Over the course of my first year as a grad student, I realized that selecting a PhD lab and a Principal Investigator (PI) to work with is analogous to choosing your life partner, only in fast-forward: you’re supposed to do it in the span of one year, and you’re given merely three chances to get it right.
The first thing grad school introduces us to is the concept of lab rotations. To begin with, you are presented with a large pool of PIs who are interested in getting new students. They will give fancy presentations about the incredibly cool work happening in their labs – they will be pleasant and approachable, and you will be blown away by the sheer talent as well as overwhelmed by the number of options you have.
Next, you will narrow down this pool of contestants using whatever criteria suits you best. Some students will go for labs which have similar interests; something related to what they have worked on before, something which is their ‘type’. Others will choose labs which work on topics completely unrelated to what they’ve been doing for so long. They want to explore new avenues and vistas, try out something novel and see if they like it if they just gave it a chance.
Once you have shortlisted a few PIs, you send them an email indicating your interest. You hope they respond favorably, in which case both parties set up a meeting. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the first date! The PI and the grad student will both be on their best behavior. They will be chatty and interested. The student will try to impress the PI by his past achievements and accolades. They will discuss past experiences, and how that has made them the person they are today. They will animatedly share thoughts and ideas about what they want from this new relationship, and come to a mutual consensus. Eventually, the PI will welcome you into his/her life and lab, albeit on a trial basis. Voilà, you’re dating.
As a rotation student, you will get to know each other much better. While both parties are still positive and happy, this is also the time you figure out exactly what is expected from you. You realize what your individual work styles are, and if they are harmonious or jarringly out of tune. The little quirks which seemed endearingly human on the first date will appear in their full glory. You will either take them in your stride, or discover that they actually drive you crazy – and might even be a deal-breaker. Some relationships thrive in these three months, while others, not so much. Both the PI and the student are assessing each other and making a mental pros and cons list about whether they are a good fit or not.
At the end of the trial period, the student describes everything he learnt being in the lab. The PI evaluates the student’s performance as a lab member, and eventually they sit down and have a heart-to-heart about their feelings and if they have changed in any way after the trial period. They figure out if one or both parties are still interested in making this arrangement more permanent. They usually can’t commit to each other at this stage – it is understood that the student will be seeing other PIs, and the PI will entertain other students if they come along. However, if the rotation has been a happy one, there will be a verbal agreement about keeping each other in mind at the end of the year when they are both ready to commit.
After three such rotations over the course of the first year, (or more – you do have the option of an extra rotation if you aren’t satisfied and feel that there are plenty more fish in the sea for you) the student will decide which lab he liked the most, and wants to be a part of for the foreseeable future. He will go back to his top choice and ask the PI if they can take their relationship to the next level: in sickness and in health, till graduation do us part. If the PI reciprocates these feelings, then the deal is sealed. The student has to regretfully inform his other two choices that it just didn’t work out, they are very different, and it’s better if they remain just colleagues. And so finally, after long last, the student and the PI can live happily ever after!
(Expect a sequel to this story at some point – we’ll see how happy the ever after really is.)
Sunlit Prism 