QUESTIONS YOU MAY WANT TO ASK BEFORE CHOOSING A THESIS ADVISOR

(Prepared with graduate and advanced undergraduate students in mind.)

by Dr. Annette Matheny

Questions to ask yourself

• Where do I want to be in five years? In ten years?
• What is most important to me - my work environment or my intellectual interest in a field?
• Do I need direction and motivation from an advisor, or do I prefer to work independently?
• Do I need to feel comfortable talking to my advisor?
• Is the field I choose easily adaptable to other fields?
• Do I prefer to work in a group or on my own?
• Do I want to work primarily with computers?
• Will the project be purely theoretical, experimental, [field-based,] or a combination of both?
• Do I want to start a family in the next five years?

Questions to ask members of the group or the prospective advisor

• How stable is the advisor’s funding?
• Do students help to write grant proposals?
• Do I get to choose my own project or do I work on the principal investigator's (PI) project?
• How involved is the PI in the research?
• Does the PI have favorites? Does the PI neglect or give very little attention to some members of the groups?
• Are students backed by the PI when they run into departmental politics?
• Does the PI treat male and female students with the same respect as far as their intellectual abilities are concerned?
• Does the PI promote your work or claim it as his/her own?
• Does the PI work with you towards your career, or are you on your own?
• Where have previous students gone?
• How long does it typically take to get a PhD in the group?
• What kind of work can I expect to find after graduation if I specialize in this PI's area of research?
• Do students publish and attend conferences all along, or only at the end of their research?
• Does the PI give you tools or am you on your own to develop research capabilities?
• Does the group meet regularly for group meetings or lunches?
• Are the group members competitive or cooperative?
• Does the group collaborate with other groups?
• Will I need to travel to do my research? How will that affect my lifestyle?
• Does the PI have tenure?
• What amount of course work is expected/discouraged after joining the group?

Questions to ask other Professors and senior-level graduate students.

• What is the advisor’s professional reputation?
• Is the advisor close to retiring, or in poor health?

Suggestion: Do a literature search of the prospective advisor's publications. Do they seem interesting to you? Also find papers from the group’s graduate students.

Created by Dr. Annette Matheny, Center for Naval Analysis, Alexandria, Virginia, in conjunction with the Central Illinois Chapter of Association for Women in Science, 202 Coble Hall, MC-322, 801 S. Wright Street, Champaign, IL 61820.