Re:Advice for Prospective PhD Students
by the_snooze on Monday October 09, 2023 @11:20AM
(#37821361)
This 120%. Your day-to-day, your mental health, and your research success are largely a function of your lab's culture, and it's the PI who sets that culture. And the unfortunate reality is that PIs really don't get any formal training on culture-setting and people management, so there are some really successful folks out there who suck at running their groups.
The way you tilt the odds in your favor for getting a good PI-student match is to be embedded in the field. If you're an undergrad, getting involved in research is a great low-risk way to do this. People in research have reputations in their field, and people in the know will direct promising students away from labs with bad cultures.
The way you tilt the odds in your favor for getting a good PI-student match is to be embedded in the field. If you're an undergrad, getting involved in research is a great low-risk way to do this. People in research have reputations in their field, and people in the know will direct promising students away from labs with bad cultures.