(and HINT: their past and current graduate students!!)
Q’s for a potential graduate school adviser
Financial support:
How will I be financially supported?
TA – teaching assistantship
RA – research assistantship
Fellowship – external fellowship or internal departmental fellowship
Is there financial support available for conference, lab, and/fieldwork travel? What expenses are my responsibility?
Are research analytical costs covered or is there an expectation that I bring in money to pay for my own research costs?
Will I be guaranteed financial support during the summer?
Mentorship style:
How frequently do you meet with your graduate students, one-on-one and as a group?
How do you prefer to communicate with your graduate students (e.g. email, in person, text)?
What type of guidance do you provide on research project development?
For field-based projects, will you join be during field seasons or will I be mostly independent during field work?
What are your expectations for your graduate students regarding publishing and how do you help them accomplish these goals?
Who in the group teaches new members about lab safety, and any instrumentation/lab protocols? Is there a lab manager or is this knowledge handed down by senior grads and post docs, or direct from advisor?
Post-graduate school career questions:
What types of jobs do most of your students get (e.g. academic, government, industry etc.)?
Q’s for a potential adviser’s past and current graduate students
Financial support:
How are most of the graduate students in your research group supported?
How much is the graduate stipend and is it enough to live off of?
Does your adviser pay for conference, lab, and/fieldwork travel? Are there department resources for these activities? What expenses have you had to personally covered?
Have you been financially supported over summers? And/or is your adviser ok with their graduate students doing internships?
Does your adviser have an expectation that you bring in your own research grant money?
Mentorship style:
Does your adviser give you advice on non-research related topics like courses to take, degree completion requirements, job or internship search, etc.?
Does your adviser edit your research grant proposals, conference abstracts and papers?
How often do you meet one-on-one with your adviser vs. as a group?
Does your adviser connect you to the resources you need for training or is it your responsibility to figure out who to talk to for research-related training?
If you are supported on a TA or Fellowship, are you expected to participate in lab duties unrelated to your research?
How much guidance did your adviser provide on research project development? Were you expected to come up with your own ideas/hypotheses or was this developed alongside your mentor? Did your adviser have an idea that you were then expected to run with?
How quickly does your adviser turn around edits on manuscripts and are the comments constructive?
Overall, do you feel supported by your adviser?
Is there anything I should clarify before accepting an offer?
What is the most challenging aspect of working with your adviser?
How did your group function during the peak of the pandemic? Are there any positive or negative things that COVID revealed about your group dynamic?
Is your advisor committed to and active in DEI efforts? Do they support their students spending time on this type of service?
Post-grad career questions:
Does your adviser help you with post-grad applications, like postdoctoral research proposals or tenure track job applications?
Do you feel like your advisor has a network that can connect you both within and beyond the academy?
When you go to conferences, does your advisor help you decide on sessions to attend and actively introduce you to people?
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Good luck y’all!
The futureROCKdoc team:
Kristina, Sarah, Emily & Tony
If you have suggestions for additional questions message us on Twitter @futurerockdoc or comment below!