How important is it that you get along with your adviser?

[welfareballer]

Hey guys. Somewhat broad question, but I wanted to hear your opinion on how important professor personality is versus professor research.

To me, it seems professor personality is not that important. Obviously you don't want to be with somebody you loathe, but since that's more of a working relationship, it seems like it doesn't matter if you guys are immediately best friends after meeting. Research topic, however, seems really important, since I think I'd rather work on something I find really interesting with a professor I only mildly like than working on something I don't like that much with a really personable professor.

With that said, I do think school vibe, and the rest of your classmates, is very important. While you don't see your professor everyday, it seems like you are going to see your other students a lot over the next 5-7 years. Am I wrong in thinking that atmosphere and friendliness of other students should be a huge motivating factor?

That was my theory on how to judge schools besides just rankings. Would love to hear anybody's opinions on this subject.

[see_bella]

Your success in the program and your sanity for the duration of depends on you having a good, if not excellent, relationship with your advisor. And yes, your research interests and theirs should somewhat match so they can support you in your research and you dont get bored/burnt doing something you have no interest in. Depending on the department, you may have to meet with your advisor every week and if you're doing research with him or her then of course, you will make contact more often. They have the key to you walking across that stage to get your diploma, and in some situations, afterwards when you're getting a job. So if you do anything, make sure you and Mr. or Ms. advisor have a good relationship on all levels. You don't have to be bffs but...

And a good working relationship with fellow grad assistants and classmates is always awesome! You will need another support system. I've been a grad student and it always helps to have at least one other person in the program you can talk to, work with, collaborate on projects with, seek out for help with hwk, or whatever.

[ktel]

My advisor is a very busy person, and I only see him once a month or once every few weeks. I work with the post docs a lot more as well as people in my lab. For me it works pretty well, I really enjoy working independently. Although I think if he was on me a little bit more I would get a bit more research done as opposed to course work right now.

[crazygirl2012]

For me, very important. I've always had great mentors, so now I'm spoiled!

[ANDS!]

Hey guys. Somewhat broad question, but I wanted to hear your opinion on how important professor personality is versus professor research.

To me, it seems professor personality is not that important. Obviously you don't want to be with somebody you loathe, but since that's more of a working relationship, it seems like it doesn't matter if you guys are immediately best friends after meeting. Research topic, however, seems really important, since I think I'd rather work on something I find really interesting with a professor I only mildly like than working on something I don't like that much with a really personable professor.

With that said, I do think school vibe, and the rest of your classmates, is very important. While you don't see your professor everyday, it seems like you are going to see your other students a lot over the next 5-7 years. Am I wrong in thinking that atmosphere and friendliness of other students should be a huge motivating factor?

That was my theory on how to judge schools besides just rankings. Would love to hear anybody's opinions on this subject.

You are going into a field where, realistically, you can do a lot of self-paced work (Mathematics). For other disciplines (definitely lab based environments), that's just not possible.

Edited March 7, 2012 by ANDS!

[Sigaba]

IME, what matters most is rapport with one's professors--especially one's advisor. If that rapport isn't there, a professor can impact your development negatively without even trying. Here's an example. While taking a course in early American history, I had a newly minted assistant professor who, for personal reasons, hated the navy. "Why would anyone want to study naval history?" she sneered at me a couple of times.

Because of her mindset, she did not bother to point me towards important works that she had most likely come across during her time as a doctoral student. While I don't think she deliberately tried to screw me over, I do think the absence of rapport played a role in her not doing what other professors have done for me--direct me to works they think might be important.

Example two. I switched schools because I wasn't happy with the level of instruction I was getting (and for other reasons). I ended up with an advisor who, unknown to me and my classmates until much later, had a well deserved reputation for being "selfish." It was only later, after a comparing notes with fellow students, and receiving some affirming nods from other professors, that this selfishness manifested in the negotiations over reading lists for qualifying exams. This is to say that he would direct his graduate students to books he'd recently read at the expense of works that we needed to read. Consequently, while we were doing easter egg hunts for the works he recommended, we would sometimes, if we were lucky, stumble upon more important works. More often, we'd made these discoveries as we began doing the historiographical research for our dissertations and/or supplemental research in support of our responsibilities as T.A.s.

The bottom line is that many graduate students do work that is so specialized that one is responsible to find answers for unknown questions.

Make no mistake that the operative word here is responsibility. It is ultimately a graduate student's responsibility to figure out the dynamics of his/her relationships with professors, to read what one needs to read, and to learn what one needs to learn. So before one makes a blanket decision that relationships with professors aren't that important, remember that they, because of their superior expertise in a domain of knowledge, can open and close doors that others cannot even see.

[new_to_kin]

I think that the personal relationship is more important than research area, as long as the supervisor can guide you.

My Masters advisor was really different to me. For instance he is an Evangelical Christian and I am an Atheist. I don't mind what religion you are, but this put a huge wedge between us and he clearly favoured students that went to his church. He helped their careers (even though he wasn't their advisor) over mine.

I'll be going into my PhD this fall and my new supervisor (different school, different discipline) has little knowledge about my subject area, but he is a great guy, willing to learn, and has the skills to teach me what I need to know. He also uses the same techniques that I will use.

I can tell already that this will be a much better fit than the last guy. So def go wtith the person you like. They will help you in more ways than you can know.

My husband's PhD advisor recently co-authored a paper with him (uncommon in his field) - he basically wrote the thing and then got H to check it over and add stuff. What a great help to a pre-tenured prof.

[Eigen]

I'll also tag in that I think the personal relationship is more important than the exact research area. Someone that you can learn from and work with on a regular basis is a huge boon, and a relationship that you will carry through to the rest of your career.

The exact research field, on the other hand, is something that will most likely change several times through grad school, post-docs and faculty positions. In fact, it can often be great if your real passion is close to but not exactly what you work on in graduate schooll. There's an expectation that you'll change topics to avoid being too derivitive of your advisors work/your graduate school work, so it can be nice to be able to shift slightly into something you're really passionate about.

Working with someone that you get along with but has a slightly different focus can also help limit micromanaging, and really help you develop your own independent research, as they can be there to be supportive and helpful but not overshadowing every detail of what you do.

[welfareballer]

Thanks everyone for the answers. Eigen's seemed to really make sense, and the fact he's also studying in science makes it really ring home.