<p>I’m starting my Phd this august. I don’t know much about the school, except what’s on the website. I have a mentor who has a friend that graduated from there and he asks whether I would like to get his email. Sure it’s a good idea. But I’m not very good at formulating this kind of questions. What would you ask that person?</p>
<p>Was your mentor’s friend a student in your program or is he just affiliated with the university in general? Did he graduate recently or 20 years ago?</p>
<p>What sort of questions are on your mind right now? I am starting a PhD program in a few months as well and my concerns are very practical right now: where will I live? will I need a car? how does health insurance work? how much money do i need to get by? how can i get involved in ___? </p>
<p>If your contact happens to be a recent graduate of your program (and only then), you could also ask more department-specific questions (e.g. about the general atmosphere - things you won’t find online). But if you don’t have any real questions, please don’t waste his time.</p>
<p>Based on my mentor’s age, I assume the friend has graduated in less than 10 yrs. The friend also did a biomed related PhD as I do. But I guess my first question would be what area he’d worked in to see whether I can ask something more department-specific. I totally agree with you that if i got nothing to ask, don’t bother him. My mentor told me the friend is now working in biotech industry. So I’ll ask him about job prospect after graduating from the school, and how I can prepare myself for non-academic path, which probably is inevitable given the current difficulty in academia. </p>
<p>I would like to “start my PhD right”, if there’s such a way to do that. But I’m confused what I am supposed to do.</p>