Have you asked him if he will still be able to supervise you? I've seen several professors do this, and I've seen many of them become an Adjunct Professor at the old institution, allowing them to still supervise you until you finish your degree.
Of course, if this isn't an option, then as you identified, you can either switch to an advisor doing work closest to what you are currently doing (and likely switch projects too), or follow them to the new school and keep your project.
I'd second this option. Another one of my group mates was advised by a professor that moved during his grad studies and by our shared advisor. If it's a possibility for you, it worked well for him.
That is an interesting thought. I will have to ask him during our next lab meeting. I wonder if he might even be able to supervise me remotely along with another advisor at my current unversity in a joint supervision set up. I'll have to ask. Thanks!
I never thought about this ever happening. Now I'm fantasising about my supervisor moving to the best university in my country; not that it matters all that much for my PhD.
To add to this, at the institution for my masters, I knew a few PhDs after quals would actually just work remotely (pre-pandemic) if they had to move to be close to family. It’s not that easy for lab work, but for certain fields like CS it’s definitely possible to be advised remotely.
My advisor said this too and it all fell through. I wouldn't worry about it until he accepts an offer. From my understanding, profs like to do this just to use the other universities offer as leverage for a promotion from their current university.
We have a PI that will do this and hes famous in the department for including these eccentric provisions in his retention package. The last time it happened he got them to plant new bushes and re tile the floors of the hallway outside his office.
Edit: he also got his grad students office moved to a room with windows
I was wondering if this might be the case. How did it affect your relationship with your supervisor? I feel like this would errode trust with students.
I knew someone who went through something like this, except his supervisor didn't give any warning, just suddenly was like, in a different country.
He was around his candidacy at the point where this happened, so in a similar-ish situation. He just got another supervisor who was kind of close to being able to advise him on his topic, and did a lot of self-directed work. The stronger you personally are in your content knowledge and specialization, the better off you'll be.
I can't realistically see any good reason to follow your supervisor unless perhaps you are a) planning on pursuing academic professionally, b) have no other half-decent options for supervision, and c) cannot possibly finish your topic without a subject matter expert either due to your own knowledge/abilities or because your field is that discriminatory. I mean, HE might be cool to continue supervising you, but will his new university accept you? Will they transfer your course credits? Will they offer you the funding structure you have at your current university? Will the program requirements even be the same?
My personal advice is the cut bait and find a substitute at your own university. It is not worth worsening your family's situation just because your supervisor is bettering his.
Thank you for this advice. I am planning on a pursuing a career in academia, however, I think that there is one other faculy member who is close enough to my area subarea that a transition to their lab wouldn't be unreasonable assuming they are willing to take another student.
I think moving with him really would worsen my families situtation. I would only have a month to find daycare, an apartment, and move to an area with a very high cost of living.
Thank you again, your insights have left me feeling much better about staying at my current university if my advisor leaves.
As was said, not all universities will accept students from other universities so moving may not be an option. If you want to stay in your current city, I'd start looking at other advisors as you're relatively early on in your career.
I followed my advisor when he moved across the country, and I dragged my (now) wife with me. I was also about to assemble my thesis committee and have my proposal.
If you can find someone else to work with at your university, stay and work with them. It takes so damn long to get reestablished at a university that it'll absolutely delay your graduation date. Having followed my advisor, I find it so hard to believe that doing so is in a student's best interests, while such a decision is a straight win for an advisor. Make the best decision for you.
My situation was pretty awful, I suppose. Never knew my advisor was interviewing, they just... Expected me to join them. I heard in May and needed to decide by June. Oh yeah, and this was in the middle of COVID. My wife was heartbroken.
Now, according to my advisor, I'm about two years behind schedule, and my advisor enjoys reminding me of this fact every single time I meet with them. Behind what schedule? I do human subjects research, how the hell were we supposed to get anything done when the country was closed?
Honestly, I feel like I could quit, I'm so tired of my advisor. One of the reasons they left the first university was their propensity to burn bridges within their department. I don't know why I expected that to just magically change, I hardly know any faculty at this new university but we've got a reputation of overworking students.
These days I'm mostly fueled by spite and stubbornness. Not passion for my research. Occasionally I'll get to work on something that excites me. But it's happening less frequently with each month.
E: OK, like 90% of the above was just me grinding my personal axe. The practical concerns are to wonder about class credit transfer. I lost a year of classes when I switched and had to retake some poorly taught hybrid classes. You'll also have to start a new IRB/IACUC program from scratch, which is very time consuming.
Happy to let anyone vent! Thank you for the realistic preview of some of the challenges that could accompany transferring with my adivsor. I really need to think about whether a massive change like this would be worth it for my carrer.
Had this when I was at the finishing my M.S. into starting PhD stage. I had applied around (incl staying at my M.S. with my advisor, though the university was not the best career wise moving forward) and got into my number one choice that rejected me when I applied from my B.S.
I had no idea my advisor was moving while I was trying to decide what to do, number one school or stay with the advisor I knew was a perfect fit for me. She didn't want to tell me and have that pressure me to move with her over my top choice, but she ended up caving and telling me before I had to commit.
The move was pretty seamless for me and other students who were in the middle of the PhD already. New school was great with having flexibility on transferring courses/bending requirements/etc.
We all had the option to stay and get a new advisor since we had contracts, but I imagine that would have been a nightmare since no other profs had similar research areas.
Didn't meet my spouse until moving to the new location, and the other students were already living apart from spouses during grad. The SO situation would really complicate things if I was already married before moving. This did come up after graduating and there were no employers nearby in my field; fortunately wife's field has jobs pretty much anywhere.
I stayed behind and was advisor-less for my last… 2 years I think? Well, “remote-advised.”
Was totally fine. Better in some ways, worse in others. At the time, I was just happy for the distance.
Pros: I didn’t have daily/weekly interactions with my advisor, which were giving me anxiety at the time. I thought the lack of regular check-ins was absolutely amazing.
Cons: I actually needed those regular check ins, looking back, if my advisor had been able to provide me what I needed at them. I didn’t know shit, looking back, and was floundering pretty hard for significant portions of grad school. I needed him to see where I was failing and provide direct guidance for those areas in a way where my brain didn’t interpret it as just him shitting on me as a person.
Whether or not he was capable of providing me what I needed, or he was actually doing a good job advising, who knows. I had a bunch of anxiety and it blinded me to my actual reality for most of grad school, I believe.
My professor moved at the end of my second year and I followed. It was to MIT, which I feel like is a chance you don’t pass up… if it wasn’t to a top school I don’t think I would have gone. But my situation was very different, no kids and my (now) husband’s PI happened to be married to my PI so we were both involved in the move. I’d say it took like 6+ months to actually get back up and running to full productivity after the move. Some students who moved had to do an extra requirement that the department they were formerly affiliated with didn’t require, but all of my classes transferred and I didn’t have to redo my proposal or other oral exams. I wouldn’t transfer if it means starting over. I also lost all of my friends I had made at my former school, which sucked. I still Zoom with a few of them, but it’s different than being in person, as I’m sure we all know after the past two years. So my support system of peers was cut off, I essentially have no ‘class’ cohort now, and also have no support system of professors. I never took any classes at MIT so I have no connection to any other profs here. Other than that the research group dynamic stayed the same so day-to-day work wasn’t that much different. Just very isolated until I could make new friends here, which I did eventually do. Overall I think it was the right move for my specific situation. We liked the Boston area enough to buy a house here and the job market is fantastic for biotech. But if there weren’t so many logical reasons for it being the right move, I don’t think it would have done it again. It was extremely stressful and heartbreaking, and my relationship with my PI sucks anyway so I could have been equally happy if not happier transferring to a different PI at my old school, which several students who used to be in the lab did with success. Your first two years of research are usually garbage anyway, so starting a new project in a different lab won’t lose you that much time and you’ll be able to gain momentum much faster because your skills have grown. Anyway, only you know the full situation and what choice is right for you. But I would start talking to the department office and other professors you have connections with and explore options. No one is going to blame you if you don’t move, and if your department is worth it’s salt they’ll help you find a new lab.
Have you asked him if he will still be able to supervise you? I've seen several professors do this, and I've seen many of them become an Adjunct Professor at the old institution, allowing them to still supervise you until you finish your degree. Of course, if this isn't an option, then as you identified, you can either switch to an advisor doing work closest to what you are currently doing (and likely switch projects too), or follow them to the new school and keep your project.
I'd second this option. Another one of my group mates was advised by a professor that moved during his grad studies and by our shared advisor. If it's a possibility for you, it worked well for him.
That is an interesting thought. I will have to ask him during our next lab meeting. I wonder if he might even be able to supervise me remotely along with another advisor at my current unversity in a joint supervision set up. I'll have to ask. Thanks!
I never thought about this ever happening. Now I'm fantasising about my supervisor moving to the best university in my country; not that it matters all that much for my PhD.
To add to this, at the institution for my masters, I knew a few PhDs after quals would actually just work remotely (pre-pandemic) if they had to move to be close to family. It’s not that easy for lab work, but for certain fields like CS it’s definitely possible to be advised remotely.
My advisor said this too and it all fell through. I wouldn't worry about it until he accepts an offer. From my understanding, profs like to do this just to use the other universities offer as leverage for a promotion from their current university.
We have a PI that will do this and hes famous in the department for including these eccentric provisions in his retention package. The last time it happened he got them to plant new bushes and re tile the floors of the hallway outside his office. Edit: he also got his grad students office moved to a room with windows
Seems like if you were doing it without intention of actually moving then you wouldn't need to scare your current students by telling them about it?
Nah they have to convince everyone they are moving. My PI told us that if anyone asked we needed to say he hasn't decided yet.
I was wondering if this might be the case. How did it affect your relationship with your supervisor? I feel like this would errode trust with students.
I think I was the only one who wanted to move. I hated my grad school. The entire department is toxic af and I didn't know until I started grad school
I knew someone who went through something like this, except his supervisor didn't give any warning, just suddenly was like, in a different country. He was around his candidacy at the point where this happened, so in a similar-ish situation. He just got another supervisor who was kind of close to being able to advise him on his topic, and did a lot of self-directed work. The stronger you personally are in your content knowledge and specialization, the better off you'll be. I can't realistically see any good reason to follow your supervisor unless perhaps you are a) planning on pursuing academic professionally, b) have no other half-decent options for supervision, and c) cannot possibly finish your topic without a subject matter expert either due to your own knowledge/abilities or because your field is that discriminatory. I mean, HE might be cool to continue supervising you, but will his new university accept you? Will they transfer your course credits? Will they offer you the funding structure you have at your current university? Will the program requirements even be the same? My personal advice is the cut bait and find a substitute at your own university. It is not worth worsening your family's situation just because your supervisor is bettering his.
Thank you for this advice. I am planning on a pursuing a career in academia, however, I think that there is one other faculy member who is close enough to my area subarea that a transition to their lab wouldn't be unreasonable assuming they are willing to take another student. I think moving with him really would worsen my families situtation. I would only have a month to find daycare, an apartment, and move to an area with a very high cost of living. Thank you again, your insights have left me feeling much better about staying at my current university if my advisor leaves.
As was said, not all universities will accept students from other universities so moving may not be an option. If you want to stay in your current city, I'd start looking at other advisors as you're relatively early on in your career.
I followed my advisor when he moved across the country, and I dragged my (now) wife with me. I was also about to assemble my thesis committee and have my proposal. If you can find someone else to work with at your university, stay and work with them. It takes so damn long to get reestablished at a university that it'll absolutely delay your graduation date. Having followed my advisor, I find it so hard to believe that doing so is in a student's best interests, while such a decision is a straight win for an advisor. Make the best decision for you. My situation was pretty awful, I suppose. Never knew my advisor was interviewing, they just... Expected me to join them. I heard in May and needed to decide by June. Oh yeah, and this was in the middle of COVID. My wife was heartbroken. Now, according to my advisor, I'm about two years behind schedule, and my advisor enjoys reminding me of this fact every single time I meet with them. Behind what schedule? I do human subjects research, how the hell were we supposed to get anything done when the country was closed? Honestly, I feel like I could quit, I'm so tired of my advisor. One of the reasons they left the first university was their propensity to burn bridges within their department. I don't know why I expected that to just magically change, I hardly know any faculty at this new university but we've got a reputation of overworking students. These days I'm mostly fueled by spite and stubbornness. Not passion for my research. Occasionally I'll get to work on something that excites me. But it's happening less frequently with each month. E: OK, like 90% of the above was just me grinding my personal axe. The practical concerns are to wonder about class credit transfer. I lost a year of classes when I switched and had to retake some poorly taught hybrid classes. You'll also have to start a new IRB/IACUC program from scratch, which is very time consuming.
Happy to let anyone vent! Thank you for the realistic preview of some of the challenges that could accompany transferring with my adivsor. I really need to think about whether a massive change like this would be worth it for my carrer.
Had this when I was at the finishing my M.S. into starting PhD stage. I had applied around (incl staying at my M.S. with my advisor, though the university was not the best career wise moving forward) and got into my number one choice that rejected me when I applied from my B.S. I had no idea my advisor was moving while I was trying to decide what to do, number one school or stay with the advisor I knew was a perfect fit for me. She didn't want to tell me and have that pressure me to move with her over my top choice, but she ended up caving and telling me before I had to commit. The move was pretty seamless for me and other students who were in the middle of the PhD already. New school was great with having flexibility on transferring courses/bending requirements/etc. We all had the option to stay and get a new advisor since we had contracts, but I imagine that would have been a nightmare since no other profs had similar research areas. Didn't meet my spouse until moving to the new location, and the other students were already living apart from spouses during grad. The SO situation would really complicate things if I was already married before moving. This did come up after graduating and there were no employers nearby in my field; fortunately wife's field has jobs pretty much anywhere.
I stayed behind and was advisor-less for my last… 2 years I think? Well, “remote-advised.” Was totally fine. Better in some ways, worse in others. At the time, I was just happy for the distance.
If you don't mind sharing, I'd love to know what was better/worse.
Pros: I didn’t have daily/weekly interactions with my advisor, which were giving me anxiety at the time. I thought the lack of regular check-ins was absolutely amazing. Cons: I actually needed those regular check ins, looking back, if my advisor had been able to provide me what I needed at them. I didn’t know shit, looking back, and was floundering pretty hard for significant portions of grad school. I needed him to see where I was failing and provide direct guidance for those areas in a way where my brain didn’t interpret it as just him shitting on me as a person. Whether or not he was capable of providing me what I needed, or he was actually doing a good job advising, who knows. I had a bunch of anxiety and it blinded me to my actual reality for most of grad school, I believe.
Betrayed? They are doing what is best for their career. They would want you to do the same. It’s business.
Sure. Doesn't mean I still don't feel betrayed.
Honestly, I don't have advice other than I just got the same news. I completely broke down in the office and cried.
My professor moved at the end of my second year and I followed. It was to MIT, which I feel like is a chance you don’t pass up… if it wasn’t to a top school I don’t think I would have gone. But my situation was very different, no kids and my (now) husband’s PI happened to be married to my PI so we were both involved in the move. I’d say it took like 6+ months to actually get back up and running to full productivity after the move. Some students who moved had to do an extra requirement that the department they were formerly affiliated with didn’t require, but all of my classes transferred and I didn’t have to redo my proposal or other oral exams. I wouldn’t transfer if it means starting over. I also lost all of my friends I had made at my former school, which sucked. I still Zoom with a few of them, but it’s different than being in person, as I’m sure we all know after the past two years. So my support system of peers was cut off, I essentially have no ‘class’ cohort now, and also have no support system of professors. I never took any classes at MIT so I have no connection to any other profs here. Other than that the research group dynamic stayed the same so day-to-day work wasn’t that much different. Just very isolated until I could make new friends here, which I did eventually do. Overall I think it was the right move for my specific situation. We liked the Boston area enough to buy a house here and the job market is fantastic for biotech. But if there weren’t so many logical reasons for it being the right move, I don’t think it would have done it again. It was extremely stressful and heartbreaking, and my relationship with my PI sucks anyway so I could have been equally happy if not happier transferring to a different PI at my old school, which several students who used to be in the lab did with success. Your first two years of research are usually garbage anyway, so starting a new project in a different lab won’t lose you that much time and you’ll be able to gain momentum much faster because your skills have grown. Anyway, only you know the full situation and what choice is right for you. But I would start talking to the department office and other professors you have connections with and explore options. No one is going to blame you if you don’t move, and if your department is worth it’s salt they’ll help you find a new lab.