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My adviser's been poached

6 points by pattyoreally ↗ HN
I just found out that my adviser is being wooed to teach at another university starting next year, and I'm in a huge predicament because he's the only one in the department I'm currently in who does anything even remotely similar to what I do. I'm only in the second semester of my PhD, (have no dissertation proposal yet, but do have a general idea of what I'd like to do), but I am already 900% sure this is the person I want to write my dissertation with. Am I too far along or not far enough along to consider following him to this new university? Is it rude to even ask him if I could do this? The deadline for applications for the next academic year has already passed...Am I expected to go and do something else for a year and apply for the next, or should I see if there's a way of being taken in right along with him? What is the socially acceptable thing to do here? I don't want to overstep my boundaries, but I don't/can't write this dissertation with anyone else at my current university, and I don't particularly want to begin all over again somewhere else where I would know absolutely no one (adviser included). Help! I'm at a loss for the right thing to do...

10 comments

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bbgm
A good adviser is usually more important than the univ you're at, so talk to him, the univ and the other school to figure out what the best route might be. Moving with your adviser to a new school isn't uncommon, so there should be a way to achieve this.
kqr2
You should have a talk with your adviser and discuss your options. If you don't feel comfortable talking with him about this, do you really want him as an adviser for the next several years?

If you really want to work with him, I would follow him. As a condition for moving to another university, I'm sure he could stipulate that he be allowed to bring in some people.

Perhaps you can just be a research assistant for a year.

cperciva
You're a PhD student. The default answer is that you can do whatever you want, and administrators will make things work.

I've seen this play out in three different ways: (a) student gets new supervisor, (b) student moves to new university, (c) student stays at old university but keeps the same supervisor in spite of the supervisor moving to a new university (depending in your institution, it may be necessary to get a new "official" supervisor for paperwork-filling-out purposes).

As other people have said, talk to your supervisor.

sho
Only 900% sure? Look, it's a big decision, and there's no room for this kind of wishy-washy fence sitting. I'd wait until you are at least 2000% sure before doing anything you might otherwise regret.
gaius
Praise $deity! When I read this headline I thought your experiment had gone horribly wrong and you'd cooked your adviser in boiling water! Again!
mjfern
Having been in the same situation, but much later in my PhD program (4th year), I would strongly encourage you to move with the prof, assuming he is willing to continue working with you at the new university. It's very difficult to survive and perform well in a PhD program (and subsequently in an academic career) if you aren't mentored in person by a top notch faculty that works in your area of interest. Good luck with your decision and your studies!
yummyfajitas
Your advice is normally good, but I'm a bit concerned by the fact that the original poster is getting this advice from HN and not the adviser.

In principle, the adviser should have told patty all of this, and made plans with the new school to bring students over. Most of the reasons I can think of for him not to do this (he doesn't care about his students, or dislikes the original poster) are signs that the original poster needs a different adviser.

CyberED
If your adviser thinks highly enough of your work and potential, then he will make suggestions as to how to make it work. On-going collaboration would have to be the go. You don't actually have to sit at his feet to succeed. If on the other hand he isn't encouraging you, then may be it's a case of hero worship and you need to get on with your own work.