For us, the ultimate question to ask is always the following: If you dont change your supervisor and just continue as is, would your PhD completion be in danger? Be part of an amazing group of academics from all over the world! Has 90% of ice around Antarctica disappeared in less than a decade? He has lots of grants and publications, but I am amazed as to how little he knows in the field. (joke). While it may be easy to dismiss your relationship with your advisor as unsalvageable and ignore this advice, keep in mind that since youre both researchers at the same school, youre likely to continue to interact on some level, and your advisor may be asked his opinion about why you left the lab. The bullies tend to retaliate. The researchersled by Aaron Clauset, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Colorado in Boulderdidn't have any data on the quality of scholars who were awarded faculty positions. If you don't, talk to their students and postdocs before switching. Youll know when its time to go. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. Would it be possible for you to select another (additional) supervisor as primary supervisor? 70h/week including week-ends and holidays). In comparison, my supervisor is chalk, if they are cheese. Research topics restricted to students at top universities? A high percentage of PhD students today are enrolled in structured PhD programmes where supervisory committees consisting of 3 or more supervisors are mandatory. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. The answer depends entirely on your advisor and program/university's policies (especially the 'new' one of each). They can't go back in time to get revenge on the people who picked on them. In my experience, she is not of the understanding or empathetic kind, but rather resentful. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? For example: "How do they work? But advisees are best served if they are given the space to make mistakes and develop into capable, independent scientistsa process that can take time, and that is more likely to pay off after a student has left an adviser's lab. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. How do you get out of a corner when plotting yourself into a corner. Some students in the stories I collected changed supervisor because of communication/management style issues or some disparity in expectations between the mentor and mentee. If youre interested in benefiting from our support as well, check out the PhD success Lab. What works for individuals varies: Many students don't want someone constantly looking over their shoulder, but for some it can be helpful to have an adviser who keeps tabs on them more regularly to set deadlines and ensure that they're making progress, she says. Is it wise to change my supervisor in the late stages of my PhD? He found that when advisers were largely responsible for dictating the design of their students' research projects, students initially benefited because they published more papers during graduate school than peers who were given more autonomy. Quotes like you are a latino, they usually work hard, but you are an exception, where part of the regular communication. If a law is new but its interpretation is vague, can the courts directly ask the drafters the intent and official interpretation of their law? @FourierFlux Based on your history of questions, I suspect you don't really care what people think so I don't know why you keep asking here. Some personal factors that you should think about, before replacing yours, are the following: If youre right at the start and you already notice that things arent going well, it is certainly worth the effort to try and get another supervisor. They know him. In an ideal world we'd have the canonical question. Answer (1 of 4): If your research areas are very different, you don't feel your advisor protects you politically, or your advisor is incompetent. Following up on the discussion in the comments. The most you should say about your adviser is that your working styles clash, and you would need a little more freedom to chose methods and explore your own ideas. How can the mass of an unstable composite particle become complex? In principle, this is a great way to counterbalance weaknesses of individuals and ensure a high quality of supervision overall. The study underscores a fundamental disconnect between the interests of advisers and advisees, Shibayama says. Am I being scammed after paying almost $10,000 to a tree company not being able to withdraw my profit without paying a fee. But if that's the only thing you take into consideration, you could wind up having a terrible experience in graduate school. Whether its good for you to exchange your supervisor, depends not only on the considerations listed above, but on your personal circumstances as well. Are you willing to switch to a lab whose focus is in a completely different scientific field, with a whole new set of techniques to learn, or would you prefer to go somewhere you can do similar work to your current lab? A stroke of bad luck in your life or that of your P.I., a failure of the system, a lack of management Lets be honest, it sucks. (If not, should we have one?). Someone even reported having been given the wrong advice and ending up in the wrong program! 1) When choosing advisor When you apply for your project, make sure you enquire about your prospective advisor. But in a PhD program, your schedule becomes "whenever you find time to get your work done." Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Gerhard "Certainly Start With Internet Search" Paseman, 2017.10.30. Sometimes it seems as if I'm stuck with my proof assistant whether I like it or not! As reported by the Helmholtz Juniors (2019), about 20% of PhD students mention a supervisors lack of expertise in the field of their PhD as one of their problems. But on paper, I am progressing well because my supervisor had his way with me. Getting a Ph.D. is "a very stressful, long process," says Gerard Dericks, a senior lecturer at Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom and the lead author of the study. The number of distinct words in a sentence. For one good example that sets out clear guidelines, see Griffith Universitys (2019) Code of Practice for the Supervision of Higher Degree Research Candidates. In this case, the financing is independent from the supervisor. Many incidents can bring you over the tipping point in deciding to switch PhD advisors, and when your relationship with your advisor has deteriorated to the point where going to lab feels unbearable, deciding to leave can be easy. Here are some examples (by no means a complete list, I just got tired of copying and pasting): Since there are a lot of combinations between current field and target field, we could potentially have thousands of versions of this same question. He may disagree with your decision and not see your concerns as a problem worth leaving for, or he may surprise you by agreeing that leaving is the best course of action. The most you should say about your adviser is that your working styles clash, and you would need a little more freedom to chose methods and explore your own ideas. There's no single formula for choosing the right Ph.D. adviser; the factors will vary for each student. Multiple people reported having P.I.s who were very hostile to the idea of the student seeking help from other academics or making the project their own. If you need to switch to a very different field, you should expect another 2-3 years as a beginner. Maybe it was when she changed your project for the sixth time in six months, though your thesis proposal deadline was rapidly approaching and you had nothing to present. "They are just told to do some experiment and they have to stay in the lab day and night, 24/7." Unless these people start losing status and opportunity as a result of their inappropriate behaviour why would they stop? He maneuvers students and gives veiled threats if required. "Some professors are interested in producing good students, so choose those supervisors. Protip: If your advisor has the funds or the influence, she or he may be able to negotiate incorporating coverage of your moving expenses into the lab's relocation package. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have. In a stereotypical "9-to-5" job, when the workday is over or the weekend arrives, you can generally forget about your work. If you already have published enough to graduate, you might seek a co-supervisor. In the Helmholtz Juniors Survey Report (2019), there are 25.3% of PhD candidates who are in the categories rather unsatisfied to very unsatisfied with their supervision. "You'll have setbacks. Suppose you have written part of a thesis(normally a PhD thesis in my field has 2-3 parts, each part may be different from the others). If that is not possible, be prepared to transfer to a different graduate school. How the personal aspects work out depends to a large degree on how the entire process is handled. Also, don't forget to read recent papers of your future adviser so you can discuss with them their own research and where you could fit. The road ahead may be long, and your journey will be unique, but you are not alone. The team measured student satisfaction by asking the survey participants to rate the degree to which words such as "good," "happy," "terrible," and "disappointing" described their overall Ph.D. experience. How did StorageTek STC 4305 use backing HDDs? You can review our privacy policy, cookie policy and terms and conditions online. Depending on the college, you might be . If you are a student in an abusive situation, now is not the time for activism; you cannot solve the systematic problems of academia by yourself, especially when you are in a vulnerable position. I can say this because I have interacted with very good and humble professors from top universities and seen the depth in their knowledge. Even if it is, labs that do similar work tend to be in close proximity to one another maybe even on the same floor of the same building and are more likely to collaborate. How to: Change of research field after thesis. What are some tools or methods I can purchase to trace a water leak? 3 Academic Advisors To Avoid 1. You may not be able to help yourself. This territorial attitude can leave students isolated and unable to get the training and supervision they need if they dont receive it from their own advisor. @Damodar It is better to talk in person. See also Natures 2019 PhD survey. Science and AAAS are working tirelessly to provide credible, evidence-based information on the latest scientific research and policy, with extensive free coverage of the pandemic. So they will never co-supervise! You got more freedom, I read. There could be some useful specific answer depending on the question that goes beyond general advice. As I understand it, you like algebraic number theory but not the particular sub-area that you're working in. Do you want an advisor who will spend a lot of time guiding you through your project, or would you prefer one who will mostly leave you alone? Likely depends whether you changed topics. meetings only happen twice a year), if meetings are sporadic rather than regular, and if no substantial feedback on work or progress is given. Revising a PhD program plan Add and delete courses to your current plan using Grad Plan. Academia Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for academics and those enrolled in higher education. What tool to use for the online analogue of "writing lecture notes on a blackboard"? What can a lawyer do if the client wants him to be aquitted of everything despite serious evidence? 9. Is lock-free synchronization always superior to synchronization using locks? mention that you can add or exchange members of your thesis advisory committee at any point in time during your PhD. Changing PhD supervisor 18 months into 4 year PhD [closed]. Do EMC test houses typically accept copper foil in EUT? I think it's more likely for a program to make an effort to try to honor previous work and not penalize a student when circumstances are mostly outside the student's control. Strange behavior of tikz-cd with remember picture. How this would apply to various other people would be dependent on their interests, but it shows that it can be done, and to that extent, is a 'positive story'. Therefore I conclude it is possible to make agreements. I'm considering how difficult it would be to finish up this project and then move onto another advisor if mine isn't interested in working on this other area. PhD candidates often wait too long before they initiate the process of changing supervisors. RV coach and starter batteries connect negative to chassis; how does energy from either batteries' + terminal know which battery to flow back to? Because we know that problems with a supervisor are tricky to handle for PhD candidates, we want to give L., and everyone else who is in a similar situation, our advice. Learn how your comment data is processed. If I do work with another supervisor at this stage, what could be the challenges? You seem to be already burnt out. If it is less than what you currently make, ask your advisor if s/he can . Be honest with them and don't worry if they may end up not taking you. General idea on how do Committee Members read PhD thesis. You may see it as not wrong, but I reiterate to you that it seems quite rude to me. Should we have a canonical question about the relation (or lack thereof) between plagiarism and paraphrasing? When it comes to student satisfaction, the single most important element is adviser supportiveness, according to a study published this week in Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 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