meeting potential supervisors

[cheesethunder]

so, im going to meet with some potential supervisors sooon, does anyone have any experience with this? im excited, though i don't want to just come off as a big fan of their work, i want to make a decent impression, how do you do this! advice?

[rogue]

I met with one, completely randomly, this summer. I ran into her at a conference and wasn't prepared to have a serious talk, so I tried to just treat it like a job interview. It seemed to work pretty well. Ask questions about their research, be prepared to answer questions about yours, and keep things positive.

[socialcomm]

What specific questions do people ask?

Some of the areas I inquire about:

-their future research (does your research align with theirs?)

-how they'd describe the atmosphere of the department (is it one you'd be able to thrive in?)

-how they would describe successful students in their program

[rainy_day]

What specific questions do people ask?

Good idea.

I'd like to ask what area(s) of the department are growing/are they trying to grow.

How do you plan to ask about their current research/future research? I am not really sure, honestly, how to have that conversation without sounding like a fangirl.

[noojens]

What specific questions do people ask?

Some of the areas I inquire about:

-their future research (does your research align with theirs?)

-how they'd describe the atmosphere of the department (is it one you'd be able to thrive in?)

-how they would describe successful students in their program

also:

- where their recent students have gone post-graduation

- if you can meet any of their current students

- average time to PhD of their students

and i always make sure to ask for any general advice or suggestions they might have.

[socialcomm]

Depending on how up to date their website/webpage is, typically you can find out a little about what they're currently researching. With that, I typically say I'm interesting in their research on the topic of XYZ (what you can discern from the website) and then ask if that's the direction they're planning in the future, or what new topics they may be exploring.

The one thing you don't want to do is ask questions that have answers you can already find on the website. Or that are more appropriate for a grad coordinator rather than a prof.

[cheesethunder]

thanks!

actually, i didn't get ot ask very many questions, which was nice because when ive met with supervisors before it was more like an interview i was not prepared for this time it was very casual, which i have mixed feelings about haha