PhD Advisor Selection

Talk to grad students of these professors, find a professor who is good to their students and who you know will match what you need. This is like a boss on steroids, if they want to they can snip years off your career and fail you on a whim. Also dont incur debts, it shouldn't be done for a PhD

Pick your advisor before you accept the PhD position.

You need to talk to a lot more PhD students before you pursue this. I dropped out of a PhD in public health because my advisor was terrible and didn't care about my progress, lied to me about how long it'd take, and eventually dropped me like a fried laptop when she needed more time. Every one of her students dreaded the hour meetings with her more than any other activity. I got a massive rush of relief and happiness every time I left her office. Furthermore, after all of this, she han

You are not the problem. Your advisor is the problem. If getting a PhD is really what you want then I would try to find a different advisor asap. Can't imagine dealing with the person you described for longer than a semester.

No offense but your post is rambling and does not contain great advice for prospective phds. Most advisors I met during PhD were extremely generous with their time and their ideas, and their students would not have found appropriate problems and made rapid progress towards solutions without the intuition or help of their advisors. The story you tell about “2 week discoveries” and rapid independent progress is not the norm.

Grad and post doc students are also often at the mercy of Professors and other academics who significantly slow you down even if you are an absolute genius. My professor guided me away from my core interests multiple times towards their interests by not providing the right mentorship even though they could. Then finally I found my calling and finished my thesis, I had to spend months rewriting it again and again even if my findings and the science behind it didn't change. Having to write un

Sounds like one-sided advice from the point of view of the advisor. Fact is, the advisor-grad student relationship is two way, and the advisor, being the experienced scientist who plays the guiding role, is much more crucial to the success of the PhD than the student. When a PhD student meanders about for 8 years, it is likely that the advisor does not know "how to get things done" as much as the student.

As a PhD dropout, I approve your message. Even not completing it was still worth it.But do understand that many advisors in engineers and science today are much more demanding than your advisor was. Strong pressure to publish, and sometimes little flexibility in research direction.

I'm interested in your story, can you tell a bit of it?I'm trying to figure out if it's the right choice for me to pursue a PhD.What was your research experience like?I've seen a few sources mention the advisor conflict of interest (no incentive to help you finish and graduate because they will lose you after) that you mentioned earlier. Do you think this always a is a significant problem, or only if one is unaware of it?

This is the best advice and the largest mistake I made when going to grad school. I was not engaged with what my advisor was interested in and doing. They (kinda rightly) didn't give a shit about anything outside of their lab's scope of work. Find an advisor whose niche is related to what you find interesting. Otherwise don't expect much attention or feedback from them.