Prof on sabbatical

[Kleene]

Some profs go on sabbaticals, often to visit other academic institutions for longer periods of time. A possible PI (for a PhD next year) is currently on a sabbatical. Has anyone had the experience of applying with a PI on sabbatical? I can imagine it may affect his current students, but also new ones he will be taking on.

[GeoDUDE!]

My advisor was on maternity leave while I was applying: she still worked and went into the department ever so often (or adcom meetings ect) so it was just fine. There is nothing to worry about.

[ProfLorax]

I've had good experiences, but some of my friends have had horrible experiences--especially if signatures are needed. Still, this is something I wouldn't worry about until getting in. After you are accepted, you can ask direct questions, like "will you continue advising students while on sabbatical? How often will you be on campus? What is the best way for students to communicate with you while you're away?" 

[TakeruK]

All of my experiences with professors on sabbatical have been good. I've worked for 3 professors while they were on sabbatical and my current advisor was on leave when I was applying/visiting at my current school. Here's a summary of experiences:

 

1. First advisor ever (in undergrad) was on sabbatical for a few months during my full time work placement (co-op program) with them. However, they were taking the kind of sabbatical where they still went to work, except they didn't teach classes or attend committee meetings so that they were free to travel (I'm going to call this a "staybattical"). This meant that I just met with this advisor a little bit less often than I did before they went on sabbatical.

 

2. Second advisor was gone for the entire 8 month work placement. I only saw them once when they were in town for a meeting. Otherwise, my only contact ever were emails (about once per week) and group meetings via Skype (every other week). Instead, I worked very closely with the research scientist in the lab. Not ideal, but I knew this coming into the work placement and I call it a good experience because the PI did their due diligence to ensure I had the right support from the other members of the lab.

 

3. Third experience was during my Masters program. My advisor chooses to take a 6 month sabbatical every 3 years instead of an entire year off every 6 years. So, my advisor was away for 6 months in the 2 year MSc program. However, this advisor also did the "stay-battical"thing so that worked out well.

 

4. The fact that my PhD advisor was away on leave while I was applying had absolutely no impact on my application or current PhD program!

 

Overall, I agree with proflorax--don't worry about it until you are accepted and start talking to professors to plan your PhD research program. You can and should ask those direct questions!

 

However, also keep in mind that as long as you are able to communicate with your advisor via email somewhat regularly or find someone else to supervise you while they are gone, it might not make a big difference at all. After all, 1 year out of the entire length of the PhD (especially if it's your first year while you are doing a lot of classes) is not that long. There are lots of ways students mitigate advisor absence: e.g. front-load their courses, work on a side project, find collaborators to work more closely with etc.

 

Also, as for official things like signatures, the program might be able to help you by designating an alternate person that can sign for things. In my department, professors travel a lot anyways, and all the professors have stamps of their signatures which the secretaries have. If we need something signed and they are not there, we just ask the professor to email the secretary giving approval for them to use the stamp to sign our various forms. 

[dr. t]

Some profs go on sabbaticals, often to visit other academic institutions for longer periods of time. A possible PI (for a PhD next year) is currently on a sabbatical. Has anyone had the experience of applying with a PI on sabbatical? I can imagine it may affect his current students, but also new ones he will be taking on.

 

I would email them. Sometimes if a prof. is out of the country, etc., they have a harder time (or even don't) pulling in a student.

[TMP]

It does depend on the overall departmental culture and politics concerning whether or not the faculty on leave may be able to get a new student upon his/her return.  I've applied to programs where my POIs were on leave and didn't get in.  I knew it would be tough- they had told me that they wouldn't be able to be "there" to pull the strings.

 

It's normal and expected that your adviser will go on leave at least once during your PhD.  It does matter at what stage though- prior to candidacy exams, you'll need him/her around.  It's going to be up to the two of you how you're going to be able to proceed while s/he is gone.   Developing a relationship with other faculty members in your first year is crucial for this reason (and many others) because you'll want to build a support network which you can lean on when you're running into issues with your adviser.

 

Thus far, I haven't really heard any of my graduate peers complaining about an adviser going MIA because of sabbatical.  If they're MIA, they're already MIA by character.  With e-mails, phones, etc. these days, no reason for people to drastically change their communication.

[juilletmercredi]

If he is currently on sabbatical, that means he will be back from sabbatical next year, which means that it really shouldn't affect you as a new student. The only way that it would affect you is if he has decided not to review any applications this year while he's away and concentrate on selecting new PhD students in 2015-2016 to begin in the fall of 2016. But given that he would shoot himself in the own foot by doing that - particularly if his current students are mostly or all advanced - that might not be an issue. Most of the time when professors are on sabbatical, they are still doing some kind of work - they are just away from their current university. One of my two PIs went on sabbatical twice when I was a student; the first was when I was a second year. He was writing a book that year and was on campus the entire time; I met with him biweekly as if nothing was different. And he brought in a new student to start the next year, too. The second was during my sixth year, when I was writing my dissertation. He was on campus for the entire first semester and although he suspended all of his other duties, he still met with me to talk about my progress. He left for another institution in the spring, but we chatted on Skype and he was very responsive on email when I needed him, and we simply arranged my defense to happen after he returned. I'm not sure if he took another student this year, because I graduated (woohoo!) Anyhow, email him and ask him, briefly, if he's planning on accepting students to begin fall 2015.