Maybe if Mr. T had given them advice, they would have listened

I’ve done some outstandingly foolish things in my time, and am no doubt headed for many more, but this post is about Foolish Other People.

If I could give just one piece of Advice to anyone entering science grad school, it would be: Find an advisor you get along with, both intellectually and emotionally. It does not matter so much whether the topic of research in their lab is exactly what you’ve always dreamed of studying. If you can find an advisor who works on stuff you love plus you get along well, mazel tov. If you’re torn between Supercool Stuff and Terrific Person, choose Terrific Person every time.

What does this have to do with Fools? That they hear this Advice and think, “Yeah, that’s good advice…for people who are going to rely on their PI. Fortunately, I am smarter-n-shit and will do just fine in Supercool Lab.”

These people, many of whom are as book-smart as it gets, are the Fools. (And not Fools in a good, speaks-the-truth-to-King-Lear kind of way).

Recently two students from my grad program have left, or debated leaving, their Cool Stuff Labs. Both of them have spent 2+ years being miserable in their chosen labs. When these students were first years, I gave them the Advice. One of them was angry at me for denigrating the labs she had rotated in (to be fair, I may not have been totally tactful about it); the other clearly thought that this Advice was intended for stupid people.

So now I hear they’re unhappy, and considering switching labs late in the game. I feel sorry for them. I used to feel just awful about situations like this, and I would wring my hands and talk about the state of advising in our grad program, and how the students and faculty should work harder to keep people on track. And I still think we should, because these are terrific, hard-working, thoughtful scientists-in-training, and it’s a loss to all of us if they end up so miserable that they leave science altogether.

But I’ve also gotten a bit more philosophical about it. These people did get some good advice. I know, ‘cuz I gave it to them. And I wasn’t the only one.

Now, neither of these people, nor the many others I know who have made the same mistake, are actually terrible fools. They may have been guilty of hubris, or more likely just inexperience. (Often one and the same, no?) What I don’t know is whether that mistake was indicative of a significant flaw in judgment that would keep them from succeeding no matter what, or whether those people would have been happy and productive in another, more sympathetic lab.

I am inclined to think they would have succeeded in another lab, although I do suspect they needed to get this sort of mistake out of their systems. Most of all, I wish that they had taken more time between college and grad school--both to mature as scientists and to have a chance to make some mistakes before they arrived here and made such a big one. Because the essence of a foolish mistake is that it is one that could have been prevented.*

*For example, by taking my Advice.

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