Professor's blog on admitting grad students

[Kleio_77]

https://dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2014/05/29/how-selective-are-you-about-prospective-graduate-students/

 

I was doing a bit of googling and discovered this blog addressing how selective professors are when choosing grad students. This is more specific to science students but the responses are interesting. This blog really shows the different perspectives when choosing grad students.

 

I am a history student, but still found this intriguing. 

 

 

[TakeruK]

As the author notes, they are in Canada and in Canada, the science graduate student selection system works quite differently from the US. I don't know if that blog is Canadian centric, but I want to point this out when you are considering these perspectives:

 

One very important difference is that generally speaking, American science programs have committees that select a cohort of students that they think will meet the department's needs. The cohort will then begin the program and take courses in the first two years. During this time, they might work with a couple of professors, or do lab rotations, or get a RA appointment for the summer first and then eventually choose their PhD thesis group. That is, in most cases, American science graduate programs admits students without requiring them to commit to any particular professor or research group. The matching comes later, after the student begins the program (sometimes as early as a few months in; sometimes as late as 2 years in).

 

On the other hand, you can think of Canadian science program recruiting as more similar to applying for a job (in fact, most Canadian grad students are considered employees of the University). A committee might exist simply to vet candidates to meet minimum requirements but for the most part, it is up to each individual prof to say yay or nay on each applicant. At the schools I've been to, the general procedure is: Application is received; committee reviews to make sure it meets minimums; committee forwards application to all professors. Each professor decides yes/no on taking that particular student. If they all say no, the student is rejected. If a few say yes, the student gets an offer letter specifically saying "you may come to our school to work with Profs X, Y, and Z." Each program will have variations on this format, but in general, students are admitted directly to a supervisor. This is why the author implies that he/she makes these decisions every year, on every student; not just the times where they are on an admissions committee; and they always talk about admitting to their own lab. And this is why the author refers to themself as a "recruiter" -- openings in certain labs are sometimes advertised like jobs and a professor looking for more students might actively and directly recruit grad students through their colleagues and/or at conferences. Unlike in the US, when this happens to you with a Canadian prof, you know that prof is the person ultimately deciding your admission decision (when an American prof "recruits" you, they always end with something like "Please apply to the program and I wish you the best of luck in the admissions process"). 

 

I just thought I would point this out to put provide some important context!

[Vene]

From talking with PhD students at my university (I took a genetics class with some of them) the ecologists don't do rotations, whereas those of us who are in a PhD program through the college of medicine all do rotations (an umbrella program as well as a neuroscience degree). So, even in the sciences in the US there is variation between disciplines.

[shadowclaw]

This blog post describes US ecology programs perfectly. There are some exceptions which do lab rotations, but of the 30 - 40 ecology programs I've looked at in my search for the perfect PhD program, most work like this blog describes. It really has been like applying for a job! I searched wildlife and ornithology job boards for PhD positions, plus I'm on the Ecolog listserv. Some POIs just wanted a CV and a cover letter when I contacted them, others wanted transcripts, writing samples, and references, too. I even had a Skype interview with a POI prior to formally applying to the program.

I got turned down by a few because they were being very selective and only taking students with very specific research interests and research experience. However, I also found some really great matches for my interests and I'm extremely excited by the possibility of working with these POIs. While I think this process makes it more difficult for the prospective PhD student to find and successfully apply to a program, I think it probably results in much happier and productive students.