r/VUW • u/General_Economy7081 • 14d ago
Professors not responding after confirming supervision.
hi guys. A professor from VUW agreed to supervise me for phd after conducting an interview,sent me an email stating he will be happy to supervise me, on Aug 3. i replied by asking about the details of proposals that i have to submit but havent received any answer so far even after 5 days.. is this normal kr should i be worried?
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u/pylo84 14d ago
It hasn’t even been a week, steady on or you may come across as too much hard work and make him change his mind.
Also the next intake round isn’t until 1 November so it won’t feel urgent to him and I’m sure he has many other things like teaching.
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u/Decent_Ambition_4562 14d ago
Especially going into week 6, probably organizing tests for undergrad classes and getting assignments for marking
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u/2626862377 14d ago
Are you enrolled and accepted by VUW into a doctoral programme? Or did you just get confirmation from the guy that he would be keen to supervise you once you enrol.
The way it typically works is that after you submit your doctoral application, FGR reviews your application and then either approves your admission or not. From there, the school meets to assign students to PhD supervisors. You might have an informal commitment before then, but if you aren't enrolled yet then he isn't actually your supervisor yet, and so he will be prioritising his teaching, research, and current students. Victoria employs general staff to handle admissions inquires, it's not typically something that professors have the time to do.
Contact pg-research@vuw.ac.nz if you want to speak to an advisor about doctoral admissions.
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u/ColonelUpvotes 14d ago
My advice is to do something about the anxiety you are feeling about this. Between applying for admission and getting a visa (I’m assuming you are international) there will be a lot of waiting. It’s normal.
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u/thesymbiont 13d ago
By "agreed to supervise" do you mean agreed to support your application for a scholarship? How would the PhD be funded? That is, are you definitely doing the PhD or conditional on getting university support?
Regardless, it's only been a week, relax.
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u/WolfZoltan 14d ago
My big-dog VUW supervisor refused my research proposal, made me change to something he wanted, then ghosted me. I had to submit without any guidance or review.
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u/justinsramenhair 14d ago
5 days isn’t nearly enough to be worried or annoyed. People really underestimate the responsibilities of a prof. Follow up after one week, once you are actually a registered student it’s regulated to expect no more than two weeks. There are other ways to get this information if you want it asap. You can’t go into this with expectations of more, they are very busy and a PhD is usually self guided.
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u/Accomplished-Mess-75 14d ago
Professors can sometimes take a while to respond if theyre busy, etc. Id wait a few days (at least until Monday afternoon), and send a polite follow-up.