Working Effectively with Your Advisor
Having a good working relationship with your faculty advisor can make a big difference in your graduate school experience. Though the role of a faculty advisor can vary a bit by program and department, in general, faculty advisors are responsible for serving as an intellectual and professional mentor, assisting their advisees in making a plan to meet degree requirements, serving as a mentor, providing information and support related to policies that pertain to graduate students, and helping to prepare students to be competitive for employment (for a full description of the role and responsibilities of faculty advisors, see section 3.3 in the Graduate Academic Policies and Procedures handbook).
It may seem that having a good working relationship with your advisor is largely a matter of luck. While it’s true that your advisor’s personality, working style, and prior mentoring experiences can influence your relationship with them, there are also ways that you can shape the relationship to suit both you and your advisor. You can employ an approach that Lee et al. (2015) describe as “mentoring-up,” which is “the mentee’s proactive engagement in the mentor-mentee relationship, so that both parties mutually benefit from the relationship and move forward towards an agreed-upon purpose or vision” (p. 136).
Admittedly, taking a mentoring-up approach to working with your advisor may feel uncomfortable at first. You may feel nervous or concerned about “bothering” your advisor - after all, they are experienced scholars in their field and advising is just one of their many responsibilities. However, no matter who your advisor is or how busy they are, the fact that they have agreed to serve as your advisor means that they have committed to taking on the responsibilities of the role. It is perfectly reasonable for you to have conversations with your advisor about how the two of you can best work together to ensure that you’ll graduate and meet your other academic goals.
Below are a few strategies you can use to guide your approach and contribute to a positive working relationship with your advisor.
Align Expectations
You and your advisor may have different ideas about how the advising relationship will function. For instance, you may each have particular assumptions about how often you should be meeting, who will lead meetings, and how frequently the advisor will provide feedback on projects. Rather than approaching the relationship based on unspoken assumptions, it can be helpful to have conversations with your advisor in which you both talk about your ideas for what you’d like the advising relationship to look like and create alignment in your expectations. Here is an example of how you could initiate a conversation about expectations, if your advisor hasn’t raised the topic yet:
“I have a few questions I’d love to discuss with you about how we might approach our meetings and our work together. I can also share a bit more about my goals and plans at this point in the program. Could we plan to meet in the next few weeks to talk about this? I’m happy to draft a meeting agenda with some of the topics I have in mind.”
Some possible topics to discuss early on in the advising relationship (and revisit as needed) include the following:
Meeting logistics
- How often will you meet?
- How will meetings be scheduled? For instance, will you have a recurring meeting (weekly, monthly, etc.) or will you schedule one meeting at a time?
- Will your meetings be in person or online?
- What kinds of topics will you discuss at your meetings?
- How will the meeting agenda be determined? Who will create the agenda?
Communication and availability
- What are the preferred modes of communication? For instance, if you have a quick question, are there times when it is okay to drop by your advisor’s office, or is email preferred?
- What are the expectations around taking a vacation or being away from campus?
- Is there anything that could significantly impact each of your availability? For instance, is your advisor planning to take a sabbatical at some point?
Goals and plans
- What is your funding plan? Are there fellowships you would like to apply for? Are you interested in serving as a teaching assistant?
- What are your goals for graduate school? What kinds of resources and experiences might help you meet your goals?
- What kinds of career pathways are you considering?
Revise Expectations
While it’s a good idea to align expectations at the beginning of your advising relationship, if you’ve been working together for a while and haven’t discussed certain aspects of the relationship, it’s not too late to do so. There may also be times when you need to re-align expectations; for instance, if the kinds of projects you are working on shifts and necessitates meeting more frequently or if your career goals change. If you’re not sure how to broach the topic, here are two examples of how you might initiate a conversation about revisiting expectations:
“I realized that we haven’t had a chance to talk about your approach to __________(authorship, feedback, project updates, etc.), and I want to make sure that we’re on the same page. How do you usually approach _________? I have some ideas about how we could potentially approach this that I can share as well.”
“In the past I’ve usually emailed you as questions come up, but since I may have quite a few questions as I work on this project, I wanted to check in. Does email still work for you, or would you prefer another approach, such as a weekly check-in meeting?”
Maintain Effective Communication
Aligning communication expectations and revising those expectations as needed are great ways to set the tone for your working relationship with your advisor. Another way to maintain effective communication is to have shared notes from your conversations that you can both refer back to. For instance, when you meet with your advisor, it can be helpful to use a shared document, such as a Google doc, to keep track of agenda items, questions, and any action items you’re both planning to complete before the next meeting. Some graduate students will send a follow up email to their advisor after each meeting summarizing what was discussed and outlining any action items. Using either (or both) of these methods can provide structure and accountability to the conversations you are having. A written record can also help to prevent misunderstandings from occurring around the follow-up tasks and timelines you agreed upon.
If a conflict arises between you and your advisor and you’re not sure how to navigate it, there are a number of resources available on campus to support you. Graduate Life Office (GLO) Deans can provide comprehensive, impartial guidance and information to help you resolve problems. You can also consult with the University Ombuds or School of Medicine Ombuds. The Ombuds Office is a confidential resource for anyone who is experiencing a conflict or issue that is interfering with their academic or work life at Stanford. They can offer information about policies and procedures, and help people identify and evaluate the different options available to address their concerns.
Expand your Advising Network
Your faculty advisor can be a key resource as you navigate the requirements for your graduate program. However, it is also important to identify other people who can provide mentorship and support to you beyond your assigned advisor. There are many components involved in graduate education (e.g., coursework, independent scholarship, career preparation), so even if you have a great relationship with your advisor, having multiple people you can turn to for questions, feedback, advice, and resources can help you get the support you need. These people may include other faculty in your department or outside your department, fellow graduate students, and university staff.
Consider identifying at least one person, besides your advisor, who might be able to support you in the following areas:
- Learning about your research interests
- Applying research methods
- Providing feedback on your ideas
- Providing feedback on your writing
- Exploring and navigating career options
- Networking with other people in your field
- Navigating courses and projects
- Navigating academic challenges (Academic Coaches can help with this!)
Works Consulted:
Calarco, J. M. (2020). A field guide to grad school: Uncovering the hidden curriculum. Princeton University Press.
Lee, S.P., McGee, R., Pfund, C., & Branchaw, J. (2015). “Mentoring up”: Learning to manage your mentoring relationships. In G. Wright (Ed.), The mentoring continuum: From graduate school to tenure” (pp. 133-153). Syracuse University: The Graduate School Press.
Lunsford, L.G., & Baker, V.L. (2016). Great mentoring in graduate school: A quick start guide for protégés. Council of Graduate Schools. https://legacy.cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGS_OPS_Mentoring2016.pdf
Stanford Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education. (n.d.). Advising practices & resources. https://vpge.stanford.edu/academic-guidance/advising-mentoring/advising-0
University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School. (2020). Graduate student mentoring guide: A guide for students. https://rackham.umich.edu/downloads/student-mentoring-handbook.pdf
University of Wisconsin-Madison Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. (n.d.). Resources for each phase of the mentoring relationship. https://ictr.wisc.edu/mentoring/#resources
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Working Effectively with Your Advisor
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