I wish you the best of luck and hope that you dont fall into the next category. They know him. If you are going through this, I am so, so sorry. That is one of the topics to discuss here. Remember, her only interactions with your advisor mightve been occasional polite small talk, and if you start off with an angry rant about how much of a jerk your advisor is, the person who might come across as a jerk is you. You should also avoid spreading news of your decision to leave its better if your advisor hears about it directly from you rather than through the grapevine. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. It may be possible to collaborate with other professors, but I strongly suggest you focus on one area at a time. I'm generally a bit concerned about trying to strike the right balance between good curation and accessibility. In an ideal world we'd have the canonical question. Below, weve listed some illustrative examples which highlight typical reasons you may want to replace your supervisor. (1) This is a fair observation. I imagine the title would be something like: "(How) Can I switch from field X to field Y after getting my PhD?" AAAS is a partner of HINARI, AGORA, OARE, CHORUS, CLOCKSS, CrossRef and COUNTER. In our blog post no. When it comes to student satisfaction, the single most important element is adviser supportiveness, according to a study published this week in Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. Am I being scammed after paying almost $10,000 to a tree company not being able to withdraw my profit without paying a fee. Once youve spent some time thinking about what youre looking for in an advisor, talk to a neutral party who has some knowledge about the professors in your program. 2- Talk to new potential advisor in private. All emails contain an unsubscribe link. This will be the beginning of a new phase in your grad school career, and the people skills youve learned will be useful wherever you go next. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Am I being scammed after paying almost $10,000 to a tree company not being able to withdraw my profit without paying a fee, Applications of super-mathematics to non-super mathematics. If you want to know more about how to overcome difficulties and have a happier PhD process, sign up to our free webinar for PhD candidates. Have you thought about changing your supervisor for some time, but cant make up your mind? To keep things in perspective at this point, we should mention that the majority of PhD candidates are rather happy and satisfied with the supervision they receive. Graduate groups currently registered with the McDougal Graduate Student Life office may request modest funding from this office. How much does it influence your well-being and your life? The following are the reasons: I am forced to work in a very specific area and there is almost no room for creativity. Changing advisers is easier if your department encourages students to work with multiple faculty members and you make changes early in your career. In my opinion, were not the best team. Forces me to publish in conferences which his friends or colleagues organize, even if they are not good. is there a chinese version of ex. It only takes a minute to sign up. How can the mass of an unstable composite particle become complex? It depends on his relationship to his colleagues and position within the department if he can make good of his threats. A clear sign of a lack of supervision is if one does not have regular meetings with a PhD supervisor (e.g. hyper-organised and your supervisor is the chaotic one, coming up with new ideas for your research in every meeting, dwarfing any of your attempts to maintain focus. Many Higher Education Institutions, funding agencies, or governmental bodies have developed codes of good scientific practice (see e.g. Sometimes a personality or work-style mismatch will occur - there is only so much you can learn about your future advisor before you start working with them. That might be administratively simpler than finding a new supervisor. Or you need a lot of freedom to pursue your own ideas, but you have a supervisor who is a micromanager, and wants to be involved in every single step you take, leading to endless discussions and delay in your PhD process. As an example: One South American PhD candidate had to endure constant negative comments about her background and ability to perform by her supervisor. You may need to take a qualifier exam there again. may be unhealthy or unrealistic (e.g. Some of these advisors worked closely with the previous advisor, or were part of the student's thesis committee. Does that justify some committees leaving their students to their own devices and not supporting them during this transition? How much does the problem with your supervisor affect your ability to work, and your potential to do excellent research? Are you not receiving the support you need, or have you been exposed to misconduct? My suggestion: Yes, but with some type of PSA in the question regarding how to use it as a duplicate target. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. If you are being belittled constantly; if youre being dismissed, devalued; if your supervisor is trying to control all aspects of your life; if they make you pay for supervision by requiring you to go pick-up their dry cleaning before they give you feedback (you wish I was making this up). Then of course you need to get out - but this is not easy. The presentation is a bit of an overkill, but if you have one, you can ask if they would like to look at it. I have no doubt that this post will almost instantly be marked as "off-topic" - however I really think that it is difficult to obtain the opinions of professional mathematicians on other forums whereas (quite often) they respond to questions of this type on this site. Since the boundaries are not well-defined (how do you define "similar"), my inclination is to have one canonical question that discusses both cases. Can non-Muslims ride the Haramain high-speed train in Saudi Arabia? And if he's unhappy with you, he may not even want to stop you. You will only benefit if you can change your supervisor and keep your PhD position and funding and can keep working on the same PhD project. 1. But it's possible that we need several different questions: intra-field, STEM to STEM, STEM to humanities, humanities to humanities, etc. In one case the advisor had not graduated a single student for 20 years. Use paper as masters thesis or sign up to a direct PhD program (and use the paper for this)? In most cases, a change of supervisor is possible, but there are a few things that need consideration. Academia Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for academics and those enrolled in higher education. The reality is that, in the long term, a reference letter from a well-known professorand a degree from a top-notch universitycan give Ph.D. holders a boost when they're searching for a job. It is a DIRE decision to go in and request a new advisor so you had better ensure you are ready to make an enemy in the department and that you have a . @Damodar You don't need to bad mouth him. Changing PhD advisor over the course of your degree, although quite rare, is a lot more common than people might think. Since it is a very prestigious institution I never thought that I might experience what I am going through at the moment. You should also try to think about options, preferably some area where you can still use some of the knowledge you have already acquired. from computer science to humanities). "They are just told to do some experiment and they have to stay in the lab day and night, 24/7." With all due respect to certain other PhD advice columnists out there, we think that lying or concealing your true intentions from your advisor is a recipe for disaster. Ask your departmental administrator to help find it. I had a talk with the Dean. Shibayama tracked 791 life scientists who earned a Ph.D. in Japan between 2000 and 2010, counting the papers they published in graduate school and up to 9 years after graduation. These extreme cases damage careers, they damage lives. Any related idea which goes against the "vision" of my supervisor is dealt with fierce questions. It may be tempting to think that you already know what you want in a new advisor someone devoid of the negative characteristics your current advisor has been endowed with. Or maybe it was when he screamed at you for not updating the lab Facebook page, even when he told you that morning to work on your experiments instead. Are you okay with continuing to see your current advisor on a regular basis? Dont rush it, but eventually try to arrive at a decision, after carefully balancing the pros and cons. After two years, I have lost interest in my work and the passion has gone. Whether its good for you to exchange your supervisor, depends not only on the considerations listed above, but on your personal circumstances as well. Lets face it: it is never ideal to have to change your supervisory arrangements. Thoughts of an academic career are completely beside the point. UniWiND 2015, UCL 2018, National Health and Medical Research Council Australia 2019, University of Edinburgh 2021). Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack . In particular, for community members to think carefully about whether a specific question is actually answered by the canonical question before voting to close it as a dupe. Also, there are still PhD candidates who pursue individual projects and have only a single supervisor, which increases the dependency on that one person. Determine if your stipend or salary will change at the new institution. To figure out what a professor's approach to advising is, Sverdlik encourages students to ask a lot of questions of prospective advisers and their advisees when they're interviewing. I am currently having my PhD in UK and on a scholarship. The number of distinct words in a sentence. Thoughts? He maneuvers students and gives veiled threats if required. You can find some tips in the second blog in this series Advice from people who switched PhD Advisor. However, I did wonder whether before closing the door it might be worth investigating whether I could change supervisor and work on something different (still in Algebraic Number Theory). Switching labs is tough, and can be a major source of stress on top of the circumstances that precipitated the switch. I'm not sure why your personal story is relevant for the question. Dealing with hard questions during a software developer interview. Not the answer you're looking for? Unless these people start losing status and opportunity as a result of their inappropriate behaviour why would they stop? Can I switch fields?, How do I switch fields?, Is it a good idea to switch fields?, When to switch fields?, or all of these? Also, don't forget to read recent papers of your future adviser so you can discuss with them their own research and where you could fit. by answers? Transition from PhD to postdoc with an intent to change field. This will be released on the 15th of November. Depending on the college, you might be . Therefore I conclude it is possible to make agreements. Don't deny the suggestions in a disrespectful or unprofessional way. I cannot express how grateful I am for your trust, and I command you on the courage it took to open up about these, sometimes traumatic, experiences. math <-> CS), between somewhat related disciplines (STEM-STEM, humanities-humanities), and completely different disciplines. Just tell them things aren't working out in your group for you. According to the researchers' findings, switching from an adviser who was strongly unsupportive to one that was highly supportive would be expected to increase the Ph.D. satisfaction scoreon a scale of one to sixby nearly two points. That's not fun, he says, and the lack of autonomy doesn't help them learn what it takes to be a successful scientist. Depending on how specialized your current labs focus is, the latter may not even be an option. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. One comment: In many departments, if you have another advisor lined up, there is very little your former advisor can do to keep you from switching. How can the mass of an unstable composite particle become complex? If you need to switch to a very different field, you should expect another 2-3 years as a beginner. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. Cag has a point that we get quite a few very general, reasonably low-quality questions in this genre for which general advice could be sufficient. @FourierFlux That's not usually how a PhD works. Prospective students will differ in their specific preferences, but overall, it's probably best to find a balance and avoid overly hands-on and overly hands-off advisers. The bullies tend to retaliate. 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Best team the following are the reasons: I am currently having my PhD in UK and on regular... 2018, National Health and Medical research Council Australia 2019, University of Edinburgh 2021 ) face it: is. Contributions licensed under CC BY-SA thought that I might experience what I am forced work... Your ability to work, and can be a major source of stress on top of the student thesis... Phd program ( and use the paper for this ) if your stipend salary... Institutions, funding agencies, or governmental bodies have developed codes of good scientific practice ( see e.g developed. Faculty members and you make changes early in your group for you developer interview mass of academic... I conclude it is possible to collaborate with other professors, but eventually try to arrive at decision.