APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1: Questions to Ask of Prospective Advisors
Many of these questions are not simple and may not elicit a quick answer. However, any advisor should be willing to discuss these important issues with you. You may also want to discuss these issues with any students that are currently in the prospective advisor’s group/lab. This list is by no means complete; you should spend some time thinking about what is most important to you in your graduate training.
- How many graduate students work with you and how similar/diverse are their projects?
- What is the difference between M.S. and Ph.D. projects?
- Would these projects expose me to a variety of different approaches?
- Who generally decides what the research topic will be?
- How could I expect to be funded if I came to work in your lab?
- I have some experience studying ‘X’. Is continuing along this line of research compatible with your lab?
- In general, how available will you be to answer questions I might have?
- What is your philosophy regarding the amount of guidance the advisor should provide to a student during preparation of the thesis proposal, literature seminars, thesis, etc.?
- What are your expectations for the amount of time I should spend each day/week in your group/lab?
- What regularly scheduled activities (e.g., group meetings, joint group meetings, research clubs) does your group participate in that provide an opportunity to get outside input on my (research) project and to hear about the work of other students and postdocs?
- Do you encourage your students to attend seminars and journal clubs, including those that may be outside of their narrow field of interest/research?
- Do students in your group/lab have the opportunity to attend professional meetings where they can interact with colleagues/researchers from other institutions?
- Do you include your graduate students in professional activities that will familiarize them with their field of interest/research, such as reviewing manuscripts and meeting with visiting speakers?
- How long do students in your lab typically take to finish?
- What jobs have your former graduate students started after they have graduated?
What is your general philosophy of graduate training and what goals do you have for your graduate students?
APPENDIX 2: Permissions form
(used for exceptions or permissions needed for extending deadlines, etc.)
APPENDIX 3: Scoring Guide for M.S. final, Preliminary Examination & Ph.D. Defense
- Context. Does the student display an understanding of the context of her work? That is, the relevant theory in her field, the previous work that has been pursued, and thus the particular place her own research occupies within this context?
- Conduct of research. Does the candidate have the ability to:
- Identify outstanding questions in the field
- clearly formulate hypotheses
- conceive of and design critical experiments (or comparisons) to test these hypotheses?
- Carefully conduct research in a reliable and repeatable way and recognize the next steps to be taken in this process?
- analyze data to obtain clean answers with known levels of confidence?
- Weigh and interpret results in a fair, unbiased, and thorough way?
Note: PreLim exams should include 2.a)-c) but not necessarily 2.d)-f)
- Reasoning. Does the student demonstrate the ability to construct logical and compelling arguments? Can she draw reliable conclusions from initial assumptions, general principles, and quantitative or qualitative results?
- Communication. Does the student display the ability to:
- present logical arguments in a manner that can clearly followed?
- formulate, present, and discuss ideas at the level we expect of a professional?
- write compelling proposals and papers?
listen carefully, fully understand, and respond fully to questions being asked?