Hi everyone,
Im not hugely sure why I am posting- I suppose moral support/hearing about similar experiences/ or really just a huge rant.

My PhD experience has, work-wise, been fine but supervisor-wise…well we’re talking academic bullying multiplied by twenty plus a little bit of sadism thrown in for fun and next to ‘control freak’ in the dictionary, you will find a picture of her face.

I was supposed to submit on Friday 16th December. A deadline which has been in my supervisor’s diary all year. It was a strategic deadline as my sister is getting married the week after, and then the week after that I head off abroad for an internship.

The week before she decided that she didn’t want me to submit. Reasons being a) she is on holiday on the 16th December and b) “its not quite there.” My supervisor is the kind of person who looks at drafts, repeatedly, unnecessarily, and insists on changing the words and offers no conceptual-meaning feedback. I have 8 chapters. She has looked at each one an average of 10-15 times each- this is not an exaggeration. And has looked at the full draft of the thesis 4 times.

I am not questioning my ability to write etc. without sounding arrogant I know full well that I write well- so this crazy checking is no reflection on my ability, but a reflection on her (as all students under her are treated the same).

Either way, her inability to relinquish control, and her instance that I constantly keep changing ‘words’ means that I now miss part of my sisters wedding celebrations (note, her initial suggestion was that I submitted my thesis on the morning of my sisters wedding [22nd December]). Unfortunately I can’t do that anyway as the administrators office will be closed.

Her other suggestion is that I submit the day before I fly off for my internship. Which leaves me with a whole 2 days to relax before I start my post (5th January). The best bit is, she hasn’t even guaranteed that she will let me submit then. She said that I may have to finish it after I come back from my internship in March. I have no idea why she would do this to me, other than for her own sick amusement, because in all seriousness my thesis is finished. I have had 5 other people look over it- who have given me some great but minor feedback about improving it- but who otherwise think its good to go.

I know that I am able to submit without her permission at my university, but I would not risk doing that, as the last student who did that (the one before me), has been utterly screwed over by her, and in some strange way I think it’s kind of rude to submit without supervisor permission unless there is an excellent reason.

I suppose I just wanted to rant. I’m quite emotional at the moment which makes tinkering with the thesis quite tricky. I have coped for 3 years 2 months with this woman and am now finally cracking (first time she saw me cry was 2 weeks ago when she said I could submit?!).

Argh- that’s all
:-(

======= Date Modified 19 Dec 2011 14:18:49 =======
Dear Ardelia,

I am so sorry that you are going through such a difficult time. I know that type of person quite well. My first supervisor was like that.
My only advantage was that he left after a year, and although the replacement wasn't much better (and he stayed on board as 2nd supervisor), I managed to get through the rest of the PhD relatively out of his influence.

But he did his best with my Masters thesis (I got a distinction for it, by the way). He gave me his corrections two days before the deadline, when he knew that the bindery would take four days to bind the thesis. I ended up paying double the price to get it done in half/ time.

There is little advice here, because any tactic you will use may be turned against you. In my modest opinion, if there is any major problem with your thesis you certainly won't manage to amend it in a week. So, I would be relaxed about it. She would have said something long ago if this was the case.

It is also possible that she is in good faith, and that she is just unsure because she doesn't have much knowledge in your area.

I can only advise you to take a deep breath and think that this is all going to be over soon!!

Good luck with it all!

(mince)

Hi DrCorrine,

Thanks so much for your kind reply :-) I do suspect that this has something to do with her uncertainty and fear of having a student fail/major corrections on her record as I am only her third PhD student. And you're right- anything I say may backfire on me so I guess I just sit tight and hope that she gives me the go ahead in 2 weeks time.

Thanks again!