Advice on Adjusting to the Absent-Advisor type

[rockbender]

Hey everyone,

 

I recently started a PhD program (2 months ago). Just like everyone told me, my advisor is very nice... However his incredibly busy schedule took me by surprise (he was very attentive during the recruiting process, go figure). Now that I am in the program, he is gone for weeks at a time - at conferences, workshops, visiting collaborators. I meet with (/see) him once or twice a month, usually very briefly. He is also not very good with emails. Sending him an email is sometimes like sending an email into a black hole. 

 

I know this is not a very special situation, as a lot of people have this absent-advisor kind of experience... I am having a hard time adjusting to it, though, because my relationship with my last advisor was almost the exact opposite. We would meet frequently, multiple times a day. Just casual brief chats. I felt like I could always drop by his office to ask him 1 or 2 random questions, even if they weren't very important. I liked being able to check in with him to make sure I wasn't putzing around wasting time in the lab. I liked being able to talk about perhaps wacky ideas that ended up being cool mini-projects. He was also extremely good about responding to emails, at least within the day, and usually within an hour or 2.

 

I find myself frustrated at times. I miss the more "collegial" relationship that I had with my old advisor, but I know that waxing nostalgic about it is not going to help me move forward. And I know that a PhD program is about being an independent researcher and all that, but I feel like I've been tossed overboard before I knew how to swim. Any advice about how to adjust to an absent advisor? How did you make it work for you? And... how did you reason with yourself to not take it personally?

 

Thanks!

[St Andrews Lynx]

Make use of your labmates - the older grad students and postdocs will have plenty of ideas about techniques to try or advice for your project. They can be just as good a sounding board as your PI. Request to schedule a formal 1 hour meeting with your supervisor once or twice a month where the two of you can sit down together and discuss your progress - I doubt they would mind you taking the initiative to do that.

 

I've had the experience of an advisor who would check up on me multiple times per day, and who I would nip down the corridor to ask random questions on a regular basis, as well as one who wouldn't check up on me but was physically in the building (once or twice a week I'd drop into in his office to ask questions/get advice) to the current one who is physically absent. I do actually prefer the hands-off mentor, though I don't think I get work done as quickly as I did when I had a hands-on micromanager.

 

The way I deal with the change from "close proximity" to "further away" is to always stop myself for a minute when I find myself thinking "Oh, I really need to speak to my advisor about this!" Is it a problem I can sit down and work through myself? Will I be able to find a solution in the literature that is as good as anything my advisor would suggest? What do I think would my advisor will suggest when I ask him X? Can I ask the postdoc instead? Usually about 10 minutes after I had that panicked desire to check in with my PI I've found a good solution under my own initiative. It's been great at forcing me to think for myself and to make (sometimes scary!) decisions that I have to stand by later when my PI asks about them. 

[buffalowizard]

I also started grad school about two months ago and have been facing similar struggles. St Andrews Lynx has some excellent suggestions.

 

Some optimism: It may very well be the case that your advisor will be around much more once classes start, especially if he will be teaching. Many professors receive no salary during the summer. Furthermore, due to teaching obligations and assorted administrivia, it can be difficult for professors do much traveling during the academic year. Thus, summer is the perfect (or the only) opportunity to take extended family vacations, visit collaborators, etc.

 

Don't panic. Fall's just around the corner. And if your advisor was very attentive during the application process, chances are he will once again be attentive once the school year begins.

[juilletmercredi]

Twice a month should be plenty for a meeting with your advisor.  You should not expect multiple meetings a day or casual/brief chats with your advisor at this stage.  You are expected to become an independent scholar, that includes being able to determine for yourself whether you are wasting time or whether a side project is a good idea.

My advisor is not exactly absent - I'd say he's in the middle (we meet twice a month and he's usually very accessible by email, but every now and then he disappears for a few weeks at a time.  On reflection, I imagine that some students would consider him absent/distant - one of my labmates certainly seems to think so).  Independence comes with time, but part of it is taking the initiative in the relationship.  Can you get your advisor to agree to a regular biweekly meeting time that he will set aside?  If that seems far-fetched or he's disagreeable, then set the next meeting date at the prior meeting.  Just come out and say it - "Let's set a date for our next meeting."  And make it for 2 weeks into the future.

If you are in a lab science, likely there are other grad students or postdocs in your lab or neighboring labs.  They will become your new buddies to bounce ideas upon or have casual chats.  Advanced grad students and postdocs are great for making sure that you aren't off-track or wasting time, and all kinds of grad students may be good for talking through side projects and ideas.

 

Also, buffalowizard is exactly right about the summer.  Both of my advisors do most of their disappearing acts in the summer, especially August.  In fact, I've met with each of them once this month.  Usually when the academic year starts, they're around more and you can meet with them more regularly and maybe even stop by their office if you have a quick important question.

This is just personal and not advice, but I think this post just exemplifies different working styles.  Your old advisor would drive me crazy, lol!  One of the things I love about my advisor is that as long as I'm producing, he leaves me alone.  In fact, the onus is on me to schedule our meetings, come up with agendas and direct my program of study, and I like that.  He mostly talks me down out of crazy ideas and helps to guide me on the right path, but I'm the director and he's the producer.