don't want to work with him? This is why people say it's so important to be honest about your interests - don't trick your way into a relationship that will be bad for you! to structure the student-advisor relationship (this varies by discipline, notably the humanities where the norm leans rarer). Are they in the techniques used, the subject knowledge, the applications of the work...? Many PhD programs have an informal expectation of a weekly one-on-one. 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