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Supervisor first meeting

B

Hi, I recently and finally changed supervisor due to problems with my previous one. I havent met the new one officially (although I know him) and was thinkin are there any specific questions or demands I should ask from him regarding our relationship?

I am in my 18th month and do not want to end up with a bad supervision again. What do you think is ok to ask and what is too much in order to establish a pace and clear relation?

thanks!

R

Well you can be polite but blunt and just ask what are his expectations of you as a student i.e what should you achieve? what is his supervisory style i.e how often does he see his students, what kind of supervisions does he have? Does he operate an open door policy or does he expect you to be largely independant?

You could preface this by saying that you are willing to work quite hard on this project but that all you ask is a reasonable expectation of support from your supervisior i.e feedback and direction.

Its good that you are thinking along these lines. He may not be exactly what you want as a supervisor but at least you will know where you stand which is a very good start. I think a lot of problems in PhDs probably arise as a result of a lack of communication on what is expected on both sides of the supervisor-student relationship.

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