So you’ve checked out this faculty member’s research. The work seems really intriguing to you. Moreover, the faculty member likes you, so the agreement is made. You now officially have an advisor. As time marches on, however, you realize something fishy. You realize while this faculty member is *nominally* your advisor, the faculty member isn’t actually advising you!
So the question is, what do you do when you find out that you don’t actually have an advisor? This dilemma is one that too many PhD students find themselves in year after year, institution to institution. Ideally, your advisor is supposed to train you to become a scientist. All too frequently this isn’t the case. So what do you do?
There are a number of alternatives. And you may want to do one, some, or all of the following, but if you find yourself in this kind of dilemma make sure you’re doing at least ONE of these suggestions.
- Find mentorship from more senior PhD students. Although this bunch can be surprisingly difficult to track down, when you do, they can be a tremendous resource.
- Find mentorship from a postdoc or another faculty member. If you have a relatively large department, this shouldn’t be too difficult. However, if there are few faculty and postdocs in your department, the next suggestion may be extremely helpful to you.
- Talk with students that actually have “real” advisors. By “real” advisor, I mean an advisor that actually trains their students (or at least has a reputation of doing so). In this way, you would learn what it is like (indirectly) to have an advisor that is actually training you.
- Check out the advice Web pages of faculty within your research area or field. You’d be surprised at the amount of useful advice is out there.
What are some ways you know of that people use to overcome not actually having an advisor?
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