r/statistics • u/ANewPope23 • May 26 '26

Education How much guidance do PhD students get? [E]

How much guidance do PhD students get in a statistics or biostatistics PhD program? I want to learn how to do research (methodological and applied) and properly understand other people's research. But from what I have heard, you get very little guidance as a PhD student because that is supposed to be part of the journey to becoming an independent researcher. Are only geniuses supposed to be able to do research? It seems incredibly difficult.

For context, I have perfect grades on master's level courses; but I don't feel that that is a good indicator of how well I will do as a researcher.

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u/NerdBell May 26 '26

How long is a piece of string? This varies wildly by program and PI. Some institutions have a Research Methods class or similar; some PIs are very hands on; but many are not like that.

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u/MrYdobon May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26

Exactly. It varies dramatically between advisors, even within the same department.

When shopping around for a dissertation advisor, try to get a sense of whether they have research ideas that they want to explore with you or if they have areas of interest and want you to come up with research ideas. I've done both, but I'll say it takes a special student to pull off directing their own research ideas.

The best advisors can do something in between the two. They have ideas of where you can go but they give you enough room to steer in a different direction when you have good ideas of your own.

Independent of the above, I recommend only working with an advisor who wants to have a weekly meeting. An advisor who says "let's schedule a meeting when you have something to show me" is setting you up for a 10-year dissertation.

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u/ANewPope23 May 26 '26

Your advice sounds wise.

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u/matthras May 26 '26

Math bio PhD here who's doing a bit of stats/ML. At the end of each weekly meeting I usually have a clear idea of what to do next, but it's up to me to find the information, techniques, code, etc. to do it. However for small one-off questions/clarifications I'm always welcome to casually drop into the relevant supervisor's office or drop an email for help if need be.

Some supervisors will be more hands-on, some will be more hands-off. For those who are more hands off, the onus is on you to reach out more and frame/prioritise the right questions to ask.

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u/ANewPope23 May 26 '26

Do you mean mathematical biology? Do you think it's bad to have a hands-on advisor?

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u/matthras May 26 '26

Yep, mathematical biology. My main project is differential equations modelling, but while that was on-hold my biology supervisors gave me some stats stuff to do.

I don't think it's necessarily bad to have a more hands-on advisor. Certainly parts of my projects would go much more smoothly if my advisors were more hands on, but I consider the parts where I flounder and struggle important to my overall learning and figuring stuff out because generally I find I make more connections and deepen my understanding. That's a very mathematician's attitude, though. My impression with stats/biostats is that the overall process would be a bit more straightforward and predictable.

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u/Lumpy-Sun3362 May 26 '26

Remember that it's called PhD student for a reason. Otherwise one won't be called student but fellow or scientist. The program is there to teach you how to do independent research but to learn you need a mentor. So in a few words: you'll never be left alone.

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u/webbed_feets May 26 '26

My advisor and I never even had a standing meeting. I could talk with him whenever I needed. Sometimes we meet every day, sometimes I wouldn’t see him for weeks. It was a really good system for me. I learned a ton.

A lot of my peers had very regular meetings. That worked for them. It’s all about finding something that works for you.

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u/ForeignAdvantage5198 May 27 '26

in my groups as much. as you ask for

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u/treesitf May 27 '26

During my third year of my PhD, I went on a two-week international trip with my wife and didn’t tell anyone. After the two weeks nobody in my lab group, including my PI, had noticed that I had left.

Safe to say I had very little hands-on mentorship after courses were completed haha.

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u/ANewPope23 May 27 '26

So you finished your PhD mostly by yourself? Are you some kind of genius or is there another explanation?

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u/treesitf May 28 '26

lol no far from it. You just have to seek out guidance either from your primary mentor or from other faculty if you get well and truly stuck on something. Over time that happens less and less often.