Sociability-ness of Professors

[face]

Hello -

As I wittle down on my choice of POI for each school, I have some particular concerns which are difficult to find information on.

First: I've noticed at my own school that the Psychology professors are somewhat lacking or devoid of social skills and I'm worried that if my POI accepts me and I accept them in return, that I will be stuck with a people-hating curmudgeon for the next five(?) years who looks good on paper, the net, and in publications/credentials, etc.

Second: Sociability matters more to me than credentials. If these people can't communicate or are partially psychopathic (an observation I've had with a few psych professors - which seems a little ironic to me - but whatever) I know I won't finish the program. I would rather be working/studying under a professor whose interests aren't a perfect match than a professor who hates people or their lives.

Third: I bet some of you know some fantastic, awesome communicators, people who talk to their students like they care about them and are interested in their careers; don't try to steal their ideas, listen like a human being, talk like one in return, etc. etc. Could you please mention them here and what school they work at so I can look into their interests.

 

I'm sure others here might be interested in this also, although I know a lot of people don't care about this sort of thing. That's ok too.

[Angua]

I don't have a list of "non-psychopathic" professors for you (though I've run into far fewer intolerable professors than you seem to have), but I wanted to point out that this is exactly what interviews and campus visits are for.  A lot of what you are talking about is going to be very hard to find out before you meet, because (1) it's not something that's easy to summarize or quantify and (2) it's going to vary a lot from student to student.  You must have had these experiences already: your friend complains that a professor you like is awful, or vice-versa.  That's because personalities vary.  And what seems people-hating to you may be wry and witty to me.

 

It's easy to forget that the interviews are for you, too, but they are.  It's absolutely okay to recognize how important personality fit is to you -- it's not going to be so important for everyone, but it is for you, and that's fine. But I still think it's probably easier to put off worrying about it until you've identified POIs who match in other ways -- in other words, until you get an interview.  At that stage, you already know (or will be close to knowing) that there is a match in research interests, and you can focus on the personality issue.  You will get a good sense of personality from the interview with the professor, and you can get more by targeting your questions. "What is your advising style?" is a good one that I think will elicit some good information about how the professor likes to interact with her students, and "What makes a student successful in this program?" or "What kind of student is not a good fit for this program?" will give you some insight into how they think about students as well (and should out any people-hating curmudgeons).  Then, ask current students in the department what it is like to work with or interact with your POI. They will usually give you pretty good information.

 

You can also get some information by running your list of POIs past some professor(s) you trust and asking for any advice or insight they have about your listed choices.  They will often have inside information and past experiences that will be enlightening.  If you really trust the professor and/or they know you especially well, you can specifically mention that you are concerned with personality fit, and that might also get you good info.

Edited September 3, 2014 by Angua

[juilletmercredi]

Maybe?  It depends on how far into the program you find out that your professor's personality clashes with yours, whether or not there are other people in your department who are able and willing to supervise you, and how terrible the personality clash is.  This is one really good reason to apply only to departments at which at least 2, and ideally 3-4, people can supervise you.

 

Third: I bet some of you know some fantastic, awesome communicators, people who talk to their students like they care about them and are interested in their careers; don't try to steal their ideas, listen like a human being, talk like one in return, etc. etc. Could you please mention them here and what school they work at so I can look into their interests.

 

Honestly, this isn't a good way to go about this.  I do agree with you that to a certain extent, personality is more important than interests - but only to a certain extent.  For example, I'm a social-health psychologist and I study health disparities, primarily with people of color.  I'm interested in health disparities broadly, though - so I could work with a supervisor who did research on income disparities or rural health, and then apply that to my work on racial disparities.  But I wouldn't work with someone who didn't do health disparities research at all.  Finding 'nice' people and then investigating their interests, then trying to squeeze yourself into that niche is a really backwards way to approach this.

 

Instead, look up the researchers who share your interests.  Apply, and then visit the program.  Meet with them for lunch or a 30-minute meeting in their office - and then talk to their grad students!  Grad students will give you the scoop on what it's like to work for that person.  I am brutally honest about my advisor (who is actually quite awesome, but has a particular working style that will work for some people and not others).  I have Skyped and emailed back and forth with students who have had questions about working my department (which, despite being made up of mostly normal-ish people, functions a bit psychotically) and specifically with my advisor.

 

That said, I've actually found that most academics are quite normal.  They may be a bit more quirky than non-academic, but not in a psychotic way.  (Besides, given that you are trying to enter the field, you are probably a little quirky and weird, too.  I know I am.)  Then again, I have specifically selected for places/departments/centers at which the academics appear to be normal-ish people, because I'm not interested in working with psychotic sociopaths.