Choosing a Graduate Advisor

Reaching out to current and/or former students is key to finding out what an advisor is like. Although it’s definitely possible that personalities can clash, if multiple students report an advisor that is abusive, absent, discriminatory, or otherwise an unsuitable person to work with - these are things that should be taken very seriously in your consideration of this advisor.

Generally, graduate students will be on either a teaching assistantship or a research assistantship during their graduate program. Both positions typically provide funding to cover your tuition and a stipend for you. There may be varying levels of health insurance and other benefits included with these positions (an important question to ask your potential advisor and/or department).

Teaching assistantships require you to spend part of your week teaching (leading a lab or discussion group, grading papers, assisting with larger lecture classes). Research assistantships require you to complete research tasks, either associated with your own thesis/dissertation project or for other research projects.

Funding for your individual research project and funding during the summer are often considerations that are less clear. Be sure to ask the potential advisor whether you will need to apply for funding to support your research project or to support yourself during the summer (some teaching and research assistantships are 9 month positions).

Some advisors prefer to remain involved in all of the smaller details of your research work whereas others prefer to guide for big-picture items and leave space for you to drive the details. Some advisors are somewhere in between! Think about which approach you would work best with and ask the advisor’s current or previous students to weigh in on what type of advisor they are.

While it’s important to choose a supportive advisor who will help you reach your research and career goals, it’s also important that you are interested in the research you will be doing with them! A graduate program requires persevering through the ups and downs of research and interest in the project will help you stay motivated.

Also consider the skills you want to obtain from your graduate research project. Consider your interests in lab work, computer modeling, field work, and science communication. Does the potential advisor’s research methods align with the skills you want to obtain?

Publishing research papers is an important metric often required for many academic and research positions. Check with the potential advisor’s current and former students to ask about the support and encouragement they received during their graduate program to turn their research work into publications.

It’s important that your advisor is active in their research field. One of the important ways to determine this is how often they publish their research in the peer-reviewed literature.

This is something to consider, especially when your potential advisor could have field work, conferences, or other commitments that will result in them being away from email contact and/or out of office multiple times during your degree program. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but is something for you to consider alongside your preferences for daily/weekly contact with your advisor.