The Rabbit Hole

Grad school is often a weird, weird place to be. It’s a transitory space between an academic environment with a clearly defined path (mostly anyways) into one that is muddied, highly variable (between schools and countries), and (semi-?) professional. So in order to provide useful tips in most contexts, I actually have to limit my scope a bit – this post will be best for those who are performing research, and most relevant for those in science.

Before I begin, let me explain the motivations behind this post. I found that there is a significant vocal population of grad students who are unhappy with their situation in grad school. This is not surprising because those who are unhappy are more likely to vent about it (at least with r/PhD in mind) and adequate support systems are often lacking.

There are certainly those who are content, or happy even, with their grad school experience, but they are less likely to post about it online (or even talk about it). This likely has a multitude of reasons, in some unique combination for each student. For me, I would say that I never talked about my enjoyable experiences because it felt out of place – why “waste time” talking about the good when I could vent about the bad?

I later found out that there are many significant negative experiences related to the grad school experience, outside of experimental research woes. Some students who I talked to in person and many of those online had horror stories of terrible supervisors, toxic work environments, and generally just really bad places to be. While I can’t say that the tips below will necessarily remove the potential for that happening, I want to offer advice so that people can strive for a better grad school (and after-grad) life. I hope to give those who are entering grad school a more balanced (online) view, and to give those who are currently navigating their degree some strategies. Here are some tips that I wrote up, as well as some tips that I gathered from dear academic friends of mine.

Tip 1: Choose the right supervisor!

In my opinion, there is nothing more important than choosing the right supervisor for you. It is the very first thing I tell incoming students, and the one thing I stress beyond anything else. I have emphasized “for you” because the “right supervisor” can mean different things for different people. This means not only finding out about their research projects, productivity, and other academic metrics, but also gauging their personality and mentorship style. As much as we like to put professors on a pedestal, they too are humans, and they too, were once graduate students who probably received little-to-no training on people skills. While this doesn’t mean they don’t have those skills developed, it means you have to put on your communications hat and evaluate whether or not it is sufficient for you.

Questions to consider (in your mind): Are they willing to teach you vital skills? Are they a micromanager? Do you need constant direction? How empathetic/aware are they of graduate student issues outside of the lab (funding, work-life balance, travel, professional development)? Do you imagine yourself getting along with them as a manager/managee(?) pair? What do you envision as a good supervisor/mentor? What are their views on their role as a supervisor?

Tip 2: Learn to manage your supervisor

Sometimes we graduate students tend to find ourselves very distanced from professors and supervisory committees. This sense of respect and awe is often a result of social hierarchy within a university, but can also comes from admiration because achieved goals that many of us dream of (or have dreamt of). Even though this sense of respect is healthy, we should also be aware that they are not perfect (see Tip 1), especially when it comes to managing people. So to this end, learn to work with your supervisor.

Things to do: Manage them by asking for meetings (weekly, monthly, etc.). Ask them for well-defined goals and milestones. Work with them to develop healthy expectations. Set work-life boundaries early (or better late than never). Research conferences/workshops that you can attend and ask them about their thoughts. Be proactive in this two-way relationship!

From Davor, a neurophysicist:
Tip D1: Get involved with as many community/leadership activities as you can (e.g. joining your departmental grad association). Outside of academia (and increasingly within it) people are looking at your leadership skills, perhaps as much as your ability to write academic papers. Good leadership skills are perhaps even more valuable in industry if you choose to make that transition. Making sure you have leadership experience on your resume/CV is important for futureproofing your career as well as making new friends.

Addendum D1: Learn the difference between a resume and a CV. They are NOT the same!

That’s it for the pilot post of this series! I didn’t think this would get much traction among the people I knew, but my colleagues have been incredible in responding. So that’s it for part 1! Of however many, I do not know, but I hope to bring in more expertise from different fields as this series evolves.