Three Qualities of a Great Ph.D. Advisor

A professor is usually well trained for doing research, for writing proposals, and probably for teaching. But most of them were not trained to advise. They learned while advising students. While there are many great professors, you have to be careful when choosing one. Getting a Ph.D. is hard. And it will be a lot harder if your advisor does not help. Don’t enter a Ph.D. program unless you are passionate about research and want to be a professor. An unmotivated Ph.D. student leads to a disaster for both the student and the advisor.

So what is a good advisor like? A good advisor is…

1. Patient. All professors are busy, but a good advisor takes the time to listen to your voice. Advising a Ph.D. is like raising a child. As a child grows, the parent’s patience fades. You are a great parent if you are always patient with your child, and an advisor is great if he/she is always patient with students. I list patience as the top quality because it is rare. And it is usually easy to tell if your prospective advisor is patient or not via a brief talk.
2. Honest. Not all professors are honest, for different reasons. Some professors give you unrealistic goals you can achieve if you join his/her team. No, miracles rarely happen. Avoid these professors. Some professors may hurt your feelings by telling the truth. Accept it and improve yourself.
3. Knowledgeable. Yes, most professors are knowledgeable. But is your advisor knowledgeable about your research? Some professors have projects that they themselves don’t know how. They take these projects to get funding and expecting the student to learn. Take a look at your prospective advisor’s publication list. You will know what expert he/she is.

There are other good qualities as well, but I think I cannot emphasize more on these three. Feel free to comment if you have more to add!