What to do?

Let me define a few acronyms, lol, so that I could talk about my professors easily!

First there is my independent study professor (ISP). I took a class with him last semester and the independent study is kindof/sortof the continuation of that class. When I approached him about possibly working with him, he told me that this area is not his background and research interest, but I liked him enough that I was OK with that! He is a nice person and I think is very liked in the department.

Anyhow, ISP accepted to supervise me in the independent study and said that if we needed guidance we could always turn to the expert professor (EP) in the area that I am studying now. The ISP and I have met with the EP once and had a great discussion.

Last semester I found out that there is a professor who has appointments with both my undergrad and current departments, he shall be referred to as two-department professor (TDP).

When I was told about the unique situation of TDP, I made an appointment and went to see him, regarding the possibility of researching under his supervision. We had a great discussion, lasting over an hour. I came out of his office all excited about having an amazingly challenging project to work on! He told me that he was going to email me several articles to read, after which we could get together, discuss, plan and proceed. However, he never sent me anything. I emailed him couple of times, and every time he responded and said that he was going to get back to me, but never did!

I was disappointed, and I brought up the situation in the conversation with a few friends! But everyone I talked to told me to write him off and encouraged me to go talk to other professors. They reasoned that I needed a professor who is reliable and has time for me!

Now fast forward to the beginning of this semester. I like to go to my classes a bit early, especially at the beginning of the semester, so that I could find a comfortable spot to sit; not too in front to breathe chalk residue, lol, and not too far back to be bothered by too many heads in my view.

For my first class this semester, as always, I was early. It was the first class in the morning and as I walked in I saw another student already in the class. I smiled and to my surprised she said good morning. She was very pleasant and I was about to completely eat my words, lol, that the students from my department are unfriendly and unapproachable! But not so fast!

She started telling me that this building is confusing. No kidding, lol! You see that class is in one half of the building that used to be two separate buildings! At some point, however, the buildings were connected. The confusing part is that they still are considered as two buildings, with the preserved names and entrances. From the inside, one can tell the buildings apart by the colors of the hallway, painted with two different colors, however the colors are very close that could be unnoticeable to someone new. Another confusing part is that the office/class numbers in the two building are numbered in opposite directions (one increasing north-south, the other increasing south-north), and yes there are two rooms numbered 111, pretty much next to each other, lol! So yes, for a new person it is confusing!

Since I knew this course is kindof/sortof only for majors I asked her if this was her first term. She said no, her second, but she never had any classes in this building! I was confused, since I thought all the classes of my major are in our building! When I told her, she said that her major is actually my undergrad major. It turned out that she and I have gone on the reverse order, lol, her undergrad major is my graduate major, and vice versa.

She told me that last semester she took all her three classes in her major and she was reduced to tears with working in the lab. It was too much work for her. Especially that she did not have all the background she needed for those classes. So this semester she is taking a graduate class from her undergrad major, hoping that would be easy, and the other two classes are more of low level graduate classes in her current department.

She said that she was in a Ph.D. program, and she just graduated from college last year. I was impressed. I was under the impression that only 4.0 GPA people can go from undergrad to the Ph.D. program. But she said that her GPA is not a perfect 4.0. She did not tell me what it was! I wonder if she was not too proud of it, or just did not want to share.

She also told me that many students these days apply to the Ph.D. program rather than MS program, since there is more chance of getting financial help. And if they decided they don't want to go for Ph.D. they can switch in their last term and graduate with an MS degree. And yes, she does not pay tuition, gets stipend, and works as a research assistant! Good deal.

Anyhow, when I found that she is in the TDP's other department I asked if she knows him. She said that she had a class with him last semester and it was one of the hardest classes she had taken. She said but in the middle of the semester TDP got sick and another professor covered his classes for the rest of the semester. I had no idea! I told her that I had gone to talk to TDP about a possibility of working with him, but he never saw it through. She told me to contact him again. She said TDP is an amazingly kind person, and never ignore anyone knowingly. She thought with his health issue he probably has forgotten about our conversation and his intention to email me articles.

I decided to listen to her advice, and promptly after we were done with our first class I emailed TDP, reminding him about our meeting last term, and asked him if I could stop by his office at some point.

Couple of weeks later I got an email from him, telling me that he was in his office and if I wanted to stop by. I got so excited and without emailing him back, I run toward his office! We had another great discussion, lasting over two hours. He told me that he was going to send me articles to read. I got my flash drive out and asked him, if possible, to put them on my drive right then. He gave me quite a few articles and happily I went back to the library.

Right now I am kindof/sortof confused! In one hand, I have an opportunity to work with a professor that allows me to take advantage of my work experience of all these years along with my current studies, but has health issues. I am not sure, if he has recovered completely now and I can be sure that he is going to be available and have time for me until I finish my project. Working in his area of research is going to be priceless. I truly believe if I work with him I am going to finally land my dream job.

On the other hand, as I get more into my independent study research area, reading articles, attending talks, discussing my understanding with ISP, and have an opportunity to learn from the EP, I so want to work in that area and with EP. Working with him and learning from him is going to be extraordinary. He is someone who is not only very knowledgeable and can teach his knowledge very well, but he is also very recognized and respected in his field of research. However, he has many students working for him, and I am told he only accepts students who are in the Ph.D. program.

So I am agonizing over which route I should/could take!