Choosing a PhD advisor (or in my case two of them!)

[Piper9132]

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Question for all you current PhD students:

When choosing your PhD advisor, what did you decide to be more important --- scientific interest in the project or personality/mentoring/logistical stuff?


As a bit of context, I am starting in the NIH OxCam program this year and am facing the daunting task of picking out my PhD advisors (one at the NIH and one in the UK) this summer before even starting MS1! :O

Right now I am torn between two advisors at the NIH. The first is a great fit for me personality, mentoring style, and logistical-wise. He already has a potential project and collaboration in mind with a UK researcher working on stem cell therapies for liver cirrhosis. The second choice I feel is a better fit scientifically for me. I have always been interested in neural stem cell research, and the second potential NIH mentor's lab is working on neural stem cells and parkinson's.


Any thoughts would be much appreciated! 😀

 

[gbwillner]

There's probably at least a dozen threads on this subject... plus a sticky...

 

[Piper9132]

There's probably at least a dozen threads on this subject... plus a sticky...

I do not see the sticky listed... And was just curious to any opinions people might have or personal experiences choosing based on one thing or the other.

 

[StIGMA]

Go where you will be happiest + get the best training. This may or may not be on your favorite subject.

 

[nysw]

Go where you will be happiest + get the best training. This may or may not be on your favorite subject.

I'm going to agree. It's hard to like what you're studying when you don't click with the lab/mentor.

 

[soundnin]

why gbwillner would be irked by this post:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=677325

this is in the MD/PhD FAQ 😛

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

Question for all you current PhD students:

When choosing your PhD advisor, what did you decide to be more important --- scientific interest in the project or personality/mentoring/logistical stuff?


As a bit of context, I am starting in the NIH OxCam program this year and am facing the daunting task of picking out my PhD advisors (one at the NIH and one in the UK) this summer before even starting MS1! :O

Right now I am torn between two advisors at the NIH. The first is a great fit for me personality, mentoring style, and logistical-wise. He already has a potential project and collaboration in mind with a UK researcher working on stem cell therapies for liver cirrhosis. The second choice I feel is a better fit scientifically for me. I have always been interested in neural stem cell research, and the second potential NIH mentor's lab is working on neural stem cells and parkinson's.


Any thoughts would be much appreciated! 😀

This is a no-brainer: go with the lab with the best personal chemistry with the mentor. Projects have a tendency of becoming more and more interesting the more personally-invested you are in them and the more you pick at the scientific problem.