Problem
A group of 9 friends invest equally in a business opportunity that costs $20,000. If n more friends were to take part evenly in the investment...
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The University of Texas-Austin gave Gary Wilcox its Outstanding Graduate Adviser Award for 2006, but student Sara Kamal says it didn't take a prize to convince her how good an adviser she had. Kamal, a recent master's graduate now studying for a Ph.D. in advertising, says Wilcox helped her make key connections before she even got to Austin, encouraged her to design her graduate work around her own interests, and protected her from administrative land mines. "He's been invaluable," she says.
Picking an adviser is a critical element for thriving in graduate school. The adviser sets the tone for your work and research and becomes your link to the academic community. He or she plays a kind of Moses, parting rough waters that lie in the way of an advanced degree. And your adviser wields power over little things, too, such as dictating how much lab time you get.
Wilcox, an advertising professor, first extended a hand to Kamal nearly three years ago as the student was finishing undergraduate work at George Washington University. She applied to several graduate programs, and, on her visit to Texas, Wilcox introduced her to faculty members who could advance her interest in multicultural marketing. "That kind of sealed the deal for me," says Kamal. But Wilcox's help didn't stop with academics. Kamal, a Pakistani citizen on a student visa, says Wilcox kept on top of the paperwork and logistics that allow her to study and work in the United States. "It's really crucial," she says. "The administrative detail ... can cause a lot of stress."
Horror stories
Jennifer Bloom, associate dean for student affairs in the college of medicine at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, says the adviser-student relationship is the most important factor in graduate school success. "It's a complex relationship," adds Bloom, a board member of the National Academic Advising Association and former chair of the group's Advising Graduate and Professional Students Commission.
In other words, choose wisely. "The adviser can make life miserable for you or help you move your candidacy forward," says Jonathan Karp, coauthor of The Ph.D. Process: A Student's Guide to Graduate School in the Sciences. Unlike an undergraduate, who gets handed a ready-made list of required classes, "you're a college class of one" in graduate school, he says. "You're sort of left on your own, and it's the reason why many flounder in that first year."
A good adviser can help you earn your advanced degree on time. A bad adviser? Think of Tony Soprano in academia. "There can be horrors," says Karp, an associate professor of biology and biopsychology at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J. Karp remembers one grad student who was forced to camp out on his adviser's lawn just to get face time. He's heard stories about professors taking credit for their advisees' work and faculty members who see students as cheap manual labor-working them hard in the lab, then having them clean their mentor's pool.
An outstanding adviser, by contrast, can save you money and help you establish your career. "If all goes well, I'll be done in six years, and a lot of that has to do with my adviser," says Travis Gayles, a dual-degree candidate at the University of Illinois's College of Medicine-a program that typically takes seven to 10 years to complete. Gayles, who got his Ph.D. in community health in May, is working to finish his medical degree in two years to pursue pediatrics.
Gayles clicked right away with his adviser, Reginald Alston, professor and associate head of the kinesiology and community health department at Urbana-Champaign. Alston, who was awarded the university medical scholars program's Outstanding Adviser Award in 2006, even helped Gayles get settled in Illinois, directing the Washington, D.C., transplant to a real-estate agent and bank.
Graduate schools work differently when pairing students and advisers. Unlike undergraduate advisers at some schools, who tend to be professional counselors, graduate school advisers typically are full-time faculty members; however, technical colleges often pair students with professional advisers. Many schools, like Texas, follow yet another model, assigning all incoming graduate students to one departmental adviser for administrative purposes. Students then pick a separate mentor or graduate school committee chair.
Tying the knot
In some programs, changing an adviser is no big deal, but in others, it's rare. "Every department handles it differently," says Bloom, who adds that her university's neuroscience department requires students to pick an adviser before studies start, whereas molecular and cellular biology students follow several weeks-long rotations before "matchmaking" occurs. Bloom's advice? With all the different intake models, applicants should definitely ask, "How do you assign advisers?"
While working with a renowned faculty member in your field is exciting, many academics lack good advisory or management skills ("There aren't a lot of classes on academic advising," notes Bloom). Karp stresses the need for incoming students to talk to graduate students and postdocs about any faculty member they're thinking of attaching to. "Grad students and postdocs don't have an agenda; the other faculty members do," he says.
"Stick your nose in the program," advises Terry Kahn, associate dean for student services at the graduate school at Texas. "That means knocking on doors, making appointments, sitting in a bunch of seminars ... so you can find the person on the faculty to help you get where you want to go."
Hints on Finding Professor Right
Know yourself. Do you need a detailed, over-the-shoulder adviser to keep you on task? Or are you an independent worker who must have space to do your best work?
What is the faculty member's reputation among graduate students and experts in the field?
Be clear on what the adviser expects of graduate students. Don't wait until it's too late.
Ask about your predecessors. Where did the adviser's three most recently graduated students end up? Did they get their degrees on time?
Consider length of tenure. Junior faculty members may be engaged in world-altering research, but will they focus on your work or on building their own careers?
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