Hello,
I am a very new PhD student and i am international too.
I have had my second meeting with my supervisor, and descirbed what i had done since the first meeting. I had some questions to ask, and i thought it could be a good meeting.
it was not bad, BUT,
She says me that the meeting was too long (50 minutes), she doesn't want me to describe what i am doing or what i have done, and claimed me not to be initiative and independent.
she kept saying "this is a PhD not an undergrad".
the same condition in my country (Iran) is most of the time encouraged and named as a curious and analytic student. but i do not know how the meetings here (Australia) should be sound like.
any help is kindly appreciated.
Thanks
Hi,
I'm in the UK not Australia so maybe things are different but it doesn't sound as if your approach is unreasonable. My meetings with my supervisor last about an hour and usually we discuss something ive written. Maybe you should ask her how she wants to approach the meetings or just start work on your lit review and send it to her. Good luck.
My supervisory meetings are booked for 20 mins but *always* last 45 mins to an hour.
I just look for visual cues from my supervisors as to whether I am waffling on too much and or if they are interested in what I am saying to know whether they want me to keep talking. If they make signs that they want me to get on it with and cut the meeting short I would say that I need to ask a few questions if they have time etc and if they don't, then I would book another meeting to get the questions answered.
If she is telling you what she wants, then you may as well do it, as it doesn't make any difference to you whether you tell her what you have done - you know what you have done - you only need her help and guidance if you are unsure of your approach.
Maybe it depends on the supervisor?
My UK supervisor was very flexible, the meetings can vary between 20 minutes to 2 hours. We do our research independently but if we have specific problems, we can also have individual meetings.
However my Italian boss is a control freak, he wanted to know what I've done every second and wanted me to report to him every day...
PS: I'd like your supervisor, based on your description :-)
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