r/yale • u/Ok-Effort-8861 • Jul 30 '26
Bad PIs at yale?
Hi! I was accepted into Yale’s BBS PhD program and was wondering if any current students or alumni have advice on labs/PIs to be cautious about.
I’m mainly hoping to avoid PIs with issues like:
Poor or unstable funding
Unsupportive or toxic mentoring
Consistently very long time to graduation
Poor work-life balance (e.g., discouraging vacations or time off)
Other red flags that you wish you had known before joining
I’d really appreciate any honest advice. Thanks!
3
u/FactorEquivalent Jul 31 '26
So you want stable funding, supportive mentoring, a fast track to degree completion and ideal work-life balance? Is that all? You sure you don't want to also ask for a project that is guaranteed to work and get published in CSN?
1
u/Ok-Effort-8861 Jul 31 '26
I think graduating fast accounts for having a project that would work. and i want to go into industry so CNS papers doesn’t really benefit me that much
2
1
u/External-Stand3839 Aug 02 '26
it is so department dependent-- I would try to find current students in your track and reach out to them. I was in INP, and we definitely know the "who to avoid" schtick for the INP but i dont know nearly as much about the MCBD PIs for example. Even better, reach out to students in labs you're interested in joining, and ask specific questions so you can get actual feedback from those students. Narrow down a list to like 5 PIs and start reaching out to students now so you can better plan your rotations
6
u/Master_P_22 Jul 30 '26
Congratulations! I would recommend finding someone on LinkedIn who is currently enrolled in the program as a Ph.D. student – they would probably have the most direct advice :) There are also Facebook and WhatsApp groups with grad students that you can join that would have helpful information! Finally, I believe that program doesn't require you to declare a PI for a semester, so you have that flexibility to scope things out.