Many years ago, YY, a post-80s undergraduate student, graduated and was admitted as a master's student of an ordinary professor (without any hat or official title) in the college. Under the guidance of the professor, he graduated for two years and was admitted to Peking University as a doctoral candidate. Taking full advantage of Peking University's reputation and academic platform, she went to an American University for academic exchange for one year. After her doctoral degree, she engaged in basic scientific research in a National Research Institute in Beijing. At present, this post-80s student has made his debut in the academic field and has achieved fruitful results. He has been promoted to a research fellow. This researcher is an undergraduate student, a classmate who was registered as a master's and doctoral student of the vice president of the college. After graduation, he stayed in school to teach, and is now an associate professor. One day, more than 10 years later, he told me that YY was one of the best students in his class. I am a little puzzled, why did she want to apply for this ordinary professor's postgraduate? According to my investigation, YY is relatively outstanding among the students engaged in academic research in their grade. Because, in their grade, there were two graduate students who were admitted to Peking University with high scores. At present, both of them work in the University. One is an associate professor, and the other is an engineer in another university laboratory. Later, someone asked YY why she chose this ordinary Professor instead of the "famous professor" who applied for the college, such as the graduate student who applied for the leadership like her classmates who stayed in school. She replied that it was because the ordinary professor had taught them a course in their grade. Through the classroom and after class, she understands that the professor mainly focuses on academic research. In her words, she doesn't like teachers who only focus on projects to make money and don't engage in academic research.

Coincidentally, the general professor also recruited a doctoral student whose research direction is not the same as his. Now the student has become a professor, doctoral advisor and national excellent youth in a key university, and he has done a good job in scientific research. Of course, the ordinary professor still does not know why the student applied for his doctoral degree. Because, his research direction also has the famous professor in the Institute. Due to different research directions, the professor can only give macro guidance and provide necessary scientific research conditions from the perspective of academic research. For example, he can go to the University of Hong Kong for academic exchange with another doctoral candidate for two months. Of course, this ordinary professor has no administrative position. Apart from teaching, he has enough time and energy to "sit on the bench" to engage in scientific research and master the development trends of the frontier of the discipline. He also recruited a master's degree candidate with the same degree after two years of college work. Because of his excellent performance, he studied for a doctor's degree ahead of time. At present, he has also become a professor and doctoral advisor in a key university.

In my opinion, these students in the above cases have taken a serious and attentive attitude in choosing graduate tutors, so they can realize their original intention and desire to engage in academic research after many years. The YY researcher once talked about the experience of the general professor's guiding style during his master's degree. She said that teachers usually emphasize that they should read more professional literature, especially English literature. When reading English literature, the students should not only understand the innovation of the content of the paper, but also pay attention to the professional written expression in English, which is very helpful for her to write English academic papers more smoothly. Her master's thesis was published in English in the English edition of earth science. In addition, I heard that when YY planned to apply for the doctoral program of Peking University, he was a little "uneasy" for fear that the professor would blame her for not choosing to read his doctoral program. In fact, the student was worried too much. The professor not only didn't blame him, but also strongly supported YY to apply for the doctoral degree in Peking University. What's more, it's still a better platform for her to complete her master's thesis in Beijing University. The teacher's open-minded attitude is worth praising.

How do students choose their favorite tutor with "heart"? This is a complex and simple topic. "Complex" means that some students do not know the purpose of postgraduate education, and some even choose postgraduate education as a transition because they can not find a suitable job after graduation. "Simple" means that the purpose of postgraduate education is clear and clear, in order to improve their professional ability and level, especially for those who plan to engage in academic career in the future, like the three students in the above case, choosing postgraduate education is the only way. In addition, we should abandon secular ideas, and consider career development in the long run. We should not be impatient, let alone eager for quick success and instant benefit. We should seek truth from facts and get rid of some unrealistic illusions. Graduate tutors are also ordinary people, but also have seven passions and six desires. In the face of those students who are not so diligent and hard-working, it is inevitable for the impatient tutors to lose their temper occasionally. Don't kidnap the tutors with morality. Teachers and students have equal personality and respect each other.

I suggest that when students choose tutors, they should first consider those graduate tutors with high academic level and realistic attitude. They are in the academic front line and don't talk too much. The academic level of some "double shouldered" graduate tutors may be good, because, according to my observation, the double shouldered cadres of most universities (especially the teaching, scientific research, personnel, foreign affairs and graduate management departments) are selected by the superior leaders based on their high academic level. Of course, due to the administrative management of universities with Chinese characteristics, they sometimes appear to be "more than willing but less than able" in the process of guiding postgraduates. People's energy and time are limited, and the heavy administrative affairs lead to that some of these graduate tutors do not have more time to widely participate in academic exchanges and timely track the frontier of science and technology in the discipline. However, these mentors have good ideas, high moral character, and often have many scientific research projects and sufficient funds. They usually strongly support students' academic development and create a strong academic environment in the research group. This is what an article entitled "no matter what the tutor is, he brings out a group of cow students" (Liu Qingsheng, the postgraduate scientific research taught by hand is unsustainable, ScienceNet, August 4, 2013). Therefore, for those students with strong independent ability, it is also a good choice to consider "double shouldered tutor". For example, a young teacher told me that his doctoral supervisor was a vice president of a key university wearing the hats of outstanding youth and Yangtze River. Although the administrative work was very busy, the supervisor still insisted on taking half a day every Saturday to preside over the group meeting of the research group and care about the scientific research progress of students. Obviously, such double shouldered tutors need to pay more time and energy than ordinary tutors, and they are also worthy of praise.