Information to gather about specific professors/groups

For specific professors whom you are interested in working with, here are some questions you may want to ask those professors or their students:

• What is their funding situation?
• How many students, post-docs, and others are in their lab?
• How many new students did they take into their lab in the last 2 years?
• How many students do they plan on taking in this year (note, typically professors take students into their lab in fall and only rarely during other times of the year)?
• How many students do they expect to graduate in the next year?
• What funded projects do they currently have?
• Are there any projects they expect to have funded soon?
• What classes do they teach (you may take or TA these classes if you end up working with them)?
• What first-year project opportunities are there (it might be best to tell them your interests before asking this question)?
• What is the professor like to work with?

Remember to tell them your areas of interest. This may spark discussion about opportunities they may know about in their lab or other labs. Here are some questions you may want to ask students about professors in general:

• Which professors should be avoided?
• Are there any reasons why certain types of people wouldn't want to work with a particular professor?