Tips for New Graduate Students
From: Kripke and King, Resources for Mentoring: Tips for New Graduate Students, Next Wave 1998
- Talk to as many principal investigators (PIs) or lab heads as possible.
- Get information on the lab from other students in the department.
- Find yourself a mentor whom you respect and trust. This doesn’t have to be set up formally; it should simply be someone you can talk to. It can be a PI, postdocs, or a senior grad student.
- Learn how to say no.
- Remember that your thesis lab is where you’ll be spending the next five or six years of your life, so do your best to find a place that feels comfortable to you. (In 1996, the average time to completing a Ph.D. degree for biomedical grad students at Stanford University was 6.5 years!)
- Do careful research into a lab you’re considering joining. Make sure it’s the right lab for you.
- The thesis committee is an important complement to the adviser. Although it is important to choose committee members who can contribute scientifically, it is also important that they be supportive of your graduate career. These people will have the power to defend your cause or to kick you out of graduate school. They will also be writing your letters of recommendation. Choose the committee members carefully.
- Problems of one sort or another will arise during your graduate career. Talk to other graduate students, trusted postdocs, other PIs, and/or the ombudsperson early, before the problem gets out of hand. There may be options you haven’t thought of. Problems will not go away; they will only get worse. If the problem is bad and involves your PI, the consequences can sometimes be severe. Take action early.
- Open lines of communication are key. If you are having a conflict, let the other person know.
- Talk to as many lab members as possible to get information about a lab. Contact previous grad students. Ask candid questions.
- What is the average time to completing a Ph.D. degree in the lab?
- Why did current lab members chose the lab? Is it what they expected? Would they recommend the lab?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the lab?
- How many people have prematurely left the lab, and why? Where have they gone?
- What is the financial situation of the lab? Can the lab support you?
- How many hours do people work in the lab? What is expected?
- How competitive is the lab? Within the lab, do people compete on projects? Outside the lab, are there direct competitors in the field?
- How does the PI distribute projects among lab members?
- How much freedom does the PI give in the conception of projects?
- How much freedom in choosing projects and designing experiments does the PI give to students and postdocs?
- What is the PI’s mentoring style? Hands on or hands off? High pressure or laid back?
- How loyal is the PI to his/her students and postdocs?
- Does the PI help his/her people get good postdoc positions?
- How much time does the PI spend with lab members?
- How does the PI handle collaborations?
- What is the lab’s publication record? Have there been authorship conflicts?
- Will the PI compromise his/her/your integrity in order to get a paper published?
- What is the male-female ratio in the lab, and, if the ratio is skewed, is there a significant reason for it?