Questions to Ask a Potential PhD Advisor
Questions to ask a potential PhD advisor before you apply or accept: on a first call, at a visit day, or once an offer is on the table. The list is the same if your university calls the role a PhD supervisor, as most do outside North America, or if you are choosing a PhD mentor at the end of lab rotations. The questions cover whether there is a place and a project for you, how you would be supervised week to week, what the funding depends on, how papers and careers go in the group, and what happens if the advisor moves.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Start here
Are you taking on new PhD students for the coming year?
Why ask it
Ask this before anything else, because a name on a department page says nothing about whether there is room or money this cycle. If the yes depends on a grant that has not been awarded yet, ask when the decision is due.
What are you working on right now that interests you most?
Why ask it
Papers describe work that was finished some time ago, so this is how you find out what the group is doing now. If the answer sits some distance from what drew you here, you would be joining the new direction, not the one you read about.
Would I be joining an existing project, or defining my own?
Why ask it
A funded project usually means quicker access to data and less freedom, and defining your own means a slower first year and a thesis that is plainly yours. Say which of the two you were hoping for and watch how the advisor takes it.
How would you describe the way you supervise: closely involved, or hands-off?
Why ask it
Nearly every advisor can name a style, so the useful part is the example: what it looked like with their most recent student. Hands-off suits someone who arrives with a clear question and wears badly on someone who works best to a weekly deadline.
How often would we meet, and would it be scheduled or arranged as needed?
Why ask it
The number matters less than whether it goes in the calendar. A standing weekly or fortnightly slot survives a busy term, while an open offer to meet whenever you need can thin out to nothing in the weeks before a grant deadline.
How many students do you supervise now, and how many are close to submitting?
Why ask it
Count the postdocs as well. A dozen students and no senior postdoc leaves little time for each, whatever the intention. Two or three students and a new grant can mean a great deal of attention, which suits some people and crowds others.
What do the students who have done well with you have in common?
Why ask it
The reply is a description of the person they are hoping to recruit. If it is all independence and you learn best beside someone, or all long days and you have a family to get home to, better to hear it in this conversation than in your second year.
What was your own PhD like, and what do you do differently from your own advisor?
Why ask it
People tend to supervise either the way they were supervised or in reaction to it, and this shows you which. It is also the one question on the list that lets the advisor talk as a former student, which usually loosens the rest of the conversation.
The project
Which direction is the group likely to move in while I would be here?
Why ask it
A doctorate can outlast the grant that started it, so the topic that pays for your first year may not be the one the group cares about in your fourth. Listen for whether your interests sit in the part that is growing or the part being wound down.
How much room would I have to change direction once I have started?
Why ask it
Interests shift for a lot of people between the proposal and the thesis. The telling detail is a student whose topic moved and what it took: a conversation, a fresh funding application, or a different supervisor.
What would you want me to know or be able to do before I arrive?
Why ask it
A named method, a programming language or a short reading list is something you can start on this month. The answer also shows how much training the group expects to give and how much it assumes you bring.
Have you taken on a student with a background like mine, and what did they need in their first year?
Why ask it
This matters most if you are changing field, coming from industry, arriving from another country's system, or returning after years away. A mentor who has done it before can name the gap, whether a course, a method or the writing, and say how long it took to close. One who has not is guessing along with you.
What would my first year look like, and what would you expect me to have done by the end of it?
Why ask it
The first half is logistics: courses, rotations, teaching, when research starts in earnest. The second half is the one to write down, because a literature review, a pilot result and a passed exam describe three very different years.
Which methods or skills would I learn in your group that I could not easily pick up elsewhere?
Why ask it
This is what you carry out of the degree whatever happens to the thesis. A specific reply, such as a technique, an instrument or a way of handling a kind of source, also tells you who would teach it: the advisor, a postdoc, or a manual and your own evenings.
Which data, equipment or archives would my project depend on, and are they already in place?
Why ask it
A project waiting on an ethics approval, an instrument still on order or an archive that has not agreed access can stall before it begins. Ask what a new student could start on in the first month while the rest arrives.
Would my project involve collaborators outside your group, and who manages that relationship?
Why ask it
Collaboration brings methods and data the group lacks, along with a co-author elsewhere who works to their own timetable. Find out whether you or the advisor would chase them, and whether an earlier student's thesis ever waited on someone else's results.
If my project is not working after a year, what happens?
Why ask it
Projects stall often enough that an experienced advisor will have a story about one. The good versions involve a pivot, something publishable salvaged, or a negative result written up. If the story is only about pushing on, find out how long the pushing lasted.
Do your students usually submit a thesis built from papers, or one long monograph?
Why ask it
The format decides how you spend your final year: joining published chapters together or writing a book from the first page. Rules differ by university and field, so check what the department allows as well as what this advisor prefers.
Working together
Day to day, would I be coming to you or to a postdoc?
Why ask it
Many strong groups are run day to day by a postdoc or a senior student, and that can work well. The thing to establish is whether your main support would be someone whose own contract ends well before your degree does.
Apart from supervising the thesis, what do you see as your part in mentoring a student?
Why ask it
Directing a project and mentoring a person are two jobs, and the second covers what no thesis chapter does: reviewing a paper, handling a difficult co-author, choosing which meeting to attend. Some advisors take on both gladly. Others will tell you to find a second mentor for the rest, and that is worth hearing before your first term.
Between meetings, how do you prefer students to reach you: email, a message, or a knock on the door?
Why ask it
It sounds minor and saves a term of guessing. Some advisors answer a chat message within the hour and let email sit for a week, and others are the reverse. Notice too whether a quick question is welcome or expected to wait for the meeting.
When a student sends you a draft, how long does it usually take to come back?
Why ask it
Press for a number in days or weeks, then put the same question to a current student and compare the two. A slow reader is manageable if you know in advance and send chapters early; an unpredictable one is what holds up a submission.
How would I know if you thought I was behind?
Why ask it
The answer to hope for is a mechanism: an annual review, a committee meeting, a written plan with dates. Without one, a student can go a long way off course before anyone says so, and the first warning may be about the funding running out.
What do you expect in terms of hours, and are weekends part of that?
Why ask it
Hours are rarely written down anywhere, so the spoken answer is the only version you will get before you start. Note any gap between what the advisor says they expect and what they then describe their students doing.
How do holidays and time off work in your group?
Why ask it
The entitlement is set by the university or the funder, so the real question is whether people use it. An advisor who can tell you when their students were last away probably runs a group where taking leave is ordinary.
Do you expect students to be in the department every day, or can some of the work be done from elsewhere?
Why ask it
Bench work answers this for you; writing and computational work do not. If you plan to live some distance away or have caring responsibilities, raise it now and find out whether any current student works that way.
What do group meetings look like, and how soon would I be presenting?
Why ask it
A group where first-years show half-finished work is one where a problem gets caught while it is still small. If only polished results go up on the screen, expect to be stuck in private for longer.
How do the students in your group work with each other: on shared projects, or each on their own?
Why ask it
Shared projects bring company and built-in help along with harder questions about credit. Separate ones give you a thesis that is clearly yours and fewer people who understand what you are stuck on. Whichever the advisor describes with more warmth is the culture the group rewards.
Beyond my own research, what would I be expected to do for the group?
Why ask it
Every group has shared work: looking after equipment or code, training newer students, helping with a grant report, reviewing a paper the advisor passes down. A fair share of it teaches you how research is run. What you need to learn is whether it is divided evenly or lands on whoever says yes.
What happens when you and a student disagree about where the work should go?
Why ask it
A real example beats a principle here. Listen for a route when the two of you cannot settle it, such as a second reader, the committee or a co-supervisor, and for whether the student in the story is described with respect.
What do you do when a student is struggling, with the work or with something outside it?
Why ask it
You are finding out whether a bad stretch can be said out loud in this group. An advisor who has moved a deadline or pointed someone to the university's support services will usually say so plainly. What a leave of absence does to funding varies by university and funder, and the graduate office is the place to confirm it.
Funding
How many years of funding would I have, and what does it depend on?
Why ask it
Get the number of years and the conditions in writing, including what happens if you need a year beyond them. A spoken promise that something will be found is only as good as the budget, and the people in post, at the moment you need it.
Would I be paid from your grant, a fellowship, or teaching, and can that change from year to year?
Why ask it
The source decides who you answer to. Grant money ties your hours to that project's aims, teaching money costs research time, and a fellowship usually leaves you freest. The mix differs a great deal between countries and universities, so ask how it works there and when the grant in question ends.
Does the stipend run all twelve months, or stop over the summer?
Why ask it
In some systems the stipend covers the academic year and the summer depends on the advisor's grants; in others the question never arises. If there is a gap, the current students can tell you how they covered the last two summers.
Does the funding cover conference travel, equipment, and fees, or do I apply for those separately?
Why ask it
These often sit in separate pots and get left out of offer conversations. Fees are the one to pin down first, since in some systems they are waived and in others they come out of the stipend. Travel money matters later, when presenting at a meeting is how people in the field learn your name.
How much teaching would I be expected to do, and in which years?
Why ask it
A term or two of teaching is useful on a CV and a pleasure for some people. The kind to question runs into the writing-up year: has any of their students been released from it in order to finish?
Would you support me in applying for my own fellowship, and has a student of yours won one?
Why ask it
External money buys independence and a line on the CV that follows you. Support in practice means sharing past applications and reading drafts, so find out which of those they have done, and what happens to your existing stipend if you succeed.
Papers and careers
How is authorship order decided on papers from this group?
Why ask it
Conventions differ by field: alphabetical in some, first place for whoever did most of the work in others. Get the group's rule and then one recent example. Where nothing is agreed in advance, the order tends to be settled late and by the most senior person in the room, which would not be you.
How many papers would you expect me to have by the time I submit?
Why ask it
Some departments write a number into the rules, and some advisors hold a private bar that sits higher. Get both, then find out whether anyone has graduated without meeting it and why that was allowed.
Which conferences do your students go to, and do they present there?
Why ask it
A named meeting tells you which community you would be trained into. It matters too whether students give talks or stand beside posters, and whether the advisor introduces them to people or leaves them to find their own way round the room.
How long do your students usually take to finish?
Why ask it
Compare the answer with the department's own time-to-degree figures if it keeps them; the graduate office can tell you. An advisor with no rough number for their own students is showing you how closely progress gets tracked.
Has anyone left your group without finishing, and what happened?
Why ask it
People leave doctorates for many reasons, and not all of them reflect on the advisor. What counts is how the story is told. An advisor who can say what went wrong and what they changed afterwards is easier to trust than one who has never lost anyone or who blames the student entirely.
Where did your last three students go after finishing?
Why ask it
Three named destinations are worth more than a general claim about placement. If the jobs are not the kind you want, ask whether those students chose that route or took it because nothing else came up.
How do you react when a student decides not to stay in academia?
Why ask it
Plenty of people finish a doctorate wanting something other than a faculty post, and you may be one of them by your third year. An advisor who can name a former student in industry, government or teaching and still speaks warmly of them is one you can be honest with.
How do you feel about students taking an internship or a placement during the PhD?
Why ask it
Some advisors treat a few months in industry as a useful contact, and some see time lost from the grant. Whether it is allowed at all can depend on the funder and, for international students, on visa terms, so check the rule as well as the attitude.
What do you do for your students when they start applying for jobs?
Why ask it
Reference letters are the minimum. Beyond that it might be introductions, comments on application materials, or keeping someone paid for a few months after submission while the search runs. That last one is uncommon and worth a great deal.
Before you decide
Are you likely to move institutions, take a sabbatical, or retire in the next five years?
Why ask it
A sabbatical is the mild case: you need to know who covers supervision that year. A move or a retirement partway through is the serious one, and where there is a tenure system and the advisor has not been through the review yet, its date belongs in the answer too.
If you did move, what would happen to my project and my funding?
Why ask it
There are three usual outcomes: you follow them, you stay and finish with a co-supervisor, or you stay with a project nobody left in the department can assess. Which one applies often turns on whether the money belongs to the advisor's grant or to the university, so get that part spelled out.
Who else would be on my committee or supervisory team, and when is it put together?
Why ask it
The other names are your second opinion on the work and your way out if the main relationship goes wrong. Structures differ by country, from a full committee to a single second supervisor, so ask what is standard there and how much say you get in who is chosen.
Could I talk to a couple of your current students, and what should I ask them?
Why ask it
Many advisors offer names before you ask. The second half is the interesting part: one who suggests a pointed question, such as how long drafts take or what the first year was like, is comfortable with what the students will say. Reluctance to put you in touch at all is an answer in itself.
Could I spend a day with the group, or sit in on a meeting, before I decide?
Why ask it
An hour in the room shows what no conversation will: who speaks, how a half-finished result is received, whether people eat lunch together. If a visit is impossible, a video call with two students and no advisor present is a fair substitute.
If I rotate in your lab first, what would you want to see from me by the end of the rotation?
Why ask it
Where a program runs rotations, those few weeks are a trial in both directions, and the yardstick is seldom stated. It might be a small result, a paper presented at group meeting, or simply turning up and asking good questions. Find out as well how many of this year's rotation students the lab has room to keep.
What would you like to see in my application, and should I name you in it?
Why ask it
Admissions work differently everywhere: in some departments the advisor decides, and in others a committee does and a named supervisor only helps. Learn which it is here, what would strengthen your case, and whether they would look over a draft of your research statement.
From what you have seen so far, do you have any reservations about me joining your group?
Why ask it
A doubt is far cheaper to hear now than in a second-year review, and naming it gives you the chance to answer it: a course you could take, a method you could learn before arriving. If the reply is warm but has nothing specific in it, ask what the next step is and when you would hear.
Assessing a PhD supervisor before you commit
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
What to ask at each stage
- 1In a first email, ask only whether they are taking students and whether your interests fit what the group is doing now. One short paragraph and a CV is enough; the longer questions belong in a conversation.
- 2On a first call, choose eight to ten: most of the Start here group and a couple each about the project and about working together. Nobody answers a full list well in half an hour.
- 3Once there is an offer, or a strong signal of one, ask the funding questions in full and ask for the answers in writing.
- 4Put the questions about hours, drafts and time off to current students as well. Where the two accounts differ, the students' version is usually the one you would live with.
- 5Keep the questions about moving, retiring and reservations for the end of a conversation that has gone well. They are fair to ask and land better once there is some trust.
Talk to the students, separately
Ask to speak to someone without the supervisor present
A refusal is itself the answer. Ask for a current student and, if you can find one, someone who has recently left the group. Departmental websites and recent papers give you names even when nobody offers them.
Ask students about turnaround, not about niceness
How long does a draft take to come back, and did the last meeting happen as scheduled? These are answerable facts. Whether the supervisor is pleasant is something you can judge for yourself, and it tells you less about finishing than whether drafts come back.
Ask what they would want warned about
Phrased that way, students will usually tell you one true thing. Asked whether the advisor is good, they are likely to give a polite non-answer, because they have to keep working there after you hang up.
Get these in writing before you accept
- How many years of funding are promised, the stipend figure, and what it is conditional on, including teaching requirements.
- Who your official supervisor is, and who the second supervisor or committee chair would be.
- Whether fees are covered, and by whom, for the full duration including any extension.
- The teaching load per term, in hours, and whether it is negotiable.
- Any intellectual property or publication conditions attached to the funding, particularly on industry-sponsored projects.
- What happens to your position if the grant funding your role ends early.
Checking the group from the outside
- 1Look at the last three years of publications and note who the first authors are. If they are all postdocs, students in this group may not be leading work. In fields that list authors alphabetically this tells you nothing, so check the convention first.
- 2Check whether students appear on papers at all, and how many years into their degree.
- 3Compare the group's web page with an archived copy from two years ago. Most of the names that have gone will simply have graduated; the ones you cannot find a thesis for are worth a polite question.
- 4Look at where the funding comes from and when it ends. Many public funders list their awards with end dates, and where they do, those dates set the real horizon for the group.
- 5Read a thesis by one of their recent students, if the university keeps theses in an open repository. It shows the expected scope better than a conversation will.
What goes wrong
Choosing on research fit alone
A perfect topic match with someone who does not read drafts can leave you with an unfinished thesis. The topic decides what you write, and the supervision has a great deal to do with whether you finish writing it. Only the first of those is visible from a publication list.
Not asking about money in detail
Funding conversations feel graceless and are among the most consequential you will have. A stipend that runs out a year before students in the group usually finish is a problem you can spot before you accept.
Reading enthusiasm about you as commitment to you
Recruiting season brings out warmth in everybody. Ask what would change about their availability once you have started, and whether they are taking on other students in the same cohort.
Assuming you can switch later
Changing supervisor is possible in many departments and is rarely as easy as it sounds, particularly when funding is attached to a specific project. Find out now what the procedure is, from the graduate administrator as well as from the supervisor.