The Pseudo grad student

Really sorry to hear that. Apparently this chronic non-responsiveness is typical among professors so we're in it for the long haul unfortunately. The more popular they are, the less likely you are to see them, well ever. Are you changing professors or something? I thought rotations were only for people doing MDs so I'm a bit confused. Hopefully it won't remain this way for the rest of the semester, but if so, there isn't much left so just wait it out!

No I totally get that. I'm from the States and I know how it's done there so you can understand my utter confusion about this. It is and it's slowly being cleared up nearing my starting date so here's to hoping for the best! Thanks again for your well wishes!

No no, it's totally a relevant assumption. I wasn't offended in the least so no worries! Yes, the way it works here in Spain is that you first find a project and then apply for a graduate school. Basically the graduate school only serves to provide you with 2 other project supervisors and to gives you the degree in the end. I don't believe he's a professor at any university yet but will be associated with one in the future. I was told indirectly (through the institute I will work for) that I could apply to 2 universities. I'm allowed to choose whichever. It's a kind of a strange situation which is why I kind of would like some guidance. Sure, the HR person is someone from the Human Resources department from the institute I will work for. He's not a secretary (I should have said administrative assistant) like I stated in the last response to another person but in this case, he seems to be acting as one. From what I know, he's not a lab manager or scientist or postdoc for the group. He works specifically for the institution (in the HR department) but provides help to students like myself. I can tell you that it's a completely new group so maybe this is why there's so many complications and less communication? I barely feel comfortable asking my PI questions as I think he's annoyed by me.

Okay, thank you for putting that into perspective. I didn't ask specifically about what research I'd be performing but more general questions which now makes sense to why he uses his administrative assistant to communicate. This is definitely a possibility but I wish it didn't feel so personal because I'm so used to communication in general with my superiors. Well at least in the United States I did. I really hope for the latter as I don't believe our first meeting/interview went so well so I'm not expecting much in the future. Thanks again for your perspective, it definitely helped me some!

First off, thanks so much for your replies guys! I believe I'm asking relevant questions. For one, I need to find a university here to get my PhD in and I asked him for some advice about what he prefers and how I should go about doing that because not all the information is listed on the website. Also his secretary told me about how he wanted his new graduate students to meet each other in a meeting and I expressed interest but haven't heard anything back from him. I suppose or hope that I will get an email from his secretary about this in the future, I hope. Is it possible that I'm being over zealous? I do want to start my PhD ASAP but maybe that comes off as annoying in the emails I send. My interactions with him thus far have made me conclude that he hates me or detests me because of the things I said during my interview. It wasn't the greatest but I didn't feel very great afterward either. For some reason or another, he accepted me into his group anyways.

Hey all, I was hoping you could shed some light on my plight. I've accepted a PhD position aboard in Spain with a famous adviser with lots of media attention for being the youngest person to obtain a professorship and obtaining numerous awards. I won't begin my position until December 1st but there has been zero communication on his part ever since he sent me an acceptance letter. I've emailed him quite a few times asking about certain things and instead of actually choosing to write me himself, I have to go through some HR person who communicates between us. I find this behavior extremely strange, rude, and insulting. I've met other professors here in Spain as well at the same institute that I will work in and they were responsive to any questions I have so I know it's not a cultural problem. The professor himself has worked aboard and can easily communicate in English so there should be no excuse for this. I have such a horrible feeling about starting this PhD with this PI based on how he doesn't ever communicate with me directly even though I have sent countless emails to him about relevant things and the interview I had with him in general because when I tried to say goodbye and thank him for the meeting, he acted dismissive. I've rejected a number of positions because I accepted his offer but now I think it's a horrible decision on my part. Unfortunately, the way a PhD works here, I can't go to another PI and beg them to take me into their group so this isn't an option for me. Is this normal? Should I not be freaked out? What's your experience? How am I supposed to handle this? Should I just follow my intuition? I would be grateful for any type of advice. Thanks so much everyone!

I'm about 6 months till graduation from my masters program and I think one of the scariest things to do is to get a job. All I hear constantly is that once you go out in industry, you'll most likely never want to go back to school. I've pretty much exhausted all my grad school options and see no other choice other than to start working in industry that I might be PhD worthy but I'm afraid that once I go into the work force, I won't have this passion (to get my PhD, do research) any longer. Can you guys tell me your experience on this, whether or not what I stated before is true and some advice would be nice too. Thanks!

I definitely know what you mean. I was finally accepted last week and since it wasn't an official acceptance I'm now waiting on the grad admissions to send something out already! I need to apply for a TA, RA position but that's reliant on the grad admissions. What's taking so long guys? In my incredible happiness I started to look for apartments on craigslist and find out more about the area itself. It seems to pass by the time nicely for me.

Haha, I LOVE your tenacity! People might think you insane but I'll think of you as devoted. It definitely shows merits for getting into the school! Good luck on whatever school you are waiting on!

OMG that is horrible! I'm so sorry that you had to go through that but I guess it was for the better since I'm sure you don't like being at a school constantly doubting your merit so it's their loss. It makes you think, even if you get accepted into a school, maybe there will be other factors in place that might make us end up in your situation as well. Ahhh... now I'm all paranoid But seriously good luck to you SublimeDelusions, you deserved to be in a better school than your current one.

Sorry about saying that I made someone sad, I think I was just feeling so down at that point that I stated it. But the weekend was good to me and I hope it was good for Clawsworth too! I definitely took some time over this weekend and did learn from this experience and now I am more determined than ever to get into my dream school and do whatever I can to reach it, even if it takes me another 20 years to do so. I do really appreciate the therapy session, it helped me rethink my goals and begin anew! It's all apart of the experience. Yeah, I hear you. Although I'm not an international student like you, I've had many friends who were in your same exact situation. Interestingly enough they joked around about marrying someone to get a green card to stay in the country but I'm not sure if that's your situation. Don't worry though, you've got many schools left to hear from so there is always a chance! I've decided (after our therapy session) that if I do get into one of my last 2 schools that I'm going to take it because I know that if I work my ass of at that school and then reapply for my PhD, I know I'll make it. I know! It's not weird at all!! It's just nice to know that there is a community of people out there who are dealing with the same situation as we are and telling each other our stories. It's a comforting community that makes us feel like e-friends.

I know what you mean, I want to go back to school too. I feel my millions of brain cells die every hour when I'm not actually in school. Just you wait, it'll be your turn to celebrate soon! I say hit the beach this weekend. I know the weather in Socal is gonna be nice so that should be a nice stress free way to relax! I wish I could do the same but it's going to rain hear and I'm too far away form any decent beaches. See you Monday!

Thanks for the well wishes martizzle, it's helped me brighten up a little. Good luck to you as well, I hope the rest of your schools see your potential and accept you with full funding as easily as you have shown us kindness

Sorry to hear that, I hate it when other people get rejected from the schools they've applied to. You have 4 more left though! Keep your hope alive and I'm sure good things will be heading your way. As for me, 2 programs left to hear from and losing hope every moment. Those two other acceptances are from god awful schools that aren't even ranked for my major so it was nothing to celebrate. I've decided that I'm not even going to them because they are each so horrible in their own respects I know what you mean though, the waiting is the worst part. But I feel like it's all worth it when you actually get into a school! Distract yourself with other things, for example, today I went shopping for some retail therapy and came back to a lovely rejection letter but at least it distracted me for 4 hours. I should stop making you sad... good luck on hearing back from the rest of your schools Clawsworth and let me know that it was all worth it!