Adviser backed out???

[tufit]

I applied to a Ph.D entomology program at U Minnesota in a pretty standard way- decided which prof I wanted as an adviser, contacted them asking if they were accepting students, then applied after I was told they were looking for a student.

 

I was told that my application was good, and was flown out for a prospective student day, and talked with multiple profs within the department, including the one I had first talked to. They said that they didn't have funding for the project I was interested in, but didn't make a big deal out of it, and I was told I was eligible for grad fellowships. I also talked with a newly hired prof, who seemed interested in me, and told the department head I'd be interested in working with both the person I was initially interested in and the newly hired person.

 

Skip to April 15th, I don't hear back, send an email to the director of grad studies asking when I would hear back. He says that the professor I contacted initially doesn't have the funding for a student, and that I needed to find a new adviser to be accepted into the program. He mentioned that they hired my old P.I, and that I should ask him to be my adviser. However, it seem that I've been accepted, but cannot attend without an adviser. I feel like I'm in Limbo. 

 

I contacted my P.I, who couldn't give me any answer since he's very busy and was only hired about a week ago. I asked the grad adviser if the newly hired prof, as well as another prof from the department with similar research interests needed students, and he responded that no one in the department needed a student!

 

I have never heard of this happening to anyone and am very confused. I don't know why I was encouraged to apply and given so much positive attention without anyone telling me how uncertain the funding was. No one made an issue of it, and when I was at the prospective students day, they treated me like I was already set. 

 

Has this happened to anyone? Should I even attend this school, if by some luck I can secure an adviser?

[MathCat]

I'm guessing that no advisor = no funding (is this what you mean by cannot attend without an advisor)? Do you have other options of where to attend, or is this a go unfunded vs. wait a year question? How long do you have to decide? Have you formally accepted an offer from this school? Whether or not you should attend depends on what your other options are and how satisfied you are with the advisor you find (assuming you do find one). Perhaps you can tell us a bit more about your options.

 

To be honest, I don't think this qualifies as your advisor "backing out" - from what you've said, he never actually accepted you as a student - you were just assuming he had. It's easy to make that assumption, but until it's been formalized, there hasn't been any such agreement for him to be backing out of. He couldn't find funding for a student - that is quite common, actually (although unfortunate).

[tufit]

The no adviser = no acceptance rule is probably about funding, but also because grad school for entomology (and ecology, which is what I did undergrad in) is very lab focused, you just need to have an adviser when you start.

 

This is the only school I wasn't rejected from, so it's get in or reapply next year, hence my nervousness. 

 

And while I understand that we had no formal agreement, I'm just confused as to why I was encouraged to apply, given that the funding wasn't certain, and that the uncertainty of the funding wasn't stressed more when I visited. I guess I was just under the impression that since they had invited me to the prospective students day (which they flew me to at their expense), I thought I was in a more secure position then I was. I was also under the impression that I had two potential advisers, but it seems that the other prof I talked to didn't actually have any intention of taking on a new student.

 

 I guess it's comforting to know that this is something that does happen- I'd never really heard of it happening to someone before, so it was a pretty nasty shock.

[MathCat]

I agree, it sucks that they weren't more upfront about the funding situation. Regarding encouraging people to apply, that can be because they won't find out about a funding source until after the deadline - so they have you apply, hoping they get that funding, but of course that doesn't always work out.

 

Since you have no other schools with pressing deadlines, I say try to find an advisor you'd be happy to work with and who can fund you. If you can't do that, then it seems you have no option but to wait another year. I hope it works out.

[tufit]

Thank you for your concern.

 

For now it looks like my only option is to wait to hear back from my old P.I. After looking through these forums, it sounds like re-applying isn't that uncommon, maybe it will be for the best.

[alion24]

Totally read this as "advisor blacked out," the first time around.

 

Anyway, I had a somewhat similar experience. I chose a different school because I wanted a stable PI. 

[Crucial BBQ]

 

 

I have never heard of this happening to anyone and am very confused. I don't know why I was encouraged to apply and given so much positive attention without anyone telling me how uncertain the funding was. No one made an issue of it, and when I was at the prospective students day, they treated me like I was already set. 

 

Has this happened to anyone? Should I even attend this school, if by some luck I can secure an adviser?

The program I applied  at University of Maryland does this.  That is, they admit the student first then the student finds an advisor after having been accepted into the program.  The kicker is that the student cannot matriculate until an advisor is found...so...you are an accepted student into the program but not a student at the school but are...but not...but...

 

At Maryland it has nothing to do with [lack of] funding; it is just how the program does it. 

 

Yeah, stuck in limbo here, too.  My POI in the program is actually a colleague of a friend of mine and still no word after three emails.  So I dunno...

 

*edit to remove name of program. 

Edited May 4, 2015 by Crucial BBQ