Non-responsive/dismissive PI

[The Pseudo grad student]

Hey all,

I was hoping you could shed some light on my plight. I've accepted a PhD position aboard in Spain with a famous adviser with lots of media attention for being the youngest person to obtain a professorship and obtaining numerous awards. I won't begin my position until December 1st but there has been zero communication on his part ever since he sent me an acceptance letter. I've emailed him quite a few times asking about certain things and instead of actually choosing to write me himself, I have to go through some HR person who communicates between us. I find this behavior extremely strange, rude, and insulting. I've met other professors here in Spain as well at the same institute that I will work in and they were responsive to any questions I have so I know it's not a cultural problem. The professor himself has worked aboard and can easily communicate in English so there should be no excuse for this. 

I have such a horrible feeling about starting this PhD with this PI based on how he doesn't ever communicate with me directly even though I have sent countless emails to him about relevant things and the interview I had with him in general because when I tried to say goodbye and thank him for the meeting, he acted dismissive. I've rejected a number of positions because I accepted his offer but now I think it's a horrible decision on my part. Unfortunately, the way a PhD works here, I can't go to another PI and beg them to take me into their group so this isn't an option for me. 

Is this normal? Should I not be freaked out? What's your experience? How am I supposed to handle this? Should I just follow my intuition? 

I would be grateful for any type of advice. Thanks so much everyone!

[TakeruK]

I don't think it is necessarily a problem. What kind of questions are you asking? If it's research related, I think it makes sense for you to wait until you arrive before talking about it. After all, you are not yet being paid to think about the work and neither is the professor responsible for you until you begin on December 1. 

I guess it's hard to tell whether this is weird or not without knowing the nature of your questions!

[St Andrews Lynx]

I'd wait until you got over there and see how the group is set up. 

Having an administrative assistant handle your questions isn't a particularly rude thing - especially if the questions are straightforward ones (housing, salary, program requirements, etc). It might be that the PI doesn't know what project he's going to put you on - some PIs wait until immediately before you arrive before they figure that out themselves - which is why some of the your questions are going unanswered.

A PI that responds to all your emails promptly might not be a particularly nice person to work for. A PI that is terrible at replying to emails could still be a great boss once you're close enough to have one-on-one meetings. 

[The Pseudo grad student]

1 hour ago, TakeruK said:

I don't think it is necessarily a problem. What kind of questions are you asking? If it's research related, I think it makes sense for you to wait until you arrive before talking about it. After all, you are not yet being paid to think about the work and neither is the professor responsible for you until you begin on December 1. 

I guess it's hard to tell whether this is weird or not without knowing the nature of your questions!

First off, thanks so much for your replies guys!

I believe I'm asking relevant questions. For one, I need to find a university here to get my PhD in and I asked him for some advice about what he prefers and how I should go about doing that because not all the information is listed on the website. Also his secretary told me about how he wanted his new graduate students to meet each other in a meeting and I expressed interest but haven't heard anything back from him. I suppose or hope that I will get an email from his secretary about this in the future, I hope.  

Is it possible that I'm being over zealous? I do want to start my PhD ASAP but maybe that comes off as annoying in the emails I send. My interactions with him thus far have made me conclude that he hates me or detests me because of the things I said during my interview. It wasn't the greatest but I didn't feel very great afterward either. For some reason or another, he accepted me into his group anyways. 

[TakeruK]

I want to just clarify that I don't mean to make you feel like you have to defend yourself or that I don't believe that you are asking useful questions!  It's just hard to offer any further thoughts without more information.

Moving on, I am a little confused when you say "I need to find a university here to get my PhD in" ? Aren't you already accepted to the PhD program at the University where this professor works? 

Also I have another question for you---when you say HR person, do you mean the Human Resources department staff at the University? Or as you later mention (and someone else asked), the professor's administrative assistant or lab manager instead? If it's the Human Resources staff, then it is a little strange unless you are only asking about employment related things. If it's an administrative assistant or a lab manager, then that's perfectly normal. Especially in big labs, for questions that are logistics based (e.g. where is my mailbox? how do I get paid? do I get a desk or computer?), it makes sense for someone else to handle these requests. The admin person for the lab might be an administrative assistant, but it could also be a postdoc or a staff scientist.

[The Pseudo grad student]

1 hour ago, St Andrews Lynx said:

I'd wait until you got over there and see how the group is set up. 

Having an administrative assistant handle your questions isn't a particularly rude thing - especially if the questions are straightforward ones (housing, salary, program requirements, etc). It might be that the PI doesn't know what project he's going to put you on - some PIs wait until immediately before you arrive before they figure that out themselves - which is why some of the your questions are going unanswered.

A PI that responds to all your emails promptly might not be a particularly nice person to work for. A PI that is terrible at replying to emails could still be a great boss once you're close enough to have one-on-one meetings. 

Okay, thank you for putting that into perspective. I didn't ask specifically about what research I'd be performing but more general questions which now makes sense to why he uses his administrative assistant to communicate. This is definitely a possibility but I wish it didn't feel so personal because I'm so used to communication in general with my superiors. Well at least in the United States I did.  

I really hope for the latter as I don't believe our first meeting/interview went so well so I'm not expecting much in the future.  Thanks again for your perspective, it definitely helped me some! 

[The Pseudo grad student]

3 minutes ago, TakeruK said:

I want to just clarify that I don't mean to make you feel like you have to defend yourself or that I don't believe that you are asking useful questions!  It's just hard to offer any further thoughts without more information.

Moving on, I am a little confused when you say "I need to find a university here to get my PhD in" ? Aren't you already accepted to the PhD program at the University where this professor works? 

Also I have another question for you---when you say HR person, do you mean the Human Resources department staff at the University? Or as you later mention (and someone else asked), the professor's administrative assistant or lab manager instead? If it's the Human Resources staff, then it is a little strange unless you are only asking about employment related things. If it's an administrative assistant or a lab manager, then that's perfectly normal. Especially in big labs, for questions that are logistics based (e.g. where is my mailbox? how do I get paid? do I get a desk or computer?), it makes sense for someone else to handle these requests. The admin person for the lab might be an administrative assistant, but it could also be a postdoc or a staff scientist.

No no, it's totally a relevant assumption. I wasn't offended in the least so no worries!

Yes, the way it works here in Spain is that you first find a project and then apply for a graduate school. Basically the graduate school only serves to provide you with 2 other project supervisors and to gives you the degree in the end. I don't believe he's a professor at any university yet but will be associated with one in the future. I was told indirectly (through the institute I will work for) that I could apply to 2 universities. I'm allowed to choose whichever. It's a kind of a strange situation which is why I kind of would like some guidance. 

Sure, the HR person is someone from the Human Resources department from the institute I will work for. He's not a secretary (I should have said administrative assistant) like I stated in the last response to another person but in this case, he seems to be acting as one. From what I know, he's not a lab manager or scientist or postdoc for the group. He works specifically for the institution (in the HR department) but provides help to students like myself. I can tell you that it's a completely new group so maybe this is why there's so many complications and less communication? I barely feel comfortable asking my PI questions as I think he's annoyed by me. 

[TakeruK]

Oh I see, I guess it's really different than anything I'm used to then! In Canada, you often find a project/supervisor first too, but they would already be attached to a school (so then you would just apply to whatever school they are at). You would only get an acceptance letter when you are accepted to that school. So that's why I was confused.

It does sound like a strange situation, hope you are able to figure it out! 

[ballwera]

Dealing w/ this right now in my rotation. Working with one of the biggest names at our university. It's literally impossible to get anything accomplished because I can never get a hold of the guy. I knew about a month or so into the rotation that it wasn't going to work, but I'm stuck here til next semester. 

[The Pseudo grad student]

On 11/14/2015, 4:34:46, TakeruK said:

Oh I see, I guess it's really different than anything I'm used to then! In Canada, you often find a project/supervisor first too, but they would already be attached to a school (so then you would just apply to whatever school they are at). You would only get an acceptance letter when you are accepted to that school. So that's why I was confused.

It does sound like a strange situation, hope you are able to figure it out! 

No I totally get that. I'm from the States and I know how it's done there so you can understand my utter confusion about this. It is and it's slowly being cleared up nearing my starting date so here's to hoping for the best! Thanks again for your well wishes!

[The Pseudo grad student]

15 hours ago, ballwera said:

Dealing w/ this right now in my rotation. Working with one of the biggest names at our university. It's literally impossible to get anything accomplished because I can never get a hold of the guy. I knew about a month or so into the rotation that it wasn't going to work, but I'm stuck here til next semester. 

Really sorry to hear that. Apparently this chronic non-responsiveness is typical among professors so we're in it for the long haul unfortunately. The more popular they are, the less likely you are to see them, well ever. Are you changing professors or something? I thought rotations were only for people doing MDs so I'm a bit confused. Hopefully it won't remain this way for the rest of the semester, but if so, there isn't much left so just wait it out!