Advisor doesn't exist

[gradstudent7689]

So I'm not sure anyone can help me, but I'm mostly venting as maybe some of you may be able to sympathize. 

 

So I'm in my 4th year of my PhD program. I spent the first 2.5 years working with one advisor and switched last semester. I switched because my old advisor was interested in areas that I was not interested in at all and they wanted me to work on things I didn't have a background in/wasn't interested in. I was thinking about switching programs, but I met with my current advisor and at first it was wonderful! We were interested in similar things, they were very supportive and I thought I would actually finish my PhD. 

 

But then my new advisor became rather hard to get a hold of. Hard to get a hold of like..I would not have contact with my advisor for months at a time. I'm an independent worker, but I do need my advisor to help me a little bit. Even if they don't help with my research, comprehensive exams, ect, I still need them to sign forms and attend meetings so I can even DO work. I try to reach my advisor by email, cell phone, home phone and I get a reply to maybe 1% of my attempts. 

I knew this advisor was hard to get a hold of, but I didn't realize that they essentially wouldn't exist. 

 

So like I said, I'm mostly just venting, but if anyone has any tips on what I can do that would be great. Even if it's just stress reduction because I'm starting to get so frustrated. Grad school is hard enough without worrying about just being able to do the hard things. 

 

Sigh, thanks for reading. 

PS I already met with my program director about this and they advised me to talk to my advisor (which I couldnt get ahold of lol)

[TakeruK]

Can you ask your program director to help you get in touch with your advisor? Or basically be on your side and support you when you talk to your advisor about getting more of your needs met?

[St Andrews Lynx]

Are you geographically close to your advisor? A decent proportion of faculty are terrible at replying to their emails, calls, etc. And really the only option is to tackle them in person. 

 

If you can, always knock on their office door and invite yourself in for a chat. If necessary you can be a little bit sneaky: find out when & where they teach, if they hold office hours, if there are any Department committee meetings held at specific times which they need to attend. Then you can focus on the timeslots that they're most likely to be in their office or even in the building.

[TMP]

Find out how much contact the adviser has with other grad students.  

 

A place to catch the adviser in person- right after a department faculty meeting if s/he is presently teaching or doing service on campus.  

 

Do you have a dissertation committee yet?  If not, start forming one so you have other faculty members to rely on for support.

 

MIA advisers, in these cases, require that you build a network of faculty support, which is a good skill to have for the future anyway.