Things with my advisor aren't working out and he has pretty much told me to find someone else to work with. My advisor is very pleasant about things so far and has given me his "blessing". With that said, how would I go about approaching the topic with another faculty member? I hadn't really put much thought into it before because although things have been strained between us, it was more stylistic stuff and we were always cordial with each other and able to get work done in spite of the differences. Now I'm guessing my advisor just doesn't want to deal with things, but has framed it more in the way of "I want what's best for you". The unfortunate part is that there really isn't anyone in my department who is doing work that really excites me, so I've been thinking of going outside of the department to find an advisor. Whether in department or out, how would I go about starting this dialogue? Should I be upfront about things and let them know I need an advisor, or should I scope out their research and mentorship style before starting that conversation? Just not really sure where to start or what to even say to a potential new advisor.
Switching advisors
- Thread starter PeaSprout
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2010
- Messages
- 9,855
- Reaction score
- 6,942
I'd definitely try to stay in the department if at all possible. I don't even know if it's actually possible to have a primary advisor who's not actually in your area of study/degree emphasis.
Your match with the person's research and clinical interests is probably a good place to start. If there's no one doing stuff that excites you, is there someone who's at least focusing on areas that are tangentially related to what you'd like to do? If so, they might be willing to let you branch out a bit. RE: mentorship style, your best bet might be to check with other grad students who've worked with that person to see how their experiences have been.
Once all that information is gathered, I'd saying being upfront is best.
Your match with the person's research and clinical interests is probably a good place to start. If there's no one doing stuff that excites you, is there someone who's at least focusing on areas that are tangentially related to what you'd like to do? If so, they might be willing to let you branch out a bit. RE: mentorship style, your best bet might be to check with other grad students who've worked with that person to see how their experiences have been.
Once all that information is gathered, I'd saying being upfront is best.
