How to Choose the Right Grad School

Choice of graduate school and PhD supervisor is the most important decision you will ever make in your academic career.  

How do I choose the right grad school?  How do I pick the right advisor?  In this guide, I share the three most important criteria by which students should pick schools and advisors based on their career goals.  

The guide provides specific, actionable advice on: 

• Picking a potential graduate school
• Questions to ask potential advisors
• Behaviors and personality traits that indicate a supportive graduate advisor
• When to say "thanks but no thanks" to a graduate school offer

This is NOT a typical "how to apply to graduate school" guide.  

The purpose of this guide is to describe the three most important criteria for choosing a graduate school and a PhD mentor based on my 20+ years of experience in academia. This is not a guide on how to prepare graduate applications or how to contact advisors. Much of that material exists elsewhere online.

This guide is for the discerning student who has a clear career goal in mind, and wants to pick a graduate school that will help them achieve that goal.