3 ms·

I want to add to this post - in my experience, a crappy PhD project with a great advisor is orders of magnitude better than a great PhD project with a shitty ad

by Fede_V 12y ago

I want to add to this post - in my experience, a crappy PhD project with a great advisor is orders of magnitude better than a great PhD project with a shitty advisor. A shitty advisor will make your life horrific - will pile a toxic combination of guilt, uncertainty, with just the right amount of compliments to make you keep going while hating your life. I've seen many brilliant colleagues completely burn themselves out because of this. I've had an excellent advisor both for my PhD and later my postdoc - and while I've had strong disagreements with both, they are now excellent friends and people who I really cherish. Before you accept a PhD in a lab, talk to your advisor's students privately, and ideally also to her ex students.

reuven 12y ago
Yes yes yes yes yes. Well said. Find out how many of your advisor's former students want to continue working with him or her. That might be a good measure of how much they want to deal with him or her once they don't need to.
crocowhile 12y ago
I am PI and Lecturer at top 10 World University and this is the advice I give to my students: don't focus too much on the project; chances are that in 3-4 years you'll move on and work on something completely different anyway. The working environment is the most important thing:your PI, your lab mates, the department/institute. Having said this, I agree with those who say Science is full of jerks. Two out of two of my advisors when I was PhD students and then postdocs where jerks. However, there is also people who try really hard to be as nice as possible yet maintaining a friendly and competitive/ambitious environment. They are just very difficult to recognize a priori if you are a student or a postdoc.
- danieltillett 12y ago
  This is so true. The project you take on is the least important aspect to consider. First is the lab, second is your supervisor, third is money (does you supervisor have any), and coming up lucky last is the project. I don't mean to say that the project is unimportant (it is actually really important), but that as an inexperienced researcher you are not really able to pick what is going to be a good project (neither is you supervisor unfortunately). It really involves a bit of luck, but if you are working in a great lab with great people who have money then you much more likely to end up working on a great project than you are by just trying to pick what be a great project from the start.
  - centropy 12y ago
    Wow your priorities is very much the same said for startups: too much emphasis and commitment on the initial product idea (project) in the beginning and not enough attention to the possible risks coming from the team (lab), the supervisor (angels, advisors).
    - crocowhile 12y ago
      Back in 2011 I wrote this about the similarities between being a scientist and being an entrepreneur: http://lab.gilest.ro/blog/of-scientists-and-entrepreneurs/ http://lab.gilest.ro/blog/of-scientists-and-entrepreneurs/
Xcelerate 12y ago
This is so true. I was naive going into grad school and got an email over the summer from a professor who wanted to work with me. I thought "well that sounds interesting" and accepted his offer immediately. I got VERY lucky. My advisor is absolutely amazing. He goes far out of his way to make sure I am taken care of. He finds conferences for me to attend, fellowships I can apply for, and research collaborations with other professors. He even takes the grad students in his group hiking. But I realize this isn't typically the case. I feel bad for some other grad students in different departments that are essentially free labor, with advisors who aren't as great as mine. I'll reemphasize: I got lucky. But if you are considering getting your PhD, eliminate the dice-roll from the equation and find a kind, caring person to do research with, because it makes a world of a difference. I would argue it is the most important aspect of getting a PhD, and it can make or break your time in grad school. Everyone told me grad school would be the most difficult, grueling time of my life. In fact, it's the exact opposite. I get to wake up every day, work wherever I like, and I no longer have classes so the only thing I have to do is research. I get to use the world's best supercomputers and neutron sources. I'm essentially getting paid to have fun. Plus, I have access to all my university's resources (health insurance, workout centers, library, a large student body to interact with) without any of the administrative overhead that professors have (grant writing, internal politics, teaching).

by Fede_V 12y ago

reuven 12y ago

Yes yes yes yes yes. Well said. Find out how many of your advisor's former students want to continue working with him or her. That might be a good measure of how much they want to deal with him or her once they don't need to.

crocowhile 12y ago

I am PI and Lecturer at top 10 World University and this is the advice I give to my students: don't focus too much on the project; chances are that in 3-4 years you'll move on and work on something completely different anyway. The working environment is the most important thing:your PI, your lab mates, the department/institute. Having said this, I agree with those who say Science is full of jerks. Two out of two of my advisors when I was PhD students and then postdocs where jerks. However, there is also people who try really hard to be as nice as possible yet maintaining a friendly and competitive/ambitious environment. They are just very difficult to recognize a priori if you are a student or a postdoc.

danieltillett 12y ago
This is so true. The project you take on is the least important aspect to consider. First is the lab, second is your supervisor, third is money (does you supervisor have any), and coming up lucky last is the project. I don't mean to say that the project is unimportant (it is actually really important), but that as an inexperienced researcher you are not really able to pick what is going to be a good project (neither is you supervisor unfortunately). It really involves a bit of luck, but if you are working in a great lab with great people who have money then you much more likely to end up working on a great project than you are by just trying to pick what be a great project from the start.
- centropy 12y ago
  Wow your priorities is very much the same said for startups: too much emphasis and commitment on the initial product idea (project) in the beginning and not enough attention to the possible risks coming from the team (lab), the supervisor (angels, advisors).
  - crocowhile 12y ago
    Back in 2011 I wrote this about the similarities between being a scientist and being an entrepreneur: http://lab.gilest.ro/blog/of-scientists-and-entrepreneurs/ http://lab.gilest.ro/blog/of-scientists-and-entrepreneurs/

Xcelerate 12y ago

This is so true. I was naive going into grad school and got an email over the summer from a professor who wanted to work with me. I thought "well that sounds interesting" and accepted his offer immediately. I got VERY lucky. My advisor is absolutely amazing. He goes far out of his way to make sure I am taken care of. He finds conferences for me to attend, fellowships I can apply for, and research collaborations with other professors. He even takes the grad students in his group hiking. But I realize this isn't typically the case. I feel bad for some other grad students in different departments that are essentially free labor, with advisors who aren't as great as mine. I'll reemphasize: I got lucky. But if you are considering getting your PhD, eliminate the dice-roll from the equation and find a kind, caring person to do research with, because it makes a world of a difference. I would argue it is the most important aspect of getting a PhD, and it can make or break your time in grad school. Everyone told me grad school would be the most difficult, grueling time of my life. In fact, it's the exact opposite. I get to wake up every day, work wherever I like, and I no longer have classes so the only thing I have to do is research. I get to use the world's best supercomputers and neutron sources. I'm essentially getting paid to have fun. Plus, I have access to all my university's resources (health insurance, workout centers, library, a large student body to interact with) without any of the administrative overhead that professors have (grant writing, internal politics, teaching).