I’m writing this because while we give explicit guidance to our students in the classroom via our syllabi, we don’t do that for our PhD students. There are lots of guides out there offering general PhD guidance. Some of them are great, and there is a curated list of them here at the end of this document. However, as many of them will tell you: your PhD is largely a function of your relationship with your advisor. That relationship is often idiosyncratic, depending on both people, and how they interact.

I’m writing this because while we give explicit guidance to our students in the classroom via our syllabi, we don’t do that for our PhD students. There are lots of guides out there offering general PhD guidance. Some of them are great, and there is a curated list of them here at the end of this document. However, as many of them will tell you: your PhD is largely a function of your relationship with your advisor. That relationship is often idiosyncratic, depending on both people, and how they interact.