Hi, this is my first posting and I'm looking for some advise about how to choose a good supervisor. I'm starting my second year of PhD and still not have a supervisor. Last year I rotated two times in two different labs but not getting convinced about those labs, basically because of the supervisors. They where never in the lab, it was hard to meet with them... I'm kind of disappointed with both experiences. Is it normal for a supervisor not to be there? What are the characteristics that describes best a good supervisor?
Thanks for your comments =) (sorry for my english, it is not my first language)

Supervisor in a lab? You must be crazy! Mine have popped in occasionally but they really don't spend much time in the lab.

You may want to go round asking a few of the postdocs or late year PhD students about who the thought around the department is a good supervisor. Then make an appointment with them to talk and essentially interview them.

In my opinion a good supervisor remembers your name.... all the rest is just a bonus.

Yea it is rare to find a supervisor actually at the bench if he or she is a senior faculty member that is. For some projects postdocs act as supervisors along with more senior academics and you therefore may be in the lab with them. As has already been said the best thing to do is to ask other members of the lab and hope they give an honest answer.

Firstly - it seems really strange to me that you're in your second year and don't have a supervisor?? Is that allowed?
Secondly, if I did my PhD all over again, I wouldn't compromise on the type of supervisor I felt that I needed, even if they are very hard to find!! I'm not sure how useful other students' opinions are when trying to find your ideal supervisor. It's really a very individual thing - I guess if they answer objectively and give you the honest facts ("this is how it is" rather than "I like my supervisor") then it's worthwhile. I personally would be reluctant to recommend (or otherwise) my supervisor to any prospective student because I wouldn't want the responsibility of it turning out really bad for them.

I do not know how to describe a really good supervisor since he/she is a human, so not a perfect one.

as for me, my MSc supervisor project is really nice, but he is so busy. he is a consultant, also head of department. and he assigned a lab technician to help me. I thanks a lots to the technician for helping me a lots when I was in my lab. Yes, my supervisor is nice, but he is not there when I need him.

I am doing my Phd, just started 4 months ago. My current supervisor is a women, really caring and always want to see me everyday. She wanted me to be in the lab all the time..if not working, just have a chit-chat..while me is thinking in other way..I love to sit on my work station to read and read if there is nothing to do in the lab.She is very strict about the time, and makes me feel dizzy at the moment. Yes, she makes me tension but if I analyze back, she is a good supervisor indeed because she make sure I am on the track and do my job all the time! :)

Kittun, I really agree with what you said about a good supervisor: "My current supervisor....always want to see me everyday. She wanted me to be in the lab all the time..if not working, just have a chit-chat..while me is thinking in other way..I love to sit on my work station to read and read if there is nothing to do in the lab. She is very strict about the time, and makes me feel dizzy at the moment. Yes, she makes me tension but if I analyze back, she is a good supervisor indeed because she make sure I am on the track and do my job all the time! :)"
Theres is a supervisor in my dpt who was behind me all past semester trying to recruit me for his lab. The thing is that I did the "research" about him and there are a lot of negative comments, in terms of his exigencies about time and his personality kind of arrogant and neurotic.....

REPLY PART 2:
I'm not currently in his lab, yet, cause I'm not a full time PhD student (have a FT job) and don't have as much time as he likes his people to be there in the lab. In addition, I have a 5 years old daughter to take care of without any help from family. He asked me to quit my job and he was going to look for some kind of assistantship (obviously never the same salary as with a FT job). In addition he said the girl is not a problem because he also have a daughter and he knows what it is to be a parent.. I have to say he has been very pleasant to me in terms of all the "conditions" I told him (looking for some kind of "escape" because of the negative comments about him and because I need a little more time to put my things together and quit job and finally be a FT PhD student).
Despite this, the supervisor described by kittun is the kind of supervisor he is, although his own people in the lab say he is annoying because of that same behavior.

Reply part 3:
...I'm undecided about him because of the negative comments, although, as I just said, to me he tried to be pleasant. I'm a little confused about him because I'm not sure if his interest in me is a real one or just because there are 4 people leaving the lab at this time and he needs to recruit. Because of the bad comments, I'm kind of afraid that he is pleasant just to recruit and after being in his lab he is going to turn out to be the arrogant and neurotic people describes he is...
After all, I'm aware he is a really hard worker and a very competitive researcher...
If you where me, what would you choose?

In your case, I've few friends, senior to be exact who share the same problem as you. One of them, the brave one, what he did during his 1st year is just follow his supervisor style and once upgraded to PhD, that's the time where he don't give a damn about lab hours time, i.e. work on his own time rather than the supervisor. He able to compensate that with good report and delivered all the experiments beyond his boss expectations, until his supervisor indirectly notice that being micro-manage towards PhD student doesn't give any benefit to anyone. While the rest others, two of them finally fed up during the final year, confronted their supervisor, with longer extension to complete their PhD study as a result!

bitterbutter,

how to delivered all the experiments beyond supervisor's expectations? can you or your friends share the tips? Love to know that!

hi kittun,

i'm just about to enter my 5th months of my PhD, with another 7 months left for my upgrading. With such little effort and knowledge, I don't have any tips to share with you. That's why I often check this website for tips.

As for a senior that I mentioned, what he told me is just add some 'spices' to whatever your boss ask to, e.g instead of 2-3 analysis, make 4-5 that somehow make sense to your research, report submit neatly, no spell proof (this is difficult for international student like us) and on time, ask some good questions or impress your supervisor with some new stuffs that he may not know (phew, this is the tough one i guess!)