Dear postgraduate students

Everyone says selecting your supervisor(s) will make or break obtaining your degree with a sound mind. This is true. So here are a few of my own tips on just how to do that. I hope it helps.

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1. Know what you need from the get-go. As people, and as students, we need different things to succeed. Ensure you know what this is for you and make your search and eventual selection of a supervisor based on that.
2. How do you know which academic does what? Either email a number of potential academics or organise a quick in-person/online meeting with them to discuss their respective research interests. You can either align yourself to these or ask if they’re willing to take you on but...
...supervise a topic outside of their own research interests. It’s not unheard of but just depends on them.
3. Ask them about their supervision style, what works for them and assess whether that sounds like it would work for you. You can love their research topics but if you feel like they won’t be a good enough supervisor, find someone else. Remember you’re going to be spending...
...anything from 1 to 4 years with this academic. Be deliberate and steadfast on what you want. If you sense a weird vibe, trust your gut. Please.
4. Find out who else they have supervised. You want to make sure that whatever the academic describes is actually true. You can ask them to refer you to some of their current or previous students or ask them to link you to their students’ work so you can find them yourself.
5. If you’re already at the institution you’re planning on doing the postgraduate degree, NEVER assume that just because an academic is a great lecturer, that they’ll be a great supervisor. I made this mistake and I’m still paying for it. Do the digging, don’t assume.
6. You ideally want to have one supervisor. I have three and it’s extremely painful. Sometimes you’ll have a co-supervisor/advisor to help with an area of the research so make sure you know about how they work and supervise too. Ultimately, your primary supervisor is in charge.
7. Very often students feel like supervisors are doing them a favour. Not so. You’re giving them a potential publication from your work so they benefit too. Make sure you communicate what your expectations are of the relationship from the get-go and see how they respond.
8. In the event you choose an academic who turns out to be from hell, know who you can go to to either mediate the relationship or help seek out new academics. Sometimes powering through does more harm especially for your mental health and will to finish the degree. Help...
...may come from a research coordinator, head of department (if they aren’t your supervisor), a course coordinator or even the head of school. Additionally, the SRC or PGA can be great sources of help too.
Please feel free to add any other tips in the replies 🤓

More from Education

You asked. So here are my thoughts on how osteopathic medical students should respond to the NBOME.

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Look, even before the Step 2 CS cancellation, my DMs and email were flooded with messages from osteopathic medical students who are fed up with the NBOME.

There is *real* anger toward this organization. Honestly, more than I even heard about from MD students and the NBME.

The question is, will that sentiment translate into action?

Amorphous anger on social media is easy to ignore. But if that anger gets channeled into organized efforts to facilitate change, then improvements are possible.

This much should be clear: begging the NBOME to reconsider their Level 2-PE exam is a waste of your time.

Best case scenario, you’ll get another “town hall” meeting, a handful of platitudes, and some thoughtful beard stroking before being told that they’re keeping the exam.

Instead of complaining to the NBOME, here are a few things that are more likely to bring about real change.
It appears to be a combination of some of these factors, along with others not mentioned here. Ibn Khaldun’s analysis appears to be a good foundation to go off. [Thread]


Ibn Khaldun makes an important distinction between what he calls العُمران الحضري and العمران البدوي, which, for convenience’s sake, I’ll translate as urban civilisation and rural/Bedouin lifestyle.

He notes that the rural world is largely nomadic, and, as such, Bedouins build character traits that assist the survivalist lifestyle — e.g. the fact that they have to kill snakes that might pop up at any time during their travels helps them build courage and bravery.

The lack of stability and a proper settlement means they don’t really have the luxury of sitting down to let their minds wonder around. They thus build a preservation mindset, which manifests itself through emphasis on memorisation and transmission.

Inhabitants of urban world, on the other hand, are largely settled and established. This means they face less attacks from snakes, lions or danger of human attack from other tribes. Thus, they don’t build the courage and bravery of the Bedouins.

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