WorriedTurtle

I've heard this is not all that uncommon but I would never expect that it would happen to me! My advisor recently told me that this will be his last year at my institution as he has accepted a position at another place. He outlined several options for me: 1) Stay at my current school and he will help me find a new advisor 2) Move with my advisor to the new school 3) Transfer to another school; he said he'll write me a stellar rec letter Some background info: I'm currently a 2nd yr. engineering student in the PhD program who have yet to take the quals (scheduled to take it in the Spring). My advisor is overseeing my MS thesis which I will receive along the way to the PhD this year. I'm not that far along in my program yet as you can see. My program is ranked in the top 5 in my field and the school is very well-known (i.e., name-brand school). The school my advisor is going to is ranked in the top 10 in my field and somewhat well-known. For my specific research interest, there are no one else in my department that works in that area. However, there are a few people in a different department so if I choose to stay at my current school I will most likely finish the MS and transfer department for the PhD or pick a different research focus. Of course, if move to the new school I will continue to work with my advisor. My advisor is known in my area of research and is probably one of the best advisor a student can have (one of the condition he made before taking the job is for them to give me full support). I do not know anything about the department at the new school except that there are 1-2 people working on the same topic. I'm leaning on the third option. The school I would want to transfer to is another name-brand place that is top 5 in my field. The department has a very well-known person in my research area who happens to collaborate a lot with my current advisor. The main factor I would want to transfer, however, is that I'll be much closer to my significant other and friends. If I choose this option I will have to go through the admission process all over again. While my advisor has close contacts with the person I would like to work under, it does not mean guaranteed acceptance. Have anyone experience advisor moving? Would love to hear some advice about my dilemma.