This was a good post overall, I just have one modification.
Your advisor is the most important choice you can make. Talk to as many people as possible in the lab before you join it. If you and your advisor do not get along, your experience will be terrible.
I received this advice, and things worked out for me, but it’s dangerously incomplete. It is true that you need a good relationship with an advisor, and their recommendation letter matters when you’re on the job market. But for many areas the prestige of the department and university is more important. Put simply: you should probably go to the most prestigious PhD program that will take you. See this for example: “Across disciplines, we find that faculty hiring follows a common and steeply hierarchical structure that reflects profound social inequality.” Prestige is especially important if you want an academic position.
That’s a good point, prestige is very important. I would argue having a good relationship with your advisor is the most important, since its a bad idea to be in an abusive relationship for multiple years, but I will edit the main post to take this perspective into account!
This was a good post overall, I just have one modification.
I received this advice, and things worked out for me, but it’s dangerously incomplete. It is true that you need a good relationship with an advisor, and their recommendation letter matters when you’re on the job market. But for many areas the prestige of the department and university is more important. Put simply: you should probably go to the most prestigious PhD program that will take you. See this for example: “Across disciplines, we find that faculty hiring follows a common and steeply hierarchical structure that reflects profound social inequality.” Prestige is especially important if you want an academic position.
That’s a good point, prestige is very important. I would argue having a good relationship with your advisor is the most important, since its a bad idea to be in an abusive relationship for multiple years, but I will edit the main post to take this perspective into account!