> Test whether the PhD advisor you select knows this and has a history of taking this approach with former students.
How do you "test" for this? Asking potential advisors "do you know this?" is blunt and rude. Asking potential advisors in a mannered way prompts anodyne answers. Current students in the potential advisor's lab are unlikely to offer an intimate assessment of their personal satisfaction and research progress to a stranger, assuming they can even be honest with themselves.
My take is that having a good graduate advisor is largely about having a good undergraduate advisor who can offer an insider take and advocate on your behalf.
My take is that having a good graduate advisor is largely about having a good undergraduate advisor who can offer an insider take and advocate on your behalf.