Advisor Issues

[SymmetryOfImperfection]

I emailed a potential advisor about his work and said I was very interested and wanted to join his group. He said "OK, talk to me in a few days, I'm first going to put your name down on the group email listing." I assumed I was in.

I waited a few days, then emailed him asking "when can I get started? Can I go into lab and start instrument training?" No response for a week, so I got worried I wasn't really "in". He already has 10 (!!!) students, his group is big and well funded, and so I thought he just was "whatever" about me. So emailed another professor who had a new project that I was interested in and was good for my background. That professor replied very quickly and said "sure. come to my office tomorrow."

Did I commit myself to the first professor and must say no to the second? I'm really worried that with 10 students, he won't be able to advise me too deeply. I didn't think it through at first since his research was pretty interesting but now I'm starting to see.

[ktel]

I don't think his initial response shows a high level of committment to you. If he does actually respond you can say another professor already offered you a position. I doubt he will be too offended as he has no investment in you.

[mandarin.orange]

I'm really worried that with 10 students, he won't be able to advise me too deeply.

I think this hunch is spot-on. Likely one of his grad students or someone who's been in the lab longer would be your go-to anyway for training and research tasks, and you may have never been advised or even seen by that professor. If you want to cultivate more direct mentoring, go with the second professor, who's responded quickly and is able to talk to you one-on-one.

[Eigen]

My boss has that many grad students, plus a post-doc and undergrads, and he's able to be our go-to for training, advice, etc. We all meet with him at least weekly, if not more often, as needed.

I would e-mail the first professor and let him know that there's another project more in line with your research, but thanking him for his time.

Polite, concise, and takes care of wondering whether you're in the process of joining two groups at once.

Personally, I would have done it before you agreed to work with the second professor, but I'd just go ahead and get on it now.

[Dal PhDer]

I have to agree with Eigen. It's a tough situation. I was recently in a similar spot with committee members. I was getting frustrated waiting around for people to respond and/or commit and would chat with other people. It gets frustrating when you want to dive in, and others' schedules/responses delay you. However, you did kind of commit yourself with the wording of your communications (so it sounds like)...through my experience, you have to word things carefully and kind of "interview" professors with the right spot. Because there is a lot of competition for tenure and such between people in the same departments, it might create some tension if you agree to work with one prof, and then leave to work for another.

However, with that said, you can wait around for someone. You took charge and it sounds like this new prof is really interested in working with you and can provide you with what you need. As Eigen said, I would write a nice and polite email just saying explaining the situation.

Good luck!