SOME ADVICE FROM FACULTY
As a former graduate student and now faculty member, what advice would you give to
an incoming student to help him/her succeed in the program?
Don’t be afraid to ask questions! Too many students shrink from asking questions in their
classes or in the lab, because they’re afraid they’ll look stupid. . In fact, there are NO
stupid questions! Nobody will criticize you for not knowing some particular thing and
asking about it. In fact, if you don’t ask any questions, your teachers and lab colleagues
will conclude that you’re not very interested in what’s going on and that you don’t really
care about learning new things. I’m convinced that a willingness to ask questions is one of
the most crucial attributes of successful grad students, and of successful scientists in
general. In grad school, people are not going to be telling you exactly what to do a lot of
the time; if you don’t ask for clarification, you’re not going to know what’s expected of you.
Be willing to ask questions of both senior students and faculty. Start reading the literature
(Nature, Science, have very good reviews in the front of each issue). Attend seminars in
as broad an area as possible. The first year is your chance to get exposed to different
types of scientific approaches and techniques; try to do that.
Work hard, read, go to seminars, work hard.
Graduate School has the word school in it but it is a misnomer. You are in professional
training and what you put in is what you will get out. You are in competition with your
peers and eventually with students at other institutions as you move through your career.
You will be judged by your ability to bring projects to completion and get them published.
The sum total of your efforts in graduate school (how clever you were in designing
experiments, how careful you were in doing experiments, how critical you were in
interpreting experiments, how hard you worked, how you got along with other people, how
well you discuss and present your work) will all be summed up in the recommendation
letter you receive from your graduate advisor when you attempt to get a position after
graduate school. If you view yourself as a student trying to figure out the minimum
requirements to get a PhD you will not be very competitive. You should use your training
to develop the confidence to be an independent thinker. In Graduate School we require
that you test ideas through your own research efforts, but ultimately you will get a PhD for
your ability to think and eventually you will be competing for jobs based on your ability to
think through and lead a research effort. People who just want to work in a lab as their
career goal do not need a PhD.
Stay determined-don’t be afraid of hard work-don’t get easily discouraged-communicate
clearly and often.
Work hard, think about what you are doing and don't hesitate to ask about anything that
you don't understand completely.
Treat this as a job, not as a continuation of undergrad. That means fall, Christmas and
spring breaks should be carefully considered -- take some time off, but also take
advantage of the quiet and focus on your lab work etc. Become a very active member of
the lab -- speak up in lab meeting, go to talk with your mentor about data, work to
generate your own ideas.
You have to be extremely self-motivated. This is not a part-time career and the returns are
proportional to the effort you put into it. Although there are usually no set hours those that
put in more are the ones that succeed. It’s not that you have to be in the lab all the time,
but the more effort you put into this career, the quicker you move on and the more
competitive you become for the better post-docs and ultimately faculty position. You have
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to be aware that you are surrounded by equally bright, if not brighter, individuals than
yourself so don’t pretend to know everything. Be courteous to lab mates, don’t put anyone
down or try to make it appear your superior to anyone-including non-degree workers like
dish washers-it will come back to haunt you. Ultimately, you should find a project that is so
interesting you can’t put it down at night and can’t wait to start on it the next morninganything short is a recipe for mediocrity.
Expect to enjoy graduate school and to work hard. Appreciate all the new things you are
learning instead of complaining about all the studying that you have to do. The people you
meet are important. Realize that some of these people—students, postdoc and faculty
may turn out to be life-long colleagues.
How might a graduate student make a positive impression on his/her mentor?
Thoughtful questions that show you’re thinking about what you’re doing will make a really
positive impression.
Coming to talk about rotations after reading papers and preparing.
Don’t wait for your mentor to come to you and ask how your experiments are going. When
you have a result that’s interesting or that you need help in interpreting, go to your P.I.
and initiate a conversation about it. That’s how he or she will know that you are interested
in what you’re doing in the lab and that you are thinking about it, not just doing what
you’re told.
Read the background of your project. Try to get answers to the simple questions (what
went wrong with this experiment?) from people in the lab. Participate in group discussions
(at lab meetings).
Work hard, try to actually accomplish something, forget about “numbers of hours”, engage
the P.I.
Ask questions. Everyone knows you are a new student so there is no need to be
embarrassed because you don't know as much as people who have been here awhile.
We can teach people who are interested in learning and the best way to let us know you
want to learn is to ask questions. Read the related papers from the lab. You may have to
read them several times and ask questions after each reading to develop enough of a
knowledge base to really understand them. Don't be passive, you need to play an active
role your in your own instruction.
In the long run:
A. Look at data critically. Know the difference between a good experiment and a bad
experiment. Learn how to design proper positive and negative controls.
B. Learn the biology of the system. It is too easy to become limited to the technical
aspects of bench science, which are demanding enough. However, it is important to
understand the why of an experiment (also called the Big Picture). An important step in
your development is when you start designing your own experiments based on your own
ideas about how a biological system works. Not everyone will be able to reach this level
during their graduate career but it is an essential part of being an independent researcher.
C. Be interactive. Science is a community of people, from working in a lab to going to
meetings to providing peer review. You need to be a positive contributor to this larger
community by your ability to make a lab a better to do science (this does not mean being
in charge of picking out the CDs or keeping up on everyone's gossip), always being willing
(and able) to discuss your own work, providing critical analysis of the work of others in a
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constructive way, and contributing to the ongoing process of training that is a feature of
University laboratories.
D. Work hard
Take initiative-communicate –demonstrate efforts to think for yourself-ask questions-work
hard-make research a top priority.
I am always pleased when a student takes the time to read around their project and in
particular develop an historical perspective about their area of research so they can
understand how ideas developed and how their work fits in with what has been done
before.
Get excited about the research, be extremely motivated-don’t put out anything less than
110% effort. If you’re in the middle of an experiment, don’t leave just because its 5pmclock-watchers are never wanted. Be inquisitive, don’t hesitate to ask why!
Show a burning curiosity; don’t be afraid to participate in lab meetings and journal clubs,
i.e. ask questions especially if there is something you don’t understand. Work hard on
your lab project but also work smart. If you don’t understand how to do something, be
sure to ask, and ask more than one person if necessary. Do not be afraid to ask the PI of
the lab!! Ask the PI and the person you may be paired with during the rotation for the
most important papers to read. Also take initiative to look some things up yourself on
pubmed. Finally, if there is something not right about the rotation or something that the lab
can do better, please bring it to the attention of the mentor. They can’t fix a situation if
they don’t know about it.
What mistakes have you seen graduate students make in their first year that could
have been avoided?
Sometimes new grad students take too long to figure out that grad school is a full-time
commitment. In many ways, being a grad student is much like having a regular full-time
job: you’re expected to be “at work” all day, every day of the working week. When you’re
not in class, you should be in your “home” lab (either rotation lab or permanent one),
doing experiments, reading and thinking, or studying. Students sometimes make the
mistake of hanging onto an undergrad mentality and thinking that they’re “off” when not in
formal classes or that they don’t need to show up when classes are not in session. That’s
a really good way to make a negative impression on your mentor and other faculty
members.
Students sometimes talk only to each other and not to the faculty, which is a mistake. For
example, a student who is really interested in joining Professor X’s lab will decide that it’s
not possible and won’t even approach Prof. X about it, because the word on the “student
grapevine” is that Professor X will take only one student and has already promised a slot
to another student. It’s crazy to pass up an opportunity to join the lab you really want,
based on second- or third- (or twentieth-) hand information. It may well be that Prof. X was
planning to take only one student, but could be talked into taking two if both students are
truly committed. Whatever the case, it’s important to find out exactly what the situation is,
and not to rely on gossip when such important choices are involved.
Another mistake is to be too passive, and to wait until your teachers or lab mentors seek
you out before you tell them what’s going on with you. If you have a problem, or are
feeling uncertain about what you’re supposed to be doing, take the initiative and go talk to
someone appropriate (your Graduate Director, rotation mentor, course director or lecturer)
about it. Don’t wait and do nothing while the problem gets bigger and bigger. In general,
the faculty are eager to be of help to you and will spend as much time as needed with
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you. However, they are going to expect you to be active rather than passive, and to let
them know when you need help.
Don’t be afraid to “rotate” in many different labs to find the right one. Most programs allow
you to continue trying labs out during the first summer. This is much better than choosing
a lab and then changing it a year later.
Don’t spend all the time in the lab and do poorly in courses.
Taking rotations too lightly. I think we ought to instill the notion that they should actually
strive to complete a set of experiments. Also, I don’t think we do enough to encourage
students – might be more true of department students – to take a good look at the variety
of courses offered by different departments, including Biology in the college.
Being timid. Take your professional training seriously from the start.
Not asking questions-not keeping an organized notebook-not being committed enough to
stick with the experiments until they work.
I don't think there is much scope for making mistakes in the first year. Students need to do
adequately in their classes and use their rotation choices wisely to find a suitable lab. In
my opinion the most common root of all problems that graduate students encounter is in
choice of project. Projects that are dependent on development of some key reagent or
experimental system (in the past this could have meant purifying a protein, cloning a
gene, now perhaps it might be making a knock out mouse) are a very bad idea. Projects
that take some solid observation that can be built on in a logical way are a much better
vehicle for student training.
Reading novels and surphing the web during incubations - better to read a science paper
or talk to people in the lab about their projects.
Working the bare minimum, not showing up when expected, being passive and waiting to
be told wht to do.
Spending more time on their cell phone then they spend working in the lab or thinking
about science.
Pretending they know more than they really do. Not taking the research serious and
acting like they are still taking an undergraduate course. Not being anal! Not being
extraordinarily precise-not taking detailed notes, and not knowing what is being done
before starting. Spending too much time on the computer.
Not communicating enough with the PI or others in the lab when/if there is a problem.
How many hours per week do you feel a student should devote to working in the lab?
This is a complicated issue, since it depends so much on the student’s other
commitments. For a first-year student who is taking two courses, doing rotation reports,
etc, I would expect at least 20 hours a week working in the lab or reading papers directly
related to the research in the lab. I don’t believe that a student needs to be in the lab
every evening and every weekend, but do expect a willingness to work outside of “regular”
working hours when necessary to keep experiments moving forward optimally.
The issue of how many hours a week a more senior student should spend in the lab is
also complicated, because it also depends on the efficiency of the student’s work. Some
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students who spend minimal time goofing off or schmoozing with other students and who
are highly organized are able to get a great deal of work accomplished in a 40-45 hour
week. There are sometime students who spend a lot more than that amount of time in the
lab, but who don’t ever seem to get as much accomplished. My expectations are usually
defined in terms of how much gets accomplished, rather than a set number of hours that I
expect students to be present in the lab.
When a student is full-time in the lab, it is a full-time job. Number of hours depends on
efficiency. Be willing to come in the night before (or on the weekend) to set things up so
you will have something to do. I have people who work when they are there (little
socializing, well-organized) and 8 hrs a day is plenty; others are there 12 hrs a day but do
less. However this is something to check out since each lab is different. Some will insist
on long hours. The main thing is to be willing to put in the extra effort to keep the project
moving. During the first year at least 10 hrs a week and probably 20 if one is not teaching
during that time.
As many as possible – seriously, I hate to think of it as number of hours – sounds like a
job. I’d like to think that they will be immersing themselves in their science as much as
possible. I think we should tell them that this is their first opportunity to really throw
themselves in science, and that they should work in the labs as much as is consistent with
passing their courses.
In every field, not just science, the people who work the hardest are more competitive
than those who work less. Graduate School is not school but it is not a job either. If there
are many things outside of your professional training that are important to you then you
should be honest with yourself and your advisor about how much (or little) time you are
willing to devote to your career. At the other extreme you can view a career where you
have the responsibility of generating new knowledge as a privilege, be mindful of how
tough the competition is and choose to commit yourself to your career wholeheartedly. In
the end it will be obvious how much you worked by how much you got done so it is best
not to be confused about how much effort you think you are making. If you look around
you will see that the most successful people are working pretty hard. If you would like to
maximize your chance of having a successful career in science then I would suggest
working 60 hours per week for 50 weeks a year. During your rotations, showing your
interest and enthusiasm with many questions and hard work will give you your choice of
labs to choose from for your thesis work.
During semesters with coursework at least 40; with no coursework – 60 to 70.
Scientific research is a highly competitive and difficult endeavor that involves competition
with others who are most probably brighter than you and quite likely have greater
experience and resources. Things don't always work out. If you care about your science,
the only way you can deal with failure and retain your sanity is to know that you did your
best. If you don't care about failing then this isn't a good career choice. If you do care then
you have to make the commitment to do put in the intellectual and practical effort required
to make you competitive with others around the world who are doing the same. How many
hours you spend in the lab is a part of this but frankly when I have ever had to have a
discussion about lab time with a student it was always the beginning of the end. If you
care about your work then the hours will take care of themselves.
When not taking classes and during summer rotations 50 hrs is the minimum; some
reading and thinking at home is probably going to be needed as well. If you really are
really unfocused and spend a large part of your day doing e-mail, taking walks to the
coffee bar and talking about last nights TV, then you will to be there longer. During
rotations the amount of time you spend in lab really depends on classes -- they matter so
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don't ignore them. On average you should probably spend 20 hrs per week - meaning
some weeks you might take time to study whereas other weeks you will be in lab more.
Your not training for a hourly job, so treat is as such. Including course time, 40 hours
should be considered a minimum! Not to say 80hours are needed or desired, but it
definitely takes more than 40 for even the most skilled and brightest students.
As much as possible while still doing well in courses. At least 15-20h/week with a full load
of courses. If the student is doing research full time—the usual 40h/week is NOT enough.
Remember the lab is open evenings and weekends if needed.
Any other advice or information you feel would benefit a new graduate student
Talk to students and postdocs about different labs. Labs tend to have their own
personalities and the relationship between student and mentor is complex. What will work
for you is not what works for someone else.
Have confidence in yourself. Everyone who gets into graduate school is smart enough to
be successful in science. Ultimately other things will determine whether or not you are
successful, things that you have a lot of control over. If you are productive, interactive,
and critical in your thinking you will succeed in science. Work hard to be those things.
Finally, there will be disappointments along the way in exams, papers, grants, recognition,
etc. If you believe in yourself you will bounce back quickly from these disappointments
and learn from them.
You MUST be interested in and excited by this field, i.e. have a passion for it-if you are to
succeed.
Seek out the very best people as advisors and mentors. Know your place in the world, it’s
a humbling experience but by measuring yourself against the best you get a sense of
what you should aspire to.
Pick one thing outside of school that really matters to you - this can be family, a hobby, a
community activity, or exercise and make that a priority. Sacrifice on other things so that
making progress with your education doesn't fall so far down the list that you are
establishing yourself as a mediocre graduate student.
Be a team player-if you see someone else in that lab performing experiments that will take
a long time and your not busy, offer to help-it will be paid back more than you realize. The
number one priority at this point should be lab work-nothing; absolutely nothing should be
more important if you’re serious about succeeding. Get and read the book: The PhD
Process: A Student’s Guide to Graduate School in the Sciences by Bloom, Karp, and
Cohen (1998). It has many actual case scenarios and was written by recently finished
biomedical PhD students. It provides a very realistic view of life in the lab and what is
expected.
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