Need some advice please, thinking about quitting PhD on PostgraduateForum.com

Need some advice please, thinking about quitting PhD

CalaLily 1 post
7 years ago

I started PhD about 8 months ago. story is really long but I will try to keep it short. Below are few of my issues:
- I did experiments and wrote a paper in 4th month. I sent to my advisor to review it but he never did properly and a day before
submission deadline, he started rephrasing my paper. On the submission day he changed the authorship (putting his name first and
mine last) and said this was my idea , you just did some of the implementation.
- He sent confidential (progress reports) to his students. And, he addressed me as "The Student" and to his pet student as
"Name" -- is it sexism?
- He never gives me any advice, in every meeting if I put some ideas he always says it is wrong and when I defend he gets angry.
And in the next meeting he repeats the ideas (I put forward on last meeting) to me, saying I thought and these ideas came. how
about doing that. -- Now, I am realising that he does know about my project and methodology it requires.
- I have to be always in the lab, not allowed to go anywhere else (not even library). One day he sent me 3 msgs and 1 email in an
hour interval. why you are not in the lab?

There are other issues but for now I will write these. Please any advice will be helpful. I am really depress. I have told these things to research school and no body did anything. I had few meetings with research school and now they don't even talk to me. Should I leave? I work 10 hours a day in the lab and I really want to do PhD but is it worth ?

Many thanks for reading my sad story.

:( :( :(

pm133 1246 posts
7 years ago

Quote From CalaLily:
I started PhD about 8 months ago. story is really long but I will try to keep it short. Below are few of my issues:
- I did experiments and wrote a paper in 4th month. I sent to my advisor to review it but he never did properly and a day before
submission deadline, he started rephrasing my paper. On the submission day he changed the authorship (putting his name first and
mine last) and said this was my idea , you just did some of the implementation.
- He sent confidential (progress reports) to his students. And, he addressed me as "The Student" and to his pet student as
"Name" -- is it sexism?
- He never gives me any advice, in every meeting if I put some ideas he always says it is wrong and when I defend he gets angry.
And in the next meeting he repeats the ideas (I put forward on last meeting) to me, saying I thought and these ideas came. how
about doing that. -- Now, I am realising that he does know about my project and methodology it requires.
- I have to be always in the lab, not allowed to go anywhere else (not even library). One day he sent me 3 msgs and 1 email in an
hour interval. why you are not in the lab?

There are other issues but for now I will write these. Please any advice will be helpful. I am really depress. I have told these things to research school and no body did anything. I had few meetings with research school and now they don't even talk to me. Should I leave? I work 10 hours a day in the lab and I really want to do PhD but is it worth ?

Many thanks for reading my sad story.

:( :( :(

Yeah I would quit personally.
I have worked for someone like this and quite frankly they will never change.
If you are depressed now imagine what you will be like after another 3 years.

I have no idea why you think sexism is at play. Not calling you by your name isn't evidence of sexism.

The red line issues for me would be insistence on only being in the lab, complaining when I am not in the lab and stealing my ideas. Disrespecting me in front of the rest of the team would probably not end well for him or me at this stage of my life either but when I was young I took a whole heap of crap like this. My solution was to walk. Didn't regret it.

My advice would be to use this experience to better interview your next prospective supervisor. All of the above could have been avoided if you had known what to ask. Now you do so chances are you won't be in this situation next time.

helebon 123 posts
7 years ago

Are you able to see someone in Student Support or the Students Union?

Need some advice please, thinking about quitting PhD

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