My supervisor is usually great and supportive. He is also very friendly and has invited me to his house to meet his family before. However recently, it takes him days to respond to my e-mails or look at my work (and as far as I know he is not particularly busy)

I try to be patient, but I need to submit an abstract for a conference in 2 days and haven't heard back from my supervisor at all (I have sent it to him FIVE days ago and wrote when the deadline is). I mean, it would take him 10mins tops to look at it. I am getting frustrated and feel like he is losing interest in my work with only a year to go until submission.

Should I call him up? Send a second e-mail? Wait until the due date? Turn up in his office on Monday? :(

Can't you just send it as it is? I've submitted abstracts on my own before, without supervisor feedback.

I guess I can...but his name is on it too.

Ah ... That makes a difference. I was just thinking of when I sent in a submission and it was just in my name. My supervisor didn't even see the resulting paper that I wrote afterwards.

If push comes to shove, if I was in your position, I'd send it in on Monday anyway.

I think I will do that. I hate hassling people when they are ignoring me.

I'd phone - I wouldn't send in an abstract where he's co-author without him seeing it first. Even if it would only take him 10 mins, it's probably way down his list of priorities, so he'd still need time to get to it.

And five days is not so long. You might not think he's busy, but all the academics I know are absolutely flat out. I give my sup a few weeks to look at my work, as I know she has other, higher priorities, and especially now, at the end of semester. I think you need to build in a bit more time for getting feedback and not expect your sup to turn around your work so quickly.

Sue I know this but he used to turn over my work a lot quicker at the beginning stages of my PhD. It makes me feel that perhaps I am not performing well and he has slipped it way down his list of priorities. I dunno, I am also kind of frustrated that I have spent pretty much 2 days this week installing a difficult-to-install software package for him and have also done numerous small favours for him that go beyond the PhD student duties.

Also, in the last 4 months I have been extremly productive and have just submitted my third paper. I guess I feel that taking 10 mins to look at my abstract is the least he could do under the circumstances. I just feel taken advantage of I guess. It all comes down to the old "the better you treat people, the worse they treat you". Time to set some boundaries on my time and my good-will :(

Oh get over yourself and stop thinking it's all about you you you. Academics are busy people a lot of the time and he may have more pressing engagements and Sue is bang on in her view (I sometimes think she is reading my thoughts, or maybe I'm reading hers?).

I completly disagree. I have a DEADLINE and he knows it. It's not like I submitted some piece of my work that can be returned whenever.

I have sent him a second e-mail last night just reminding him that it's due tomorrow and that if I don't hear back from him I will submit it as is. No reply.

I am submitting tomorrow morning then.

Great. Supervisor finally got back to me and he hates the abstract. Now I only have 12 hours to go and redo results. Looks like there will be no sleep for me tonight (I live in Australia).

This is exactly why I was getting nervous in the first place. I hate rushing and if only he took few minutes to look at it earlier all of this would be avoided.

I'm glad he replied - good luck with the re-write though! :(

Dan, it would hardly take a supervisor 10 minutes max. to read an abstract and make comments.

Speaking (writing) with my academic hat on it always amazes me that students think that they can send me a draft the day before the final version is due in and expect me to turn it round "but it won't take you long to read it" "no you are right but it is not at the top of my list of priorities and you need to allow enough time to act on the feedback" - I refuse to look at drafts if there is less than a week to go to the deadline. It amazes me that they think I will read their e-mail / draft/ whatever the instance it is sent (even at 2am) but it's fine for them to fail to even glance at their university e-mails account from one week to the next. I've had e-mails saying "I sent you an e-mail and you haven't replied" "yes you sent it at 9.45 pm and it is now 9.30 am and we are in a class that started at 9 - when did you think I would be able to read it? Contrary to popular opinion I do have a life outside these four walls"
I rarely get to send drafts to supervisors or colleagues as I work at the last minute but the lack of a review is the price I accept for leaving things to the last minute.

Hey Lostinoz

Hope you manage to get the abstract done and approved today. At least you didn't send it off, then have to deal with the problem of him hating it and you'd already submitted it!

This is not your supervisor's fault. He's busy, and yeh, might only take him 10 minutes - but could also take a lot longer, as he would need to get back in the mindset of your area, think about the best approach etc, and as we've said, this could be way down his list of priorities. You need to manage upwards - and this is a skill you'll need for 'real' jobs too. As well as giving him plenty of time to look at your work, also set times with him for when he's able to get back to you. Find out when he won't be busy, and suggest he put it in his calendar for that day/time. Make concrete deadlines for when he'll get back to you. If you know that you're going to be rushing and submitting at the last minute, let him know this, request he put aside some time before it's due to look at it. Don't just send an email which needs urgent attention and hope for the best. Plan yours, and his work, as much as you can. Then send him reminders. Supervisors don't mind this - mine appreciates me managing her as much as I can for my work - means she doesn't have to take responsibility for my workload and deadlines.

Jepsonclough,

With all due respect, you sound like an arogant a$$. This is exactly the attitude most academics have, they are really condescending towards students, put them at the bottom of their priority list etc. In my department, they make fun of the students performing poorly and non-PhD students are treated even worse.

Just because we are at the bottom of an academic food chain doesn't mean that we shouldn't be shown some decency and respect.

I managed to submit my abstract just now and am still really pissed at my supervisor for not looking at it earlier. Especially as I said before, I went out of my way to fix his computer, mobile phone etc - there will certainly be no more of that. One of huge motivating factors to finish my PhD ASAP is so that I don't have to deal with my current supervisors ever again.

Kalm it, Kermit. Honestly, part of the role of being a PhD student is actually learning to be independent and managing your own workload. I profess, I don't know the circumstances of your own supervisor, but at this time of year, in the UK at least, there's a lot of examining going on and marking. Your supervisor will have his own academic commitments, like research. So, like you and your own priorities (i.e. rapid feedback) he/she will have her own. Sue2604 puts it very well, you have to manage them. If you're waiting for feedback on something, just re-delegate your tasks and get on with something else.
I agree, though, that making fun of students in difficulties is not nice at all - neither is looking down on non-PhD students. I haven't experienced such a situation personally, but I'd just rise above it. I know how stressful it can be waiting for feedback from supervisors; you want things to happen quickly so you can feel that you are progressing. But, by and large, they are very busy with lots of other demands on their time - and it's not like they get paid to be at your beck and call. It's just an extra few words on their CV. I'm not criticising you or anything. Just try and be a little more compensating because it's you relationship with you supervisor that will ultimately get you through. :-)