When your advisor may be changing institutions

[artstar119]

Is there a standard procedure for when your advisor changes institutions?

[rising_star]

Sadly, no. What happens typically depends on the current institution, the new institution, the advisor, and how far along you are in the program.

[TakeruK]

No standard procedure, but to help you think about what could happen, here are what I've seen my friends/colleagues do (this happens way more often than one might think!):

1. Student remains at first school and finds a different professor to be their advisor. This is most likely when student is in first or second year and/or they do not want to move.

2. Student remains at first school and continues to work with their original advisor. They usually add another faculty member who is at the original school as a co-advisor. This works best for students who are good at working independently and/or there are other faculty at the original school who can serve as a good co-advisor.

3. Student remains registered at the first school, but moves to their advisor's new school to continue their close working relationship. The student may get some "visiting student" status at the other school, but they would still remain officially a student at the first school (and paid by the first school). The student would return to the first school for all degree milestones, such as qual exams, candidacy, thesis defense, etc.  This scenario is more likely for someone who is past the coursework stage of their PhD, likely in their 3rd year or beyond. This is also more likely when the student is funded by a RA or something that is not TA-related.

4. A hybrid of scenarios 2 and 3. The student would remain registered at the first school but would divide their time between the two schools. They might do this out of choice, or because there are different facilities available at each school, or because of commitments like classes or TAships. For a more junior student, they might start more like scenario #2 at first, and stay at the first school during the fall/winter semesters and move to work with their advisor during the summer, until they transition out of classes and TA work. I've also seen students who fly back and forth more often---sometimes spending one month with their advisor, one month "back home" etc. Or maybe one month of each semester with their advisor etc. The frequency of how many flights they can take depends on how much funding their advisor has to pay for all of this. Remember that faculty have some negotiating power when they accept a new job, so some professors may ask their new school for enough money to do this for all of their current students.

5. The student may completely transfer to the new school and move with their advisor. To be clear, all of the above scenarios results in a degree from the original school. This is the only scenario listed where the student gets a degree from the new school instead. Usually, most grad programs do not allow you to count courses at another school towards their degree, so often the student has to start all over again from the beginning. Thus, this is more common when the advisor moves during the student's first year (so only one year is "lost") or when the advisor moves even before the student starts (but after accepting an offer). The advisor may be able to convince their new school to accept the student, even if you didn't apply to the new school originally.

As you can see, there are almost every combination of scenarios possible and a lot of what happens depends on where you are in your studies, what you want (maybe you don't want to live in new city, or you're currently in a low cost of living area and the new school is in a much higher cost of living where your stipend can't cover costs), what resources your advisor has secured in their move, what commitments you still have to your original school and what works best for your research! The important thing is to start talking to your advisor about what they think the potential options are and work out what is acceptable for you.