Need some advice!

[knavs0331]

To make a long story short, I got a call from the head of the department at my top choice school telling me that my poi does not have guaranteed funding at the moment and there is a potential that I get a year or so into my program and there's no more money for research. Also the current student has chosen to leave the lab and this isn't the first time that's happened (waiting to hear back from that student as to why).

Both of those are red flags to me and make me not want to join that labia PhD program is a big commitment and I don't want to be disappointed a year or so into it.

It sounds like I have the option to do a rotation in the department my first year and decide on am advisor after that. I'm leaning towards this option because I believe I'll have a lot of opportunities at this university and there are a handful of labs I could see myself loving. Plus I like the idea of getting to know multiple labs before I commit myself to one for 5 years.

Should I do this rotation option? Should I be worried about not fitting in anywhere after the rotations? I could really use some advice from you all!

[Vene]

Even if you thought you were 100% certain about that professor, I'd still think a rotation is worth doing. You never know if there will be some form of personality conflict when actually working together. You can include that professor in your rotations if you so desire, but it is always good to fully explore your options.