Changing PhD Advisors

It’s October, and in honor of the spookiest of seasons, we’re tackling the spine-shivering topic of switching Ph.D. advisors.

Dr. Franz Tax, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Diversity and Inclusion, has helped many students switch Ph.D. advisors. Choosing a new advisor can happen for a variety of reasons, including when an advisor leaves the university, when a student’s interests change, when the dynamics of the faculty/student relationship change, or when the research or mentor was not a good fit for the student. One misconception this article aims to dispel is that switching Ph.D. advisors means there’s been a relationship drama or that the student has somehow failed. Switching advisors just means that—for one reason or another—you don’t feel that the arrangement is helping you achieve your goals. And that’s a common situation. How many of us came to college with an inaccurate idea of what our undergraduate program would be? And even if the program was exactly what we expected, how many of us discovered that it wasn’t a good fit after all? Or maybe we were fine with the program, but wow do we like another program more!

Finding out what you really need to succeed is part of the learning process. The stakes feel higher in grad school, so it may seem that switching is more fraught, but that feeling actually underscores the importance of finding the person who can help you manage change successfully. To take the first step towards finding that person, you need to assess whether your current advisor is meeting your needs, and to do that, Dr. Tax advises you find a community.

A community of other graduate students—especially students a year or two ahead of you in your program—can help you evaluate your experience with your advisor. They can also inform you about different types of mentor-mentee relationships. In the same way that traveling to different countries helps you look at your own with fresh eyes, learning about others’ experiences will help you discover which options are right for you.

If you have decided that it’s time to switch, it doesn’t have to be a scandal. In Dr. Tax’s Molecular and Cellular Biology department, there are occasionally one or two people changing advisors, so there’s an infrastructure in place to support them. Even with the hardest cases—for example, students who’ve chosen to attend a university in order to work with a specific professor only to find that it’s not a good fit—there are solutions. Students can rotate between different professors they might like to work with, and by the time they need to make a choice, they have a good sense of what works for them.

Some departments don’t have a system in place, which is why Dr. Tax and his team are happy to support students considering a change. They try not to step into departmental politics, but they will help you figure out what your goals are and give you the tools to navigate the department. No matter how adroitly you make the switch, if that’s what you choose to do, there will be a moment when you have to tell your current advisor that you’re going to be working with another faculty member. See, I told you this article would be scary. This conversation isn’t something you want to do over text, or a strongly worded email, or even an in-person ambush.

“It helps when students and mentors communicate openly,” says Tax. “And that doesn't mean you have to be antagonistic. My advice to students is always to try to not to make it personal, even though it's sometimes a little personal. I really like to encourage students to use the phrase, ‘It wasn’t a good fit.’ It’s not judgmental, and if you can tell other people you’re switching smoothly and cleanly and without judgment, that's the best way to keep the drama down.”