Is this True? About Advisor

[renforu]

One important piece of advice offered to me by several people, which I found hard to
believe at first, is that in terms of advisor selection, the person is more important than the
project itself. To restate the previous sentence, finding a person with whom you can work
well is more important, in my opinion (and the opinion of many people who have been in
graduate school), than finding a person with what you think is the perfect project or a similar
project to what you were working on in undergraduate.http://me.stanford.edu/documents/ME_SSO/Advice_Paper_web.pdf

 

 

Are you in agreement with this statement? How come?

Edited March 16, 2013 by renforu

[stephchristine0]

Yes, I agree with this advice. I had an excellent project in undergrad, however due to my advisor running a big lab with a lot of students, she was very erratic in time management. I graduated last May and she has yet to meet with me and discuss how my manuscript is for submitting to be published. It is very unproductive to select a project if you see your advisor is not very enthusiastic or committed towards your research. 

Edited March 16, 2013 by stephchristine0

[CBrown]

I'd have to agree as well, while the research shouldn't be so completely out of your interest area that you wouldn't want to study it, working with a supportive supervisor is far more important. It's akin to a great professor teaching a boring subject, the right person can make anything interesting and productive, especially if you're putting in as much effort as possible. They both count, but supervisor > research for sure. Good luck with your decision!

[Guest |||]

Selecting your supervisor is incredibly important.

 

This person will be your model and instructor for how to conduct research and turn it into a career.  You will spend years with this person, and, you are much better off leaving having been fully equipped for the academic world than leaving having enjoyed a common research interest.

 

Select someone who will train and set you well, and if you can have matching interest, this is the cherry on top.

[Eigen]

Projects change as funding shifts, interests shift, or things turn out to not be feasible. 

 

Your advisor is a constant. 

 

It's well possible to start off with a project you love, an advisor you aren't thrilled about, and then get pulled off the project, or have it cancelled a year or two in. Then you're in a lab with a project you may not like and an advisor you aren't thrilled about. 

 

On the other hand, you may start off with a project that isn't your dream, but with an advisor you work well with, and be able to either wrap it up and move on to something more interesting to you, or reform the project into something you're much more interested in. 

 

So yeah, advisor is way more important than the project.