It's the post series that never ends, muffins and minions! Your favorite D-List Monktress is back, dropping more n00b wisdom (and click-bait) on choosing your very own epicsauce laboratory.
Ask about work hours
You should never feel shy about inquiring about a PI’s philosophy regarding work hours. I find a lot of n00b PhDs feel nervous about appearing lazy by asking this question…but there’s a difference between asking ‘how many hours do I have spend in lab?’ versus ‘what is your lab’s work schedule philosophy?’. Also corner some current grad students to get the real story about how many hours they work. However, be aware there are those grad students who count every minute they’re watching the Cricket world cup or they're on coffee break as ‘work hours’.
Do people graduate on time?
You want your time in the coop to be the best possible, but you also want to make sure you can also escape the coop. When you hit the home stretch, even the bestest, most amazing lab in the world will seem somewhat excruciating. Don’t join a lab where being awesome means your PI loves you so much they never let you go.
Figure 1: Not everyone can call up their trusty flying stead to escape imprisonment
Line Break, line break, gotta get down with line breaks...
Is the research interesting?
You’re going to be doing this work for, at minimum, around half a decade. I don’t care if it’s the most famous lab in the world, if you find the work boring your PhD career will be miserable. On the other hand, please do not hand yourself over to Beezelbub himself just so you can work on your ‘dream project’. Because, as I’ve said before, you don’t know what you want to do yet, even if you think you do. No, you don’t. stfu and listen to your D-List Monktress.
What is the funding situation?
Trust your Monktress when she says being a broke-ass lab sucks. It really does. Ask the prospective New Boss about their funding situation, and specifically how they plan to fund you. This is especially important if you’re an international student, because poor planning or obliviousness about $$$ = deportation.
Does the PI prepare their students for public viewing?
Sending your little n00blets to public events is a bit like turning them out at a Debutante’s Ball. Their elegance and refinement is a reflection upon their PIs, and their PIs should therefore be strongly invested in their performance. Question very strongly how much you want to be part of a lab where the n00bs pick their boogers in public while wearing ripped petticoats. Or even worse, where one is the Belle of the ball, while the rest make due in rags.
I'm seriously going to post something uber exciting this week that has nothing to due with n00b knowledge or srs bsns, but I dunno what that is yet. But it will be Epics!
You can find some funding information on them at either NIH Reporter or ResearchCrossroads if they have received federal grant dollars. If they are true noobs and have no federal (NIH/NSF) funds, ask around and people can give you an idea as to how big their start up package is.
I would second these comments. When I was choosing my grad lab these factored into my decision. When I finished my rotations I put together an Excel document where I rated the labs and multiplied them by a weighting factor based upon my personal priorities. Yes I basically used a Dungeons and Dragons scoring model to choose my lab.
Additional factors included lab environment (supportive, competitive, interactive?), quality and amount of publications, and the availability of the PI plus an intuition bonus. If I'd thought about it then I would have included the right to write manuscripts myself in my own style. It wasn't an issue for me, but I had friends who had problems with bosses who had to have their manuscripts "sound" a certain way. I loved my grad lab and still talk with my old PI once a week (usually about the latest episode of Dr. Who). These are definitely things that can make your life wonderful or hell.
Did you use the 12 or 20-sided die to roll out damage points for low funding?
Ha. It was strictly a D6 since my dice are buried in a drawer somewhere. Though there is something poetic about comparing grad school to a dungeon crawl.
Awesome advice. Along with work hours or work-life balance questions, I would ask how supportive the potential PI is about extracurricular activities. Some PI's understand, value & support their students getting involved in things like science outreach, graduate student associations etc. Others think that its a waste of time.
GR: excellent points. Listen to the Sexual Chocolate, muffins.
Crystal Voodoo: Did you balance this spreadsheet of pros and cons against your natural attributes (e.g. Resistance to Pain)? Get all Darkfall on that mofo *cough*
ScientistMother: Word on PIs views on extracurricular activities.
LOL. That would have helped. My lab required high level "Resistance to Sarcasm" and Dexterity (being a crystallographer).
I'd also add a "public viewing" point but instead on the PI side:
when you go to conferences/seminars/whatevs with your prof, does she/he talk up your research and make a point of introducing you to people? Sure, maybe you're comfortable working with Dr. Quiet&Introverted, but how will that play out when you need people to hear about your work? This is probably especially important for those who tend towards introversion or self-depreciation.
I realize this isn't easy to tell from an interview or rotation or whatnot, but try to find out - it makes a big difference (as I am discovering via experience right now! In a good way.)