Welcome, first-year students!
If you're a first-year student doing lab rotations, this page is for you. It was made through a collaboration between the Office of Career and Professional Development (OCPD) and the Graduate Division.
We want you to succeed! We'll walk you through the what, how, when, and why of rotations and provide tips for how to navigate your rotations so that you can find the right lab for you. If you have any questions about this page, want to discuss with peers across different programs, or develop your own strategy for successful rotations, come to any of our Office Hours!
The problem we are trying to solve
Students join labs that aren't a good fit for them. It happens every year, because it's hard to know what to look for when you're rotating and joining a lab. That's why we made this page. A bad fit can prevent you from achieving your goals, so it's well worth it to take time now to understand how to identify a bad fit. Taking a few extra minutes now is much easier than trying to do your work in a lab that's a bad fit, or switching labs later on. Plus, it's a skill you'll use when finding positions in the rest of your career!
If working in a lab that's a bad fit is so terrible, why do people do it?
There are three reasons students join labs that aren't a good fit:
- They didn't look for signs of a bad fit,
- They didn't see the signs of a bad fit, or
- They denied that the signs they saw were valid.
Watch our short video so you don't make the same mistakes!
Part 1: Before your rotation
The purpose of a rotation is: to help you and the lab/team you rotated in understand how you work together.
The purpose of a rotation is not: to generate a bunch of data.
There's more to getting your PhD than collecting data, and that's the stuff you want to learn about in your rotation. The focus of your rotation is to determine whether the lab/team you are rotating with will enable you to achieve your goals during and after your PhD. Learn more about the purpose of rotations and how to prepare for successful ones below.
Self-reflect to determine what you are looking for
To figure out of the lab is a good fit, you need to know what the traits of a "good fit" are for you. In an environment that's a good fit for you, you are connected and engaged. All aspects of the lab/team contribute to whether it is a good fit for you:
- Values of the PI
- What work/life integration looks like
- Type of science and scientific questions
- Working relationship between PI and lab members
- Support for skill development
- Support for career and professional development
- Support for your personal and professional identities
- Work environment: collegiality, open-door policies, noisy/quiet spaces
Consider previous lab/team experiences you have had. What traits were present in labs where you were connected and engaged? What traits were present in labs where you were not, or what was missing? Trust yourself here, you know yourself and your experiences the best.
Exercise: Reflect on your goals for your PhD
This is a vital exercise, and you will do it numerous times in your PhD. That's because PhDs are highly unstructured, so you have a lot of control over what it ultimately means to "get your PhD". After all, its YOUR education! A lab that's a good fit is a lab that enables you to achieve your goals. So first, you need to be clear on what your goals are. Take some time to write down why you have come to graduate school before you start your rotations. Be as specific as you can and avoid making assumptions. You may have goals in different areas, all of which are important:
- Scientific
- Academic
- Professional
- Personal
- Community-oriented
Pre-assess labs and PIs before committing to rotate
To make the best use of your rotations, you want to be sure you're rotating in labs you may actually be able to join. That doesn't just mean whether they're taking students or not, but also how well they align with what you are looking for (above section). You can figure some of that out in a brief conversation, so you don't spend your valuable rotation time in a lab that's not close to a good fit for you.
During your conversation, ask the questions in the blue box, as well as any other questions you have. To end the conversation, you can say, "Thank you so much for your time. You've given me a lot to think about. I'll follow up with you by [date]." Then reflect on what you heard. Remember, if their expectations don't align with yours, you don't have to rotate in that lab!
How do you find faculty to reach out to?
You'll need to reach out to faculty individually to discuss the possibility of rotating with them. We recommend setting up 15-30 minute conversations with at least three faculty members per quarter before you commit to rotating in any lab.
You may have noticed that, unfortunately, lab websites are usually out of date (though if they're up to date, that's often a good sign!). To find faculty to reach out to, you can start with the lists provided by your program, but you'll get better guidance by talking to people. Ask your graduate advisor or more senior graduate students (those involved in bootcamp are likely happy to help!) for starting points. If you had a good conversation with a PI during interviews, feel free to ask them for suggestions too.
You can use this language for reaching out to PIs to discuss doing a rotation:
Hi Dr. A,
I'm a first-year student in the B program and I'm planning my rotations. I'm interested in your lab because C. Would you be available to discuss a possible rotation in your lab for 20 minutes sometime in the next two weeks?
Thank you,
D
Ask the PI these questions before you rotate
- Can they support a new student next year?
- Do they have a lab welcome letter? If not, what are the values of their lab? (For instance "We are people before we are scientists", "My lab members work with me, not for me". More examples of values of healthy and happy labs are in this Nature article.)
- What does a successful rotation look like to them? How do they know if a rotation is going well?
- What makes someone a good fit in their lab? How do they determine whether a student is a good fit?
- Share with them some of your goals for your PhD and ask how those goals would be supported.
- How much time on campus is expected (in hours, days, or a percentage of your time)? How much time virtually is expected?
- How will you be supervised?
- If by another lab member - who? What will you talk about with them vs with the PI? (Follow up with this person to understand their schedule, how you will coordinate with them, and what their expectations are of their time with you)
Reflect on what you heard and follow up
- How specific is the PI (and person you will be working with) able to be? This tells you how prepared they are for a rotation student.
- Does what they say sound reasonable to you? If it doesn't, you can walk away. Everyone deserves to work in a lab that supports their mental health and well-being.
- Ask someone in the lab for their interpretation of what the PI told you. This is one way to be sure you aren't making assumptions about what you heard, and to get a reality check on your plan.
What should you ask and when should you ask it?
What to ask depends on what you're looking for. You want to keep in mind your training goals and your career goals. Watch our short video for details!
When to ask is especially important in virtual rotations. There are no serendipitous moments online, so you need to be intentional about creating the interactions where you can ask your questions. Your rotation is one long interview, so any time is a good time!
Part 2: During your rotation
If you're rotating in a lab, it's probably because the things you learned during your pre-assessment interviews sounded great. Awesome!
During your rotation: You want to see if your actual experience in the lab aligns with what you learned beforehand.
Don't be quick to write off differences that you find. Your experience is valid and the experience that you have in your rotation is probably a best-case scenario of what working in that lab will be like. Have a hypothesis that things might be different if you join? Use your rotation to test that hypothesis! Change your approach to see if things improve. This is exactly what the rotation is for.
Keys to success: Structure and communication
You need to set up structure.
Structure is the best way to make sure that you have the interactions that you need to have a successful rotation. Here's a sample schedule for interactions to set up during your rotation (or access the text version):
What should you be communicating about?
In the beginning of your rotation, communicate about expectations - yours, the PI's, and those of anyone you'll be working with. Later on, ask for and provide feedback on whether those expectations are being met. Communication is key in the mentor-mentee relationship, and the rotation is your chance to practice and see how well you and the PI communicate.
How to set up structure and communication
- Ask in the beginning of your rotation what the expected outcomes are in a best-case, good-case, and not-so-good-case scenario. Ask how they will assess your progress.
- Then (either by yourself or with the person supervising you) plan backwards to come up with milestones toward that outcome and place them on the calendar to break up your rotation into chunks.
- Plan meetings with the PI (and/or whoever you are supervised by) around the time of these projected milestones. These meetings are a good opportunity to ask for feedback and provide feedback. You'll want to be clear on what kind of feedback you are asking for/providing and how the feedback will be communicated. This will enable you to change your approach during your rotation if needed.
- Ask to be invited to all lab meetings, project meetings, and social gatherings so you can see how the whole group interacts.
- Reach out to lab members to talk with them 1:1 about their experiences in the lab. Watch the videos on this page for more on what to ask, how to ask it, and what to listen for.
- Set up weekly check-ins with a few of your classmates to discuss how it's going in your different labs.
How to assess a good fit
A good fit happens when your values, strengths, approach, work style, and goals are recognized and rewarded. Before your rotation, you reflected on what these things look like for you. During your rotation, you want to find out whether they are recognized and rewarded. You can do this by observing/experiencing and by asking the people in the lab.
We recommend setting up 20-30 minute "coffee chat" 1:1 conversations with each member of the lab (if possible) during your rotation. Use this time to ask the questions in the checklist and any other specific questions you have from your experience in the lab. Notice what people say and what they don't say. If they don't mention something, it's probably not there. Also look for consistent responses. If one person tells you there's lots of flexibility for taking care of yourself and another person tells you there isn't, that's a red flag.
Look for labs that are inclusive. The lab's culture is reflected in everything they do. Note how lab members respect and acknowledge each other. Note how accommodations are made for everyone in the lab to be included. Ask how hiring decisions are made. Note how you are trained.
Resources:
- Using the interview to determine if a work place is a bad fit
- These slides provide tips on what questions to ask, how to ask them, para-verbal and non-verbal cues to look for, how to identify skillful defensiveness, and how to recognize when you're dismissing red flags.
- Assessing your PI as a supervisor
- Fill out the handout after a few weeks in your rotation to understand how well the PI manages their lab. Management can make or break a lab, but it's a skill most scientists aren't trained in and many aren't good at.
- You can learn about trainings that PIs have participated in either on your graduate program website or on the Faculty Participation Tracker.
- You can learn about anti-racism and about life in graduate school/academia in the books How to Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, Real Life by Brandon Taylor, and Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpowers by Brittney Cooper.
Ask lab members these questions
- How has the PI supported them and their career goals?
- What is a strength of this lab? What is a challenge?
- What are the values of this lab?
- How has this lab/team supported both their personal and professional identities?
- What was their experience during the transition to remote work?
- How has the PI supported previous trainees into their next step?
- How is their mental health and well-being supported?
- What professional development activities has the PI supported?
- Show your list of goals to the PI or lab members and ask them if they think these goals can be achieved in the lab.
Ask the PI these questions about lab culture
- What are your contributions to DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion)?
- How many historically marginalized students have you mentored and where are they now?
- What is your mentoring philosophy?
- How does your lab culture support anti-racism?
- How are your trainees’ personal identities celebrated and affirmed by you and members of your lab?
Observe these things during your rotation
- How often do 1:1, lab-wide, and project meetings happen?
- Do you work well with people in the lab?
- Do lab members and the PI make time to talk with you? Are they kind when they talk to/about each other?
- Is what the PI told you about their expectations for the rotation turning out to be accurate? Do they acknowledge things changing?
- How does the lab handle conflicts, responsibilities, celebrations?
When you ask your questions, what's a good answer?
People who aren't having a good experience usually won't tell you flat out. It may be in their best interest for the lab to have good trainees like you. Or they may not be able to say anything negative because the PI is supporting their visa. Or they may not know the environment is toxic, because they've always worked in toxic environments. Or maybe they're part of the problem!
To determine whether people are faking it or telling the truth, listen for:
Evidence instead of adjectives
You want to hear facts, so you know what you can expect in your own experience in that lab. The difference is subtle but important, so watch our short video to hear the difference! Then learn how to dig a little deeper if people don't give you detailed, factual answers.
Consistency instead of candor
People who share a common truth will tell the same story. Learn how to ask the same question to the PI, postdocs, and graduate students in the lab to uncover what that common truth is in the lab. Follow up if what they say contradicts what someone else in the lab said.
Part 3: After your rotation
After each rotation, take time to reflect on your experience. It is important to do this after EACH rotation so that you can choose subsequent rotations accordingly and make sure you learn what you need to in those rotations to make a well-informed decision about your dissertation lab.
Once you do this, you'll have a sense of whether you're interested in joining the lab (either now or after you do other rotations) or whether you're not interested in joining the lab. Even if you don't want to join the lab, consider whether you may be interested in establishing a mentoring relationship with that PI.
At the end of your rotation, you'll want to communicate with the PI to thank them and let them know what your next steps are. There's sample language for the next steps you may want to take at the bottom of this section. If this isn't your last rotation, we strongly recommend not leaving doors open unless you're sure the lab is a bad fit. Also note that many programs have a policy that faculty may not make a commitment to students and students may not make a commitment to join a certain lab during the rotation. The decision isn't made until after all of the rotations are finished.
Let PIs know what your next step is
Most graduate programs don't have a formal process of joining labs, so it's up to you and the PIs you've rotated with to communicate about this. You can use the language below to structure your emails.
If you know you don't want to join:
"I wanted to let you know that I have decided to join AAA lab. I wanted to let you know as soon as I decided. Thank you for allowing me to rotate in your lab. I appreciated the opportunity and learned a lot."
If you're interested in a mentoring relationship with this PI, add:
"I really enjoyed working with you and would look forward to continuing to talk with you about my career aspirations. Let me know if you'd be willing to meet again after my qualifying exams to help me plan my training goals." [Adjust for the type of mentorship you are looking for]
If you're not sure and want to do other rotations:
"Thank you for allowing me to rotate in your lab. I wanted to let you know that I enjoyed my experience in your lab. I would like to follow up with you after I complete my other scheduled rotations, which will be in May. Let me know if that timeline will work for you." [Be sure you mark your calendar to email them after your rotations!]
For a lab you want to join:
"I'm following up on my rotation in the winter. I have now completed all of my rotations and am interested in joining your lab. Let me know if we can set up a meeting to discuss this possibility in the next two weeks."
Communicating about joining labs
- You can tell them in an email or in a meeting, whichever is more comfortable for you
- They may or may not initiate this conversation with you. Even if they don't it still needs to happen, so take pride in bringing it up!
- Keep emails brief and specific
- If you asked for a response from them and don't hear back within one week, send the same email again, adding "I'm following up on my previous message, in case you missed it" at the top.
- It's great if a PI expresses interest in working with you, but don't let their interest in you obscure your own interests. Make sure a lab/team is a good fit before you decide to join.
Continue relationships with PIs who can be on your team of mentors
Students succeed when they have networks of mentors, rather than relying solely on their thesis advisor. There are a number of formal and informal ways you can develop mentoring relationships with PIs who are not your thesis advisor. PIs that you have successful rotations with, but whose lab you do not join, are great candidates for your mentoring network. Keep this in mind as you do your rotations, even if you realize their lab may not be the best fit for you. Postdocs and students in that lab can become informal mentors too!
To learn more about why mentorship is important and can't be done effectively by just one person, as well as how to reach out to people for mentorship, see our program on Finding Your Five Mentors.
How PIs who aren't your thesis advisor can mentor you
- Sit on your qualifying exam or thesis committees
- Give feedback on project proposals, grants, manuscripts
- Serve as a role model
- Put you in touch with their professional network
- Write letters of support or recommendation for grants or postdocs
- Help you think through career decisions
- Provide opportunities, skill development, and advice
How to decide which lab to join
The single piece of advice that senior students most often give to first year students is "Science changes, people don't." This means that it is unwise to choose a lab based solely on the research in that lab, without taking into consideration the lab's fit for you. If the lab is not a good fit, you will be unhappy regardless of the science you are doing. Plus, research projects can fail or change direction many times over the course of a PhD, so you can't really be sure what research you're signing up for. On the other hand, a lab that is a good fit can make doing your research a wonderful experience, regardless of what that research is.
Learn more about this process and go through it with your peers at the Choosing a Dissertation Lab program, offered in the winter. Sign up for the OCPD listserv to get announcements about OCPD's programs.
Resources for deciding which lab to join
- How to be a Graduate Advisee article by Indira Raman
- How to Pick a Graduate Advisor article by Ben Barres
- Write out your values and goals
- Fill out the spreadsheet from OCPD's Choosing a Thesis Lab program
- Do a 1-minute freewrite on how you feel when you imagine you have joined each of the labs you are considering.
- Notice what you are worried about and decide how heavily you want those concerns to weight your decision
- Talk to people who have been mentors to you in the past
- Talk to senior graduate students in your program
- Talk to your graduate/academic advisor
- Make a 1:1 counseling appointment with OCPD
A final note
- No lab is perfect. If you decide to join a lab that you know is not a good fit for you in some way, talk with a counselor. We can work with you to manage these things so they don't become problems for you during your PhD.
- Make an appointment with an OCPD career counselor
- Make an appointment with D'Anne Duncan, Assistant Dean for Diversity and Learner Success
UCSF offices that can help you conduct successful rotations
Schedule a 1:1 appointment with the Office of Career and Professional Development for:
- Identifying your goals or values
- Finding suitable rotations
- Navigating a new lab environment
- Developing strategies for successful rotations
- Preparing for difficult conversations
- Choosing a dissertation lab
Schedule a 1:1 appointment with D'Anne Duncan, Assistant Dean for Diversity and Learner Success for:
- Navigating graduate school and academic success
- Balancing professional and personal needs
- Identifying diversity, equity, and inclusion leadership opportunities
- Managing interpersonal conflict
- Navigating difficult conversations
- Identifying UCSF resources
Schedule a 1:1 appointment with Learning Resource Services for:
- Setting up a remote learning environment that works for you
- Coaching for staying motivated and achieving goals remotely
Authors of this webpage
Ray Care, PhD - Program Director, Office of Career and Professional Development
D'Anne Duncan, PhD - Assistant Dean for Diversity and Learner Success
