Questions to Ask a PI Before Joining the Lab
These are questions to ask a future PI before you commit to the lab, whether you are a rotation student choosing a thesis home, a postdoc weighing an offer, or an undergraduate or postbac meeting the person who would be your research mentor. The 62 questions follow the order the decision usually takes: the project you would be given, how you would be mentored, the money behind the position, papers and career, daily life in the lab, and what to settle before you say yes.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The project
Which projects need someone right now, and how much choice would I have?
Why ask it
The gap between "you can work on anything you like" and the projects the current grant will actually pay for is where a lot of first-year frustration lives. Ask which grant, and which of its aims, would be paying you.
Would I be starting something new or picking up where someone left off?
Why ask it
An inherited project comes with data and momentum, and also with another person's notebooks, half-finished analyses and a claim on the eventual paper. Before you take it on, learn whether that person can still be reached and what was agreed with them about credit.
What would I be doing in my first month?
Why ask it
A lab that is ready for you can name a bench or desk, a person to shadow and a first small experiment or dataset. "Read papers until you find your feet" is fine for a week and worrying as a description of the whole first term.
Which skills would I need that I do not have yet, and who here would teach me?
Why ask it
Say plainly what you have done with your own hands, because overstating it now costs you later. The second half matters more: a named person with time to teach is a different thing from a protocol file and a suggestion to ask around.
What do you do when a project isn't producing?
Why ask it
Stalled projects are ordinary in research, so you are asking about a routine the lab should already have. A useful answer has a time frame, a decision point and an example of a project that was dropped or redirected. If all you hear is persistence, ask how long the longest-running stalled project has gone on.
How risky is this project, and could I run something safer alongside it?
Why ask it
Ambitious projects can make a career when they work and leave a trainee with little to show when they do not. Some PIs pair a long shot with a smaller project that should produce a paper whatever happens, and asking for that arrangement is reasonable.
What equipment, computing, and core facility access would I have for this work?
Why ask it
The detail that matters is where the key instrument physically sits and whose booking queue you would join. Waiting on a shared machine in another department can add weeks to an experiment, and no project description mentions that cost.
Is anyone else, in this lab or a competing one, working on the same question?
Why ask it
Overlap inside the lab is a common source of credit disputes, so ask how the PI keeps two people from converging on one result. Competition outside it sets the pace: a crowded question means pressure to publish fast, and you should know that before you choose it.
What happens if my research interests shift while I'm here?
Why ask it
Some flexibility is normal and total flexibility is not, since your work has to stay fundable. What you are testing is whether the PI responds with curiosity or with a reminder about the grant.
Which parts of the lab's work are growing, and which are you winding down?
Why ask it
The project you are offered sits in one of those two piles. Joining a line the PI is losing interest in can mean less of their attention, fewer collaborators, and a harder time later when you need them to push for your paper.
Mentoring
How often would we meet one on one, and what usually happens in those meetings?
Why ask it
Weekly and monthly are both workable; what matters is whether the meeting exists on a calendar. "My door is always open" with no recurring slot can mean you would be the one doing the chasing, so ask what happens to the meeting in a grant-deadline month.
Who would I be working with day to day?
Why ask it
In a larger lab the person who actually supervises you is often a senior postdoc or a staff scientist, which can be excellent or can mean two people giving contradictory direction. Ask to meet that person before you accept.
How would you describe your mentoring style, and what would your trainees add to that?
Why ask it
Nearly every PI has a ready self-portrait, so the trainees' version is where the information is. One who can quote a criticism their own students have made, such as being slow on email or too quick to redesign an experiment, has heard feedback and held on to it.
How many people are you mentoring right now, and do you plan to grow the lab?
Why ask it
Divide the PI's week by the number of people who need it and you have a rough idea of your share. A lab about to double in size will not feel like the one you visited, so ask how one-on-one time would survive the growth.
How much are you away in a typical term, and who makes decisions when you are?
Why ask it
Travel, teaching and committee work come with the job, and an often-absent PI can still run a good lab if somebody has the authority to approve an order or sign off on an experiment. What stalls trainees is a lab where everything waits on one inbox.
How do you give feedback on writing, and how quickly do drafts usually come back?
Why ask it
A draft waiting on a PI's desk can hold up a paper, a fellowship application or a thesis chapter for months, whatever is happening at the bench. Put the same question to current students, whose number may be longer than the PI's.
How do you tell someone their work is not where it needs to be?
Why ask it
You are asking for the method: a private conversation, a written review, a remark in front of the group. Ask when they last did it. If no occasion comes to mind, the conversation may be getting put off until it is a crisis.
Have you mentored someone at my stage before, and what did they leave with?
Why ask it
This matters most to an undergraduate, a postbac, a medical trainee or a master's student in a lab built around PhD students and postdocs. Ask what the last person at your level actually produced: a poster, a thesis chapter, a place on a paper, or a letter of recommendation.
Would we set written goals each year, such as an individual development plan?
Why ask it
Some funders and graduate programs ask for a plan like this and some labs do it informally, so ask how it works there. What you are checking is whether your own progress gets a scheduled conversation, separate from the week's data.
Who else would mentor me: a co-adviser, a thesis committee, someone outside the lab?
Why ask it
One mentor rarely covers everything, and a second gives you somewhere to take a question you would not put to your PI. Ask how much say you would have in choosing them and whether the PI works easily with the people you have in mind.
What do you expect from trainees that you rarely say out loud?
Why ask it
Every lab has unwritten rules: answer email the same day, never miss the departmental seminar, tell the PI before you write to a collaborator. Hearing them now is far cheaper than learning them by breaking one.
Funding
Where is the funding for this position coming from, and how long is it committed?
Why ask it
You want the end date of the grant, not a reassurance. Eighteen months of secured salary on a project meant to take five years is a different offer from one with the full term covered. Many public funders publish award dates, so ask for the funder and the name of the award and look it up.
How long is the appointment, what does it pay, and what would a renewal depend on?
Why ask it
Pay scales, contract lengths and benefits are usually set by the institution, the funder or a union agreement, so the PI may only control where on the scale you start. Ask who can send you the written terms, and whether renewal rests on your progress, on the grant, or on both.
What does the lab's funding look like over the next three years: what ends, and what is under review?
Why ask it
One grant tells you about your position and the whole picture tells you about the lab. A group with a renewal pending and nothing behind it could be a smaller place in two years, with less money for experiments.
Has the lab been through a funding gap, and what happened to the people in it?
Why ask it
A lab that has run for a while has often had a lean stretch, so a yes is no mark against it. Listen for whether trainees were kept on through bridge money or teaching, or whether someone had to leave in the middle of a project.
Would I need to teach to cover my stipend, and in which years?
Why ask it
Teaching for a term or two is experience; teaching every term because the grant cannot carry you makes for a slower degree. How stipends are covered differs a great deal between programs and countries, so ask the department what is typical there as well.
If I won my own fellowship, what would change for me?
Why ask it
In some places a fellowship raises your pay and in others it only replaces the PI's money. Those rules belong to the funder and the institution, so ask how it works there. Ask too whether it would buy you more freedom over your project, which is a common reason to apply.
How involved would I be in grant writing?
Why ask it
Some labs hand trainees a section of a real proposal to draft, and others keep the whole process with the PI. If you hope to run a group one day, drafting an aims page and reading the reviews that come back is worth asking for by name.
Is there a budget for what my project needs, or would I have to make a case for each big purchase?
Why ask it
Sequencing runs, animal costs, compute time and reagents can decide how many experiments fit in a year. Knowing roughly what the project costs each month is a sign it has been planned; a blank look can mean it depends on a grant that is still being written.
What's the plan for conferences, and who pays?
Why ask it
Presenting is how people in your field learn your name, so one meeting a year with registration and travel covered is a real benefit, and being told to apply for travel awards is not the same thing. Ask too whether the lab books the trip or reimburses you weeks later, which matters on a stipend.
Papers and career
What has the lab published in the last two years, and who was first author on each?
Why ask it
Read the list before the meeting so the conversation can be about how each paper came together. If first authorships cluster on one or two people while others sit mid-list for years, ask how that happened.
How do you decide authorship order?
Why ask it
A rule stated before the work starts is the best sign, along with a way to settle it when two people both contributed heavily, such as shared first authorship. Conventions for author order also differ by field, so check you are both describing the same one.
Do you aim for one large paper per trainee or several smaller ones?
Why ask it
Neither is wrong, but they suit different clocks. A single ambitious paper can take up most of a PhD and suits someone with years in hand, while a postdoc on a two-year contract needs something out sooner.
When would you expect my first first-author paper?
Why ask it
A guess in years is enough, and the reasoning behind it is the valuable part. If the estimate rests on a result nobody has seen yet, ask what you would write up if that result never arrives.
How long did the lab's last paper take from first draft to acceptance?
Why ask it
The number is less telling than the story around it: who did the revision experiments, and whether the first author had already left by the time it came out. That is how the lab treats work after its author moves on, and one day the work will be yours.
What do you need to see before you tell a student they are ready to defend?
Why ask it
The program sets the formal requirement, and a PI can keep a bar of their own on top of it, such as an accepted first-author paper. Hear it now, and ask whether anyone has defended with a paper still in review.
How long have your students taken to finish, and has anyone left without finishing?
Why ask it
The median is the useful number, and the departures are the useful story. People leave for good reasons as well as bad ones, so what you are listening to is whether the PI can describe it without blaming the person who left. The graduate office may have time-to-degree figures for the whole program to compare against.
Where are your last five trainees now?
Why ask it
Five named people tell you more than a general description of outcomes. If most went to positions unlike the one you want, ask what the lab did for the person who left the standard path.
If I decided partway through that I wanted a career outside academia, how would you take it?
Why ask it
Putting it as a hypothetical lets you hear the reaction without announcing a plan. Notice whether the PI starts talking about internships and contacts, or about how much the lab would have invested in you by then.
What would I get to practice here besides research: reviewing, giving talks, teaching, supervising?
Why ask it
The next employer will ask about these, and no experiment teaches them. Good signs are specifics, such as co-reviewing a manuscript with the PI or supervising a summer student, and an offer that goes to everyone in the lab.
When someone is finishing, what do you do to help them get the next position?
Why ask it
The most recent departure is the test case: who heard about the opening, who read the application, who picked up the phone. Someone who was involved can tell it in detail, and someone who only signed a letter will keep it short.
Could I take a project with me when I leave?
Why ask it
For a postdoc this decides whether an independent position starts with something in hand, and PIs differ sharply on it. What leaves with you can also depend on the institution's rules on data and materials, so ask how it works there. Raise it now, in a friendly moment, because the conversation is far harder in your final year.
Lab life
What are your expectations about hours and being physically in the lab?
Why ask it
Answers range from tracked attendance to complete indifference. Get to the habit behind the policy: when people usually arrive and leave, whether writing from home is normal, and whether weekends mean a time course that cannot wait or every week.
Who is in the lab now, and is anyone senior about to leave?
Why ask it
The person who would train you may be six months from defending or moving on, and what they know goes with them. Ask what is written down and whether your start date could overlap with their last weeks.
What happens at lab meeting when someone shows data that did not work?
Why ask it
Have the PI describe the last time it happened. You are hoping to hear that the room started suggesting controls, and it helps to know whether the presenter was a first-year or someone senior enough to risk it.
How does the lab handle data, code, and protocols?
Why ask it
Better than a description is a look at how one recent result is stored, from raw files to figure. Shared repositories, version control and written protocols save a newcomer months, and a lab where everything lives on individual laptops can lose an analysis the day its author leaves.
What happened the last time someone found an error in their own results?
Why ask it
This is a question about honesty under pressure. The answer to hope for is that they said so quickly, the lab rechecked the work, and nobody was punished for speaking up, even if a figure or a paper had to change.
Which shared jobs would be mine: ordering, an instrument, the animal colony, training undergraduates?
Why ask it
Everyone carries some of this, and it teaches you how a lab is run. Ask for a rough number of hours a week and how the jobs rotate, because a duty that never rotates tends to settle on the newest person.
How did the last serious disagreement in the lab get resolved?
Why ask it
A concrete account, even an uncomfortable one, shows problems get addressed. "We don't really have conflict here" can mean nobody raises anything, or that disputes end with someone quietly leaving, so put the same question to a current student.
How does time off work in your lab, and do I ask you or tell you?
Why ask it
The allowance itself is set by the program or the employer, so ask there for the figure. What the PI controls is the feeling around it, and "just send me the dates" describes a very different lab from one where leave has to be justified.
If I had a problem with someone in the lab, or with you, where would I take it?
Why ask it
A calm answer that names a program director, a committee member or an ombuds office comes from someone who has accepted that they could be the problem one day. The formal routes differ by institution, so confirm them with the graduate or postdoc office too.
The decision
What makes you think I would be a good fit for this lab?
Why ask it
A future PI who has thought about you can point to something in your rotation, your application or your last paper. If the answer would suit any new arrival, the lab may be filling a seat on a grant, and it is fair to ask what happens if the fit turns out to be poor.
Who tends to do well with you, and who would be happier in a different lab?
Why ask it
Asking about the other lab lets the PI describe a mismatch without criticizing anyone. Hold the description against how you really work, not how you would like to, especially on independence and on how much structure you need.
What would you need to see from me in the first six months to feel this was working?
Why ask it
It turns a vague hope into a short list the two of you can look at again later. If the list is mostly hours and presence, and you were hoping to hear ideas and results, you have learned what the lab rewards.
What do you think the lab could do better?
Why ask it
Naming a real weakness, and what is being done about it, is a small sample of how this person would talk to you about your own. An answer that slides back into the lab's strengths is worth noting too.
Do you expect to move, take a sabbatical or retire while I am here, and what would happen to me if you did?
Why ask it
A tenure decision, a sabbatical or a retirement often has a date the PI already knows, even if a move does not. If the lab has moved before, ask whether trainees went along, who paid for it, and who would sign your thesis if you stayed behind.
How many people are you taking this year, and how will you choose among us?
Why ask it
After rotations a lab can have more interested students than places, and nobody enjoys saying so. Knowing the number and the date of the decision lets you keep a second lab warm without anyone feeling misled.
I would need a visa: has the lab brought in someone from abroad before, and who handles the paperwork?
Why ask it
Immigration rules belong to the country, and the paperwork usually runs through an international office, so a PI cannot promise an outcome. What they can tell you is whether the lab has done it before, how early the process had to start, and whether a late visa would move your start date or your funding.
Can I talk to current and former lab members on my own?
Why ask it
The willingness matters as much as the conversations. A PI who hesitates, or who offers to arrange the meetings for you and stay present, has answered a question you did not have to ask.
Could I come to a lab meeting or shadow someone for a day before I answer?
Why ask it
A day shows what an interview cannot: who asks questions, who eats lunch alone, whether the room changes when the PI walks in. If you have already rotated there, remember that a rotation can show a lab on its best behavior, and ask a senior student what a deadline week looks like.
Could you put the main points in an email: the project, the funding term and the start date?
Why ask it
Nobody is being accused of anything; memories of a friendly conversation simply drift over five years. If the email arrives without fuss, you have also seen how your later requests will be handled.
When do you need my decision, and what happens after I say yes?
Why ask it
Programs often set a deadline for matching with a lab, and a postdoc offer can hang on a grant's start date, so the timing may not be the PI's to choose. Leave knowing the date, the paperwork and who sends it.
Choosing an adviser
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Which questions to ask at which stage
A first conversation with a future PI
Stay with the project and mentoring groups: what you would work on, who you would see day to day and how often you would meet. Six or seven questions fill half an hour, and the funding detail can wait until both sides are interested.
At the end of a rotation
You have already seen the hours and the lab meetings, so spend the conversation on what a rotation hides: the funding behind a thesis project, how many students the lab can take this year, authorship, and how long people take to finish. Ask the PI what they would want from you in the first six months, now that they have watched you work.
With a postdoc offer in hand
Lead with the funding term, the written terms of the appointment, what you could take with you when you leave, and where recent trainees went. Together they show whether the position moves you toward independence, and they are easier to settle before you accept than after you have moved cities. If you would need a visa, raise it in the same conversation.
When the PI would be your research mentor for a summer or a year
Undergraduates, postbacs and medical trainees on a short project can skip most of the funding group. What matters is who supervises you day to day, what someone at your stage has produced there before, whether your name could go on the work, and whether the PI will know you well enough to write a detailed letter.
Talk to people who are not the PI
- Email former lab members directly rather than only meeting the ones you are introduced to. People who have already left can usually speak more freely.
- Ask everyone the same two questions: what surprised you about working here, and what would you want to know if you were me. Patterns show up fast.
- Ask current students what they do when they disagree with the PI, and watch how comfortable they are answering.
- If someone left the lab early, try to reach them. Theirs is one side of the story, and it is the side a lab visit will not show you.
Check the record yourself
- Look at the last three years of publications and note who holds first authorship and how often trainees appear there.
- Check whether papers come out steadily or with gaps of several years, and ask what was happening in the gaps.
- Where the funder is a public agency, its award database often lists the award period and end date, so you can check the funding runway yourself. Private and industry money may not be listed anywhere, so ask about that directly.
- Look up where recent trainees are now. Their current titles tell you what the lab prepares people for better than any statement about career support.
What to watch for in the meeting
- Vague answers to concrete questions about money, timelines, and authorship.
- Current trainees who defer to the PI in the room and go quiet outside it.
- Any suggestion that you should not need to ask about hours or work-life boundaries.
- Enthusiasm about your skills paired with no clear account of what you would be working on.
- Reluctance to let you speak with anyone unsupervised.
Weighing the offer
- A well-known institution does not make up for a mentor you cannot talk to, and mentoring is something you can test before committing: in the meeting, through the trainees and in the record.
- Money and attention are separate checks. A well-funded lab whose PI is never there and an attentive PI whose grant ends next year can both leave you stranded.
- Ask yourself whether you would be comfortable telling this person an experiment failed. If the answer is no, that is the finding.
- Get anything specific about funding term, expected duration, and support for your own fellowship applications in writing, even informally by email.