Bio career center - SOP, Cover Letter, Resume , Guidance

Of course you need to feel that you will be able to get on reasonably well with the person you will have to work quite closely with for a number of years. You must be able to communicate with them, to respect them and to feel that they will treat students fairly, even if you know they will be pushing you to work long hours and setting seemingly unattainable deadlines and goals. But ultimately they must be good scientists, ideally with an impressive record of publication, training graduate students and securing necessary funding. Selecting a newly appointed member of staff (perhaps as their first Ph.D. student) can be somewhat of a risk. But this may be balanced by the time and enthusiasm they are likely to expend.

Ask to speak to other students in the potential supervisor’s lab to determine what the supervisor is like to work with. Are they enthusiastic and supportive, even when the results all seem to be negative? Do they tryto ensure that their graduate students get the right training and experience to complete their Ph.D. on time, or will they keep them working in the lab long after the end of their course? Ask about the completion rates and the subsequent careers of past students, and check their publication record by a literature search. Determine if there is a good structure in the lab. For example, are there experienced post-docs who can advise on a day to day basis, and skilled technicians to help the naïve graduate student? Is the lab well funded, does it look organised and have the right equipment?

Personality and attitude to research and graduate training is important in selecting a supervisor, but if you really want to succeed in research, the supervisor’s scientific achievements and reputation are of prime concern. If he or she is successful it is likely that their graduate students will also do well. Many of the world’s leading scientists started out in some of the very best labs, and a significant number of Nobel Prize winners were at some stage supervised or mentored by a Nobel Laureate. The very best scientists will almost always provide the best trainers – even if they are not always the easiest people to get on with.

Reaching the right choice of a Ph.D. project or supervisor (which of course depends on each individual) may seem a daunting task. There is now a great deal of information and advice around, but if you are uncertain, there are courses which help that choice to be made, e.g. the extended Ph.D. in which the first year involves rotation between labs on several projects as is common in the US, the four year Ph.D. in the UK and some other countries or the MRes which operates a similar system. Each of these provides experience of different labs, projects and supervisors before the final choice is made for a Ph.D.