Getting very frustrated with (lack of) MA supervision on PostgraduateForum.com

fricklesnarp
15 years ago

Hi all,

I just need to vent, really. I'm at the stage where I've written the first complete draft of my MA dissertation and I emailled it to my supervisor two days ago, with an explicit request to email me as soon as she got it, to let me know it'd been received. This is because 1) an email went awol in the past, and 2) because she's not that great about emailling me back.

I received no reply yesterday, so emailled her a very 'sorry about this, but...' email, just to reiterate that I was worried and could she just confirm she'd received my email. Today, end of play, still no reply. I know that she won't get back to me over the weekend, so now I have to wait to see if I get a reply on Monday, and I am very frustrated now, because ideally I need her to have read it and got back to me for a meeting early next week, because I need to get the whole thing bound and finished by August 27th, so I am going to have very little time to make corrections of there are any.

I'm sitting twiddling my thumbs right now when I'd much rather be working, but I literally can't do anything until she gets back to me, and I don't know when that will be because she seems to find it impossible to acknowledge a simple email! I know for a fact that she is at her desk, every day, because she told me she would me - so why no response? Is she doing this deliberately to wind me up, or does she just not *care* that my deadline is in just over a week's time and she's given me no real feedback up to this point, other than to tell me that what I've written is basically fine?

I don't know what else to do if she doesn't get back to me very soon, I'm really fed up with this as I am completely in limbo at the moment, with very little time left on the course. Is MA supervision supposed to be like this??

P

pamplemousse
15 years ago

I think you need to chill out a bit. 2 days is nothing. Anything could have come up in that amount of time. She could be sick, for example. Why don't you try and ask around and try to ascertain if anything has happened....
I wouldn't start worrying just yet if I were you.
Have you sent her drafts of Chapters as you were writing?
S

F

fricklesnarp
15 years ago

I have thought that she might be sick, and I do try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but my experience of MA supervision on this course so far has tested my patience. I had another supervisor who promised to look at work of mine before he left for vacation, but I emailled him the work and he never got back to me at all. Likewise when I've emailled my main supervisor, it's taken her weeks and weeks to respond, and plus, as I said, other emails I've sent to her have got misplaced, which is why all I wanted was her to say that she'd received my complete draft, just so I can relax knowing she's got it.

Plus it irritates me that I sent her work at the start of July, she didn't respond for three weeks, and then only to set up a meeting, in another two weeks, which never happened, because she rang me a couple of hours before to say the work I had done thus far was fine, and to keep writing, which is all well and good, but it isn't exactly constructive criticism. The point is, though, why wait 5 weeks to tell me my work is 'fine'? I strongly suspect it's because she didn't even read the work until the day before our meeting - and what if it hadn't been fine??

Anyway, I'm just stressed, as you can tell, so apologies.

A

aloha
15 years ago

If she's at her desk all day, phone her. It gets to the point.

I

imposter1
15 years ago

Seriously, you think that this is your supervisor's fault? Can I assume that your MA dissertation draft is approx 12,000 words? And that you sent a draft and expected a reply, and constructive comments, within two days?
'I know for a fact that she sits at her desk, every day' - are you hoping for yourself a career in academia? If so you really need to alter your perception that supervisors are able to 'sit at a desk all day' and, literally, be able to respond to your requests immediately.
I do actually apologise if I sound harsh, it's just I genuinely can't believe the extent of your upset, considering it's only been a couple of days. I think rather you need to admit that if you required a reply by this weekend, you should really have sent it in with more notice.
Good luck with the feedback, but really, either chill, or submit your work in advance of requirng feedback. And no, I'm not on the other side of the fence, I'm post-MA, pre-PHD.
Thanks.

L

Leopardi
15 years ago

======= Date Modified 15 Aug 2009 09:44:50 =======

Quote From fricklesnarp:

Hi all,

I just need to vent, really. I'm at the stage where I've written the first complete draft of my MA dissertation and I emailled it to my supervisor two days ago, with an explicit request to email me as soon as she got it, to let me know it'd been received. This is because 1) an email went awol in the past, and 2) because she's not that great about emailling me back.

I received no reply yesterday, so emailled her a very 'sorry about this, but...' email, just to reiterate that I was worried and could she just confirm she'd received my email. Today, end of play, still no reply. I know that she won't get back to me over the weekend, so now I have to wait to see if I get a reply on Monday, and I am very frustrated now, because ideally I need her to have read it and got back to me for a meeting early next week, because I need to get the whole thing bound and finished by August 27th, so I am going to have very little time to make corrections of there are any.

I'm sitting twiddling my thumbs right now when I'd much rather be working, but I literally can't do anything until she gets back to me, and I don't know when that will be because she seems to find it impossible to acknowledge a simple email! I know for a fact that she is at her desk, every day, because she told me she would me - so why no response? Is she doing this deliberately to wind me up, or does she just not *care* that my deadline is in just over a week's time and she's given me no real feedback up to this point, other than to tell me that what I've written is basically fine?

I don't know what else to do if she doesn't get back to me very soon, I'm really fed up with this as I am completely in limbo at the moment, with very little time left on the course. Is MA supervision supposed to be like this??

I can identify with many aspects of your frustration. My deadline is roughly six weeks away, so I can only imagine how you are feeling, given the impending nature of yours. My emails are being ignored too (I haven't even met my supervisor), so I know what you mean by limbo. I can only revise my work so many times without needing an objective opinion. I dread the thought of falling short of my usual standards owing to the passivity of my supervisor, but should I do so, I'll appeal. I hate the thought of having to acknowledge a man who has not contributed in any significant way towards my work. It's the usual hollow sycophancy of academia I suppose.

It's amazing how often a supervisor's academic credentials are inversely proportional to their qualities as a human being.

F

fricklesnarp
15 years ago

Quote From imposter1:

Seriously, you think that this is your supervisor's fault? Can I assume that your MA dissertation draft is approx 12,000 words? And that you sent a draft and expected a reply, and constructive comments, within two days?

'I know for a fact that she sits at her desk, every day' - are you hoping for yourself a career in academia? If so you really need to alter your perception that supervisors are able to 'sit at a desk all day' and, literally, be able to respond to your requests immediately.

If you'd actually bothered to read my post properly you would see that I wasn't worried about getting feedback instantly from my supervisor - obviously I would not expect that. All I wanted was an acknowledgement that she had received my email, so that I can actually take some take off while she reads my work, without wondering 'Has she got my email? Has it got lost? Am I sitting here waiting when she hasn't actually rreceived my work?' etc etc. I'm sure I'm not unreasonable in simply expecting an acknowledgement that my work has been received, as that's all I was asking for.

And as for her being at her desk all day, I would not expect this except that she explicitly told me that she would be, and to email her as soon as I wanted a meeting, because she was free for one all the time. Plus, I find it a bit odd that someone coming into their office each day and booting up their computer would not check their emails, which is why I find the lack of response frustrating.

As for phoning her, I would do, but I do not have access to her number, only her email. Short of actually going to loiter outside her office, there isn't much else I can do (although if she doesn't acknowledge my emails at some point next week, I'm going to have to assume they haven't reached her and go to try and track her down myself).

Anyway, thanks Leopardi for the support - I hope you manage to sort things out with your supervisor as well.

I

imposter1
15 years ago

Oh sorry, I've misunderstood. Your evident stress is because you don't know if she's 'received' your email and it makes no difference to you whether she's actually read it or not?!!!!

'I'm sat around twiddling my thumbs right now when I'd much rather be working'...So how does 'just knowing' whether she's received an email or not make to you being able to work?

I reiterate my point, you really need to take resposibility, if you want to work, get on with it.

Hey Ho.

I

imposter1
15 years ago

Can I just add that I actually do apologise if my comments have caused you further stress. I do stand by the comments, I think you have unrealistic expectations of feedback, (in this particular instance), and I do not believe that a confirmation of an email is will make everything okay for you.
That said, I don't get pleasure at all from thinking that my comments may have upset somebody, so I genuinely do apologise if they have. You can always ignore them, as I'm sure you will, considering your disagreement with them. But you did ask...

F

fricklesnarp
15 years ago

Quote From imposter1:

Oh sorry, I've misunderstood. Your evident stress is because you don't know if she's 'received' your email and it makes no difference to you whether she's actually read it or not?!!!!

Yes, obviously - why would I be stressed as to whether she's read it or not? She knows when my deadline is, she knows when she needs to get it read for - I have no concerns that she wouldn't read it in time - only that the email may have gone astray, which would mean that she would then have less time to read it and respond to me, which makes things more stressful for both of us. It does make sense, if you think about it.

'I'm sat around twiddling my thumbs right now when I'd much rather be working'...So how does 'just knowing' whether she's received an email or not make to you being able to work?

This is just a secondary feeling, I don't blame my supervisor for this, apart from the fact that I would enjoy having this time off much more if I wasn't stressed about whether she had received my work or not.

I reiterate my point, you really need to take resposibility, if you want to work, get on with it.

And again, if you'd read my post properly, you would realise that I have no more work, I have finished, all I need now is feedback, which I am happy to wait for, as long as I know that it is coming, as opposed to my email having gotten lost and me sat here waiting for nothing.

Chill out.

F

fricklesnarp
15 years ago

Quote From imposter1:

Can I just add that I actually do apologise if my comments have caused you further stress. I do stand by the comments, I think you have unrealistic expectations of feedback, (in this particular instance), and I do not believe that a confirmation of an email is will make everything okay for you.

That said, I don't get pleasure at all from thinking that my comments may have upset somebody, so I genuinely do apologise if they have. You can always ignore them, as I'm sure you will, considering your disagreement with them. But you did ask...

I appreciate your apology, thank you. I also apologise if I come across as snappish, I just really care about my work and I really want to do well, and normally this delay wouldn't really bother me, except for what happened with my other supervisor, who promised to look at my work, but the weeks went by and he never got back to me, and then eventually went on vacation - but I never chased it up because I thought 'Oh he's busy, he'll get back to me when he has chance to read my work' etc etc, but he never did, so now I'm just worried about a repeat situation, I'm sure you can understand where I'm coming from.

Eska
15 years ago

Hi Fricklesnarp,

It might be an idea if you just went in to see her when you think she will be around, not to get feedback there and then, but just so you can communicate with eachother more effectively. Take her a cup of tea or coffee - she'll probably love you forever and give you brilliant references - it beats twiddling your thumbs all day!

Many universities are in terrible turmoil right now, and any number of crises could have come her way - this can be a very difficult time of year for academics, it's when many of the budgets are announced, yes, she sits at her desk for some of her day, but that doesn't mean she has time to reply to you within two days. She probably has at least one manager breathing down her neck at the moment.

I also suggest reading some books on writing style ahead of your redraft, in the meantime - you could tell her you're doing that when you see her - you'll seem pro-active, something all lecturers like to see in their students.