2025/11/16 by E. Feldman, Benjamin W. Borgmann‐Winter · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Decision Sciences · Health Professions · #Academic Writing and Publishing #Doctoral Education Challenges and Solutions #Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration
paper · pdf · doi:10.1002/bes2.70047
openalex publication_date 2025/11/16 · openalex created_date 2025/11/17 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
Graduate school is a rewarding experience that will further your career. The most important decision that all prospective graduate students will make is determining which laboratory to join. While there is no “correct” laboratory for all students, different students will prosper under different conditions and lab cultures. Choosing the “right” laboratory for you will influence the direction of your career, while reducing the number of aches and pains that come along with the natural challenges of developing as a scientist. Although there are many types of graduate programs, the following is meant to aid students interested in a funded, research-based program in ecology, environmental science, or natural resources. The following 15 questions helped us and our colleagues choose an advisor. All of these can be useful in helping identify whether a laboratory will be a good fit for you. They are meant to be asked after you have an advisor and their lab in mind. This is an absolutely foundational question that you should ask yourself before committing to a graduate program. Your answer may change over time, but your success will likely be far greater if you have a plan or a goal to work toward. Are you seeking a particular career? Are you interested in pursuing a specific line of research? Are you looking to attend more advanced classes? If the research area your prospective advisor is proposing does not excite you, it may be good to reconsider. You don’t need to plan to continue with this line of research for your career, but it should be interesting enough to motivate you to make forward progress. The more you care about the topic, the easier it will be to push past adversity and achieve success. A doctoral program may require greater commitment to this research than a master’s program will. At the end of your interview, you may have decided that the laboratory fits your personal interests and matches your expectations for work and lifestyle. However, your relationship with your advisor, and their ability to guide and support you, will be fundamental to your experience. Remember: most prospective graduate advisors landed their current positions based on research success. Strong interpersonal and organizational skills, not to mention interest in mentoring, are not prerequisites for taking on a graduate student. A thoughtful advisor who is well-liked by their students should have the email addresses or phone numbers of multiple current or recent students who would be happy to speak with you. Graduate students, especially those about to graduate, will usually be more than happy to share all their thoughts and feelings about the advisor. They will also provide candid information about the lab culture and expectations. We suggest you ask the student explicitly how much they enjoy working with this advisor and whether they provide detailed feedback in a timely manner. There is no one correct answer to this question. Generally, having multiple graduate students in a laboratory provides more opportunities for collaboration, coaching, and a built-in support structure. When times get challenging (and they probably will), lab-mates are a fantastic resource. They may also represent valuable future contacts within your field of study later in your career. On the other hand, graduate advisors may find themselves spread more thinly among larger numbers of graduate students. This is also a good time to ask about other networking opportunities, especially if your potential advisor does not have many students in their laboratory. These opportunities may include engaging with other graduate students and faculty in your own institution or other institutions, working directly with external stakeholders and industry professionals, attending conferences and workshops, and meeting with seminar speakers. The exact answer to this question is less important than evidence of responsiveness and interest in maintaining regular contact with graduate students. Regular lab meetings are a strong indicator of involvement, as are standing meetings with graduate students. Ultimately, we recommend identifying a graduate advisor who is dedicated to making themself available to their students. Choosing an advisor who hesitates to schedule routine meetings or is known for canceling them frequently might suggest you won’t get the support you need or timely feedback to stay on track. You may be able to answer this question without asking directly. Desirable answers to this question may vary depending on what you’re hoping to get out of graduate school. Please note that the notes below are generalizations and have numerous exceptions. There are fantastic advisors at all career stages. Early-career (particularly pre-tenure) faculty may be somewhat less familiar with available opportunities, navigation of university and departmental systems, and have less departmental influence. However, they may also push their students to be more productive and are likely to be highly involved and familiar with cutting-edge techniques and the current job market. They may also be more available to their students given that they have fewer departmental responsibilities. Note that pre-tenure advisors may fail to make tenure and depart from the university in the midst of your graduate studies. Also, remember that the “first pancake” is often a little rough. Near-retirement faculty may be finishing out projects and funding and will likely have a strong foundation for you to build on, but note that their familiarity and comfort with newer research techniques may be somewhat limited. Near-retirement faculty may have more industry and departmental clout and are likely well-versed at navigating university systems. Note that faculty close to retirement may not always wait for a graduate student to finish before deciding to retire. They may also begin turning their sights away from their career and toward the future. Mid-career faculty typically represent a mix of the two extremes listed above. Consider what you are looking for in an advisor and what possibilities may be a deal breaker for you, but remember that you can have a fantastic (or subpar) experience with faculty advisors at any of these career stages. For individuals hoping to continue down the academic career path, publications can be critical for building credentials as a scientist. Although most graduate students will publish one (or more) manuscripts as part of their academic journey, students looking to eventually become professors may be interested in writing additional manuscripts as well. Individuals who are interested in becoming industry professionals may be interested in building their resumes with other types of publications, such as public communication pieces, extension publications, or books. You may be able to gain a sense of this by looking at your prospective advisor’s lab webpage, CV, or other online scholarly profile. Also note that some laboratories frequently include multiple graduate students as coauthors on each other’s papers, whereas others limit authorship primarily to one’s own thesis or dissertation work. Coursework will differ depending on both the requirements of the graduate degree program and the expectations of your prospective advisor. If you are the kind of student who loves taking courses to build your knowledge base, you may prefer a program that requires many courses. If you would prefer to spend more time on your research, you may want a program with fewer requirements. Furthermore, you may be interested in taking courses that do not directly apply to your research but may be useful for your future career. If this is of interest, keep in mind that some advisors may not have enough funding available to allow you to take courses outside of the program requirements. You may be able to answer this question by looking at your prospective advisor’s lab webpage, if they have one. Alumni career paths may simply reflect their interests, but could also reflect your advisor’s strengths and connections. Consider whether the types of careers lab alumni pursue reflect the type of work you think you’d like to do. Some laboratories tend to produce more academics, whereas others produce more industry professionals. Laboratories are often made up of a collection of postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, lab technicians, and undergraduate students working part time or for class credit. This provides valuable opportunities for graduate students to build skills as supervisors and mentors. However, the level to which graduate students are responsible for the growth of other lab members will differ substantially depending on the opportunities available to technicians and undergraduates as well as the philosophy of the graduate advisor. Graduate school is rarely a lucrative venture. Although you may earn a higher salary after earning an advanced degree, most graduate students undergo temporary financial strain to attend school. Pay is increasing at many institutions, especially where graduate students are unionized, but your own personal financial situation will influence what you consider affordable. The following questions may help you determine whether the laboratory is a good fit financially. Graduate student stipends and tuition waivers are funded in exchange for graduate student labor. It is important to clarify funding expectations with your prospective advisor. Typically, funding is provided through some combination of two pathways: Research Assistantships (RA) or Teaching Assistantships (TA). Teaching Assistants typically work under departmental faculty to teach undergraduate lab sections or assist with grading and discussion boards in lecture-based courses. In many cases, Teaching Assistants may be asked to teach unfamiliar material, but they will likely gain great public speaking, curriculum design, and classroom teaching experience. Research Assistants are often grant-funded and work on research for the laboratory. If you are considering an RA, clarify whether you’ll be working on your own research (which can speed up your degree progress) or other lab priorities. If you are expecting to serve as a Research Assistant, you may also want to ask whether there may still be some opportunities to teach. TA or RA responsibilities are meant to make up about 20 h of work a week, leaving the remaining time for your research (if separate from RA) and coursework. However, many students spend more than 20 h per week on these responsibilities. Keep this in mind, as balance is important. On occasion, funding may also be provided through some form of fellowship or alternate assistantship. In these instances, aim to clarify expectations and duties using the considerations mentioned above. Any work you spend on additional projects will take away from time spent on your research and may increase your timeline to graduation. It is not uncommon for students to stall in their degree progress because they ran out of available funding. Many advisors guarantee funding for the expected length of your studies. Location can make a big difference in determining whether your stipend is a livable wage. A graduate student may be able to live comfortably on a certain wage in a rural town, but be unable to afford the cost of living on that same wage in a large city. In addition to learning how much money you will make, determine whether that stipend will provide the kind of lifestyle you are hoping for. Identify whether there is flexibility to take a second job and whether you will be expected to fund some of your own project materials, such as using your own vehicle or purchasing supplies. Some advisors do not provide stipend funds in the summer, and others fully expect their graduate students to work for them during the summer and provide financial support. Depending on your goals, either of these scenarios may be appealing. Free summers provide an opportunity to take other jobs or explore internships, but also leave a student without guaranteed funds and may hamper one’s ability to make progress on a thesis or dissertation. If your prospective advisor expects to pay you for summer work, clarify what the pay will be and what kind of work you will be doing. Will it further your research or is it unrelated to your graduate studies? Many graduate programs require that the assistantship cover health insurance for the student, but some may not. This is worth asking if you do not have alternate coverage. Consider your hopes for yourself. Some students prefer to stay in school and the community of their laboratory or department for as long as possible if funding is available, whereas others want to re-enter the workforce as quickly as they can. This is likely heavily influenced by your personal financial situation. Make sure your expectations match those of your prospective advisor. Graduate school is an exciting time filled with both challenges and growth. The skills and contacts you make during your program will be invaluable to you going into the future, regardless of where your natural resources career may take you. Choosing the right advisor for you is a critical part of beginning your graduate school journey that will ensure you prosper during your program. We would like to thank R. J. Rowe for offering advice and edits on this manuscript. No data were collected for this study.