I usually talk about PhD students’ well-being. This week, I want to shift the focus to the advisors. During a PhD, student-advisor relationship is the most important one professionally. Sometimes, even personally. Due to the length of PhD programs, doctoral students work with their advisors way more than other graduate students. In addition to wearing the advisor hat, they often assume (or have to) roles like becoming a confidant, a colleague, a supporter, and much more.
I want to acknowledge first that I am aware that PhD students do not always have the best relationships with their advisors. However, they still play an important role in your academic journey.
Now, we often discuss how advisors can be better leaders, maintain integrity in the lab, treat their students equally, and so on. However, I wonder if as PhD students, you think about your own responsibility?
Do you try to be mindful of your advisor’s time?
Do you make your advisor’s work easier in any way?
Student-advisor relationship is collaborative rather than unidirectional. Therefore, as a PhD student, it becomes your responsibility to be mindful of your advisor’s time too. Advisors have a lot going on with their own research projects, writing grant applications and manuscripts, teaching classes, serving on committees, among other tasks.
They have to be on top of their game to achieve their own goals while mentoring several Master’s students on their thesis and PhD students. Sounds unimaginable to me. That is why it is helpful if doctoral students think about their advisor’s time. Even better, value their time. Here are 7 ways that you can value your advisor and get the best out of their time.
Schedule time and agenda
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Advisors are busy academics, especially those involved in both research and teaching. So, you can step in and make their life a little easier, here is how. For example, if you need guidance on anything outside of the usual lab meetings, schedule a day and a time well ahead. This helps the advisor set aside that particular time slot dedicated towards you.
Take it a step further. Save them some time and send out a calendar invite to block a time. This way, they can simply accept the invite and it is automatically added to their calendar as opposed to leaving an email and having them manually block a time for you. If it is an online meeting, include a zoom or Microsoft teams details within the invite. So, it is easy for them to click on the link to join the meeting right away.
This may seem like a small thing, However tiny bits of mindfulness add up more than you may imagine. You can also attach an agenda for the meeting so your advisor is informed of what you plan to discuss. Yes, they need preparation too. You have to consider that they have bad days too. For you, it is just one advisor. For them, you are ONE of the many students they work with. See the difference?
Leave time to review
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Be mindful of not only yours but the advisor’s time as well. As doctoral students, we sometimes get too wound up in creating that perfect first draft which leaves the advisors a small window of time to review and get back to you. So, it is crucial to realize that advisors need time to review your work and provide detailed feedback.
I strongly discourage completing your tasks last-minute and then expect the advisor to send back their feedback, signature, or confirmation for something overnight. How about them asking you to complete something overnight?
How would you feel?
Frustrated?
They might feel the same way too. Fairness and consideration cannot not be expected only from the advisor’s side. It has to come from both ways.
Regardless of whether you prefer to plan out your week or complete things last-minute, it is obligatory to leave some time, at least a few days to weeks, for the advisor to review your draft and send their comments, depending on the nature of the task.
Whether you are a PhD student or an advisor, we all have completed tasks last-minute. However, this cannot be the pattern that someone else has to deal with regularly.
Set clear expectations
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I say this often that a PhD is chaotic (from time to time) and full of action. Now, imagine if students struggle to manage time to compartmentalize tasks/experiments, it must be even harder for the advisors to remember what every student is working on and what they need help with.
So, setting clear expectations of what you need assistance with and where exactly are you getting stuck or feeling lost is a HUGE help for the advisors to better guide you. Let me share a recent personal example here. I am writing a literature review paper currently, and struggled with combining results from previous studies. I tried figuring it out and staring at the screen for a week. Ok, more than a week. I was a little embarrassed as a 4th year PhD student to reach out for seemingly basic problem.
But, I reached out to my advisor and I expressed how I felt exactly. She not only worked with me through writing some of the findings, but also offered different ways that I can approach a literature review paper. The next day, with a fresh perspective, I was able to improve my writing, it was still not perfect but I didn’t feel stuck anymore and was able to make progress. It’s amazing how asking for help sooner than later can save you so much time and frustration.
Hence, emphasizing my point of setting clear expectation of what you need from your advisor.
Send friendly reminders
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For most PhD students, their advisor is a superhuman who can never make a mistake. While it is encouraging to look up to them in a certain light, we forget the “human” part of their being. Among their hectic schedules, they can forget too. Actually, scratch that. They are allowed to forget as much as the students are. Every advisor’s working style is unique and different. But, most appreciate the patience and support from their PhD students.
I have heard stories where the advisors are not mindful of their students’ time. But, this article is all about PhD student’s responsibilities, so I will stick to it 🙂
If you notice that your advisor has not responded to your email or sent back any important documents, go ahead and send a friendly reminder. No, 2 days is not too late. Maybe a week. Maybe less or more depending on the urgency.
Friendly reminders are always appreciated. So, if you have done your part and sent something a while back, don’t hesitate to touch base and let them know that the deadline is approaching. You will be pleasantly surprised at how much it is valued.
Ok. With some advisors, it will never be valued. In those cases, you still need to get work done or submit an award application. So, go ahead and remind them politely.
Show up
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At doctorate level, you are expected to be responsible for your commitments, be it a project, experiment, or a meeting. Advisors can only hold your hand for so long. I get that it is intimidating. But, it is training nonetheless. So, if you have blocked the advisor’s time, be sure to show up. Even if you couldn’t achieve the goals you initially set out, still show up.
Showing up and being honest is still better than lying about your progress or forgetting about a meeting because you didn’t look at your calendar. Happened once or twice? Ok, forgiven. Happens often? It’s time to change.
As a PhD student, you are expected to be organized and showing up at the scheduled meetings at the minimum. Looking at the calendar the previous day is a good practice so you don’t forget about the upcoming meetings and show up on time.
Be proactive in finding opportunities
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YOU are in-charge of your own career. This is the biggest learning I take form my PhD. Being proactive in general is great for your personal growth. But, specifically, in the context of the advisor’s time, bringing opportunities to your advisor is prudent rather than waiting around for them to send you new opportunities so you can say yes.
While the advisors are supposed to guide you and make you aware of the existing opportunities, it is YOU who can make the best out of your PhD journey if you take the lead. As PhD students, you are dedicating and sacrificing so much of your life, why graduate with a laid back attitude? Why not be proactive and strive for excellence?
Find opportunities to learn new skills or techniques. For example, if there are limited funding opportunities in your college for doctoral students, don’t sit back and accept the fact. Do the extra work and find other external funding agencies and work with your advisor to secure the funding, whenever possible. If you want to learn a specific technique, mention it to your advisor so they can support you when that opportunity arises.
Transparent communication
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Out of all the ways I discussed today, it is so important to be honest and keep the advisors informed about your progress, whether it is on track or delayed. If you don’t share what is going on, what are the issues you are facing, why are you not making progress, they wouldn’t be able to read your mind. This leads to confusion on why the tasks are not being completed in a timely manner.
So, instead of having that hard conversation where your advisor tells you that we need to talk and you ending up feeling embarrassed for not being honest in the first place, you can address it better by being honest and keeping them in the loop of what is going on.
Again, I know not all the advisors are good leaders or mentors. But, you have to work with them regardless. So, you can do your part and be as transparent as you can. That way, at least you know that you did your part even if the advisor doesn’t.
Today’s article may feel a little harsh for my fellow PhD students out there, but I wanted to emphasize the responsibility that PhD students, including myself must take on. Tomorrow, we will become leaders in some form and I think most of us would want our students/trainees/interns to value our time. So, we might as well value our advisor’s time first.
With that, see you next week. Consider signing up if you haven’t to be the first one to know when a new blog post is out.
Also, let me know what topics you’d like me to write about in the future?
Featured photo for this blog – Photo by Vardan Papikyan on Unsplash