An advisor should be chosen during the first year of residence. Until the advisor is chosen the student will be advised by the Director of Admissions and Early Advising. Keeping on Track suggests that the advisor be chosen during the first semester of residence. An advisor must be a member of the MTU Graduate Faculty.
A student and professor should know about each other before choosing to work together. The student should know the research interests of the professor and what the (potential) advisor expects of graduate students. The professor should know the work habits of the student, and the student's research interests. And each should be comfortable working with the other.
Each student will have an advisor (or supervising professor) with whom s/he will work very closely, especially when doing research. Choosing an advisor is one of the most important decisions that a Ph.D. student makes. A student's advisor helps decide what classes are taken, what research topics are investigated, and in some cases what types of financial support are made available to the student. Further, an advisor should be instrumental in helping a student obtain a position after graduation.
Although choosing an advisor is a common expression, it is somewhat misleading. The choosing is two way. The student chooses the professor, but the professor must also choose the student. Even if you as a student want to work with a certain professor, s/he may not choose or be able to work with you. There are many reasons a professor may decide not to work with a student - the professor may be advising too many students to give adequate supervision and support to you at this time; the professor may not feel qualified to supervise work in the research area in which you are interested; the professor may feel that you would not work well together; .... The point is that although the expression choosing an advisor is used, both students and faculty must be realize that each party must choose the other. Just as choosing an advisor is an extremely important decision for a student, it is also important for a professor. Professors commonly give a student considerable help in finding a research problem; often the problem is one that the professor already knew about and would perhaps have been working on in the near future. Thus, in some cases, the future research of not only the student but also the faculty member depends on the student's work. Though Ph.D. students are usually bright and capable of doing high quality research, they need time and training to become capable researchers. Much of this time and training will come at the expense of their advisor's time. A faculty member needs, therefore, to consider many things before choosing to be an advisor for a Ph.D. student.