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BIOLOGY
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GRADUATE STUDENT SURVIVAL GUIDE
Choosing Rotations
The rotation is your chance to evaluate a prospective advisor and laboratory if you already have not chosen one. Also be reminded it is also their opportunity to evaluate you. Be open-minded in your choice of rotations and ask yourself what types of questions excite you and what approaches to biomedical science interest you. Be prepared to work full-time during your rotations, it might be expected!
Choosing a Mentor
The graduate thesis-based degree is a classic example of the apprenticeship training system. You "apprentice" yourself to a scientist, who agrees to teach you how to become a scientist. Choosing a mentor is the most important decision that you will make during your graduate career. Decide what is important to you (mentor personality, publication record, funding, etc) and do your homework finding out this information yourself. Choosing a good mentor is usually far more important than your initial research topic.
Know yourself - What are your scientific interests? What research "tools" do you want to become proficient in to meet your career goals? What is your personality? How independently do you like to work?
Assess the mentor - Can you trust and respect this person? Do they have something to teach you? Does the mentor have the resources to support your thesis project?
To make your decision solely based on the fact that a given mentor is "easy" or "not demanding" might be a poor choice. This potential advisor may just want to get you "signed-up" to join their laboratory before a more severe disposition is exhibited. Alternatively, If no demands are made upon you are you going to get much out of this apprenticeship?
Finding a Thesis Topic
Initially pick a topic that both you and your advisor find interesting and keep in mind that your topic will likely evolve as the work proceeds. The particular field of research isn't of tantamount importance initially as you may have the opportunity to do very different research after graduation. Don't worry too much. Have realistic expectations.
Avoiding the Research Blues
Some may feel one of the characteristics of a very successful graduate student is to work long days and nights all 7 days of the week and publish as many papers as possible. Is it really???? Perhaps a better way of looking at it is that the total time spent doing work in the lab is of less importance compared to the amount of productive time spent. So plan well and set goals (e.g. gather enough data which will represent a figure in a planned paper, etc). Importantly, once reaching this goal, reward yourself (e.g. take an afternoon off and relax or play sports). Don't compare yourself to senior researchers who have many more years of work experience and publications to their credit. Regardless, regularly do some fun activities outside of the laboratory without guilt and Include those that provide physical exercise (healthy body-healthy mind).
Your Relationship With Your Mentor and Other "Labmates"
Meet regularly, once a week or at least every other week to show the progress you have made since the last time you met, along with your interpretation of the data and any problems/fixes with which you have dealt. This will motivate you to make regular progress and will keep your advisor aware of the work you are doing. Come organized with detailed notes and results (bring copies for the advisor) and take notes while you are interacting with your supervisor. E-mail a brief summary following every meeting and include: time for next meeting, list of major topics discussed, conclusions, new summary of what you need to do before the next meeting. Write a "to-do" list for yourself as a reminder.
Briefly communicate to your advisor any successful results of your work as soon as possible and in a clear and concise fashion. Advisors love data and can help you to interpret them. With experience, you may even want to impress them and formulate your own initial interpretation. Also, show your knowlege of the literature and how it relates to your project. Remember that, due to no fault of yours, data might just as easily disagree with what you originally expected!
Attempt to keep a positive attitude at all times. However, take the initiative to discuss with the mentor any major disagreements and problems you may have with them or others in the laboratory. The mentor might not be aware of these difficulties and needs to know! Suggest steps parties could take to address your concerns. Keep an open mind. You do not have to like everyone all of the time, but you are expected to work along side them in a civil, mature and professional manner. It is unrealistic to think you will get along well with everyone all of the time.
Come to Terms With the Realistic Expectations Your Advisor Has of You
You will need to take classes, do research and read the relevant literature for your thesis project concurrently. Therefore, you will need to learn how to multi-task. Most supervisors gauge your progress in the lab by evaluating your ability to learn techniques quickly (but efficiently) and using them to test hypotheses. Conduct the research properly by yourself, try to interpret the results yourself before seeing them. The key is to generate publishable results and try to communicate these results clearly to your advisor. Graduate school is likely NOT for you if you never work weekends or evenings and every weekday you want to: 1) sleep-in, 2) take 2 hour lunches, 3) be told what to do in the laboratory weekly, 4) get someone else to tell you about relevant literature for your thesis work and 5) then be home by 4 pm. Expect to work frequently more than full-time on your research project if you want to finish in a timely fashion. However, remember that the time spent needs to be productive, otherwise you are wasting time and money.
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