Signup date: 05 Sep 2015 at 4:51pm
Last login: 07 Sep 2015 at 10:24am
Post count: 2
Thanks so much for your feedback Raji, I forgot to mention my supervisor is actually our head of school...I am her only student and as I mentioned before, very career driven and very busy! My other supervisor is possibly just as busy and again does not have time for a student. Is it insulting to ask for possibly a third supervisor or (worst case scenario) a change of supervisor?
Best of luck in your own studies, my fellow colleagues all have very positive experiences of supervisors so please do not let my experience put you off, I'm sure your supervisors will be great!
I am a PhD student in life and health sciences and both my supervisors are experts in their areas, bring in quite a lot of funding and to put it quite frankly, do not have time for a PhD student (Both are professor status).
So my issue is down to communication I feel, they do not show to supervision meetings and usually think of some lame excuses as to why they couldn't make it, leave it 2-3 weeks before replying to my emails, do not give me feedback when I ask for help in my academic writing skills...they tell me to "write a story" (and trust me I know my writing skills are poor). They provide little or no guidance and give out to me if I make decisions without them e.g. my confirmation seminar is coming up, I e-mailed them my report 2 weeks in advance for feedback and they never replied, the deadline was looming so I had to submit it the evening it was due and a week after submitting they shouted at how irresponsible it was to submit it without their knowledge. I feel like I can't win, I feel unprepared and they have completely knocked my confidence and made me feel so incompetent. I consider myself as a strong person, quite laid back but take my PhD very seriously, but lately I've really being doubting myself as to whether I should stay going. I am a year through it and I just don't know if I can do another 2 years with them. I spoke to our postgrad tutor and on his recommendations I told them how out of my depth I feel and how I would like more support and they shouted at me that "A PhD is hard and that's why they prefer MSc students". (I came straight from undergrad) Our meetings are quite hostile and I find them very unapproachable, my PhD is hell I'm not sure what to do. They are very mean in general
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