Yesterday I had my weekly meeting with my adviser. I called him because it seemed he didn't get my e-mail on Monday. I hate checking/sending e-mail through the web but can't get lotus notes to download on my laptop. Anyway we had a phone meeting instead of skype.
If you don't remember, the last meeting with my adviser I spoke my mind and didn't seem to get my point across and my adviser said finishing my dissertation (or maybe just this resubmit) is like making fine wine.
Well, this same person yesterday told me that it shouldn't be a problem to graduate by May. Wow. Maybe my sticking up for myself helped? And maybe the fact that I told him how awesome I was at the conference helped. His simple statement has made me regret all the mean thoughts I've had towards him in the last year. He also said that this resubmit will be the most difficult manuscript to write. It is on a subject that is well established and we are saying HEY try evaluating this subject in a brand new way. The other 3-4 manuscripts I'm writing are on a different subject, one that only began in 1998 and is recently still gaining understanding and incite, thus my papers will be a large contribution to the field. It is this subject that I presented at the recent meeting where everyone said "oh you are Jennie."
So I'd like to retract everything I've said previously about adviser that was negative and say, "my adviser is great!"
let's see what I say next week :)
On another note, I haven't gotten very much work done this week, between being sick and now being bloated I don't feel like working. I did call a lab today since we are confused about the data they sent us (for the resubmit). They were going to check the lab notes about the dilution factor. And I pretty much am still waiting on bits and pieces for the other manuscripts so I don't feel too guilty about slacking off since there isn't a whole lot to do. I could probably look up journal articles and reread my intro for the dissertation.
I'm going to pick up my sister from school today. She has a half day, and she's in 6th grade if I haven't mentioned this already. We are going to do some xmas shopping, I have yet to buy one present, well maybe one, and then we are going to make granola bars. These will be my home made present this year. I've decided I'm only buying real presents for family under 18 and everyone else gets a gift card and/or granola bars. Although I'll likely buy something for my mom's car, brakes or tires.
I just don't feel like I see my close friends enough to know what they want/need. It's sad. But I'm really just happy to see them and hopefully if I stop buying things for them they will stop buying things for me. Last year my husband got a power drill from my best friends husband. Um, we already have one. Needless to say we re-gifted it. I've always been a fan of this and usually call it recycling.
Showing posts with label adviser. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adviser. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Graduate Student-0==Distinguished Professor-Infinity
Yep, the adviser won the argument again. The fact is that I think he’s pretty meager I just have a bad time arguing my point because I’m not 100% confident that I’m correct, and my adviser makes such good points.
Me: I’d really like to graduate soon
Him: No need to rush, no one is going to care how long it took you, and how long have you been here?
Me: Almost 6 years
Him: Well it takes most students 7 years when they get their masters along the way
I know think I set him up to make up an arbitrary number after he heard how long I’ve been here
Me: I think the paper is ready to resubmit
Him: I think it needs more figures
Me: The reviews said we had too many figures and tables
Him:Well we can’t sacrifice the good of the paper for an arbitrary figure number, besides most people just glance through the paper and look at the figures. Even if someone decides they don’t like your model you have so much data here, more than most (any) other manuscripts on this nature. The papers good for that, so focus on that more.
Me: True
Me: I’m loosing my motivation and feel like nothing has been accomplished this past year
Him: What are you talking about? You collected all that marvelous data that professor at other university said was great and you got the almost invited talk at big conference and instead of submitting a short communication coauthor said WOW this is great data make a full publication
Me: Yeah, I guess
Me: I want to graduate
Him: These things take time don’t rush we are making fine wine here
Me: Well maybe you have time for fine wine but I’m happy with cheap wine. I’m not trying to be hasty or lazy I would just like to graduate
Him:In good time, in good time. . . .
We also discussed the weather, the holiday party I missed, my talk for big conference (he won’t be there) and my next visit back to dissertation town.
My adviser said he was happy with my progress and my writing is getting better (I asked him about it). He loves to tell examples of really famous people who get crappy reviews and students who complain about how long things are taking but then get big awards for papers.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
It's over
The writing challenge is over. I didn't want to see my word bar up in the corner anymore but didn't feel like deleting it. So here it is.
I'm happy with my progress. I didn't meet my goal but I think I got a lot more done this month than I would have without the challenge.
Check out the results of the competition here.
I'm happy with my progress. I didn't meet my goal but I think I got a lot more done this month than I would have without the challenge.
Check out the results of the competition here.
Now it's time to move on and move forward. I need to convince my adviser that the resubmit is ready and that I'd like to do this before the Dec. conference, which I leave for on Sunday Dec. 9th. I mention this in our meeting last Tuesday and he said it wasn't possible, but I'm done with making his changes and I def. think it's ready. Wish me luck in changing his mind. It's been four months since we got the acceptance with revisions letter and although it is an entirely new paper and I'm glad we've made the changes we really need to be done with it already. It's hard to say this without sounding like you are being lazy but enough is enough.Friday, November 16, 2007
Advisers and advising
There has been some interesting posts recently. First I read on YFS qualities that make a good graduate student (entry Failure). She was inspired by a post on FSP on the same subject. These posts were generally about how to know if an individual will make it as a graduate student. The conclusion is that I don't think you can, one just makes a best guess. So, I thought it very timely that I read this post on "I Love Science, Really," which is about a 5th year student in her lab (but maybe a different department) who is being kicked out by her adviser. WOW.
So my question becomes when should one do this. I mean, don't you think this women's adviser should have known before her 5th year that she wasn't going to make it. And did the adviser not know because zie* wasn't advising very well, or did zie feel like I think FSP sometimes does, and just didn't know what to do about a non productive graduate student. Maybe the student had been busy with teaching and course work, and then when research finally came around she had a really difficult project or one that required a lot of method development.
I'd like to hear a discussion about what is expected from an adviser-advisee relationship. I know sometimes it's unclear to me. My adviser has always been good about meeting. We've had weekly meetings since I started graduate school in 2002 and we had group meetings when we had a big enough group. These would just be students (and sometimes adviser) taking turns giving either practice talks for some conference or just general talks about their research or research questions. I liked group meetings. But as time progressed I've felt that weekly meetings aren't very important, if I have a question I would just go to adviser's office or send an e-mail and I really wished the hour or so we meet a week zie would spend reading my papers instead. Never the less, although I complain about my adviser's turn around time in reading my manuscripts I think zie is a good adviser and I think I've been a good advisee, and that I speak my mind to zie about "when the hell are you going to read my paper" and I finally have the courage to say "we shouldn't include that in the paper" although I usually don't win that second argument. I sometimes feel like I can never be correct over my adviser since zie has been working in science for the last 50 or so years.
On the other hand my adviser actually kicked out one of my good friends from his group. I wish I knew at that point that she could have said NO, like the lab mate of I love Science. Instead she frantically ran around our dept. and another dept. looking for a semester project just so she could get research credit and think about what to do for her master's and/or PhD. No one would take her. Our adviser was one of the first when the dept. was created in the late 60's or early 70's. Did he sway peoples opinion? In retrospect I don't think she would have wanted to stay in his lab. I don't agree with the way my adviser "dumped" her, but I can't completely blame him for doing it. It was obvious for a while that they didn't see science or grad school in the same way, and that he didn't specialize in the direction she wanted the project to head. Should my friend have noticed this soon enough and got out herself? Maybe, but I don't think students feel they can do this anymore than professors feel they can dump students. So she ended up spending two semesters finishing course work and writing a report to get a non thesis masters, during which she had no funding and had to pay for her credits.
One more point on adviser relationships. I also have a friend, who in her 4th or 5th year is having to be a TA again, due to lack of funding. This isn't so bad as some funding is better than none, but what is bad is that another student in her lab who is a 2nd/3rd year, Asian and male does not have to TA but is being funded by a group the adviser works with. Their projects are not that different yet when my friend asked to be funded by said group her adviser said her research wasn't in the scope of the groups funding. Hm, suspicious. So, is she a TA now because she speaks better English, is female, is somehow less worthy?
So what should she do. It's too late now as she signed the TA contract. But we decided the fair thing for her adviser to do would have been for his two students to share the TA ship and only TA one semester each, giving both more time for research. Although I really think her senority should have been the trump card. Don't make her TA so she can finish and you won't have to fund her anymore.
So I'm curious, how much can a student be honest with an adviser when they don't want to ruin their relationships since they 1) need the advisers help graduating and 2) will want good letters of recommendation.
*zie is my attempt at a gender neutral pronoun
So my question becomes when should one do this. I mean, don't you think this women's adviser should have known before her 5th year that she wasn't going to make it. And did the adviser not know because zie* wasn't advising very well, or did zie feel like I think FSP sometimes does, and just didn't know what to do about a non productive graduate student. Maybe the student had been busy with teaching and course work, and then when research finally came around she had a really difficult project or one that required a lot of method development.
I'd like to hear a discussion about what is expected from an adviser-advisee relationship. I know sometimes it's unclear to me. My adviser has always been good about meeting. We've had weekly meetings since I started graduate school in 2002 and we had group meetings when we had a big enough group. These would just be students (and sometimes adviser) taking turns giving either practice talks for some conference or just general talks about their research or research questions. I liked group meetings. But as time progressed I've felt that weekly meetings aren't very important, if I have a question I would just go to adviser's office or send an e-mail and I really wished the hour or so we meet a week zie would spend reading my papers instead. Never the less, although I complain about my adviser's turn around time in reading my manuscripts I think zie is a good adviser and I think I've been a good advisee, and that I speak my mind to zie about "when the hell are you going to read my paper" and I finally have the courage to say "we shouldn't include that in the paper" although I usually don't win that second argument. I sometimes feel like I can never be correct over my adviser since zie has been working in science for the last 50 or so years.
On the other hand my adviser actually kicked out one of my good friends from his group. I wish I knew at that point that she could have said NO, like the lab mate of I love Science. Instead she frantically ran around our dept. and another dept. looking for a semester project just so she could get research credit and think about what to do for her master's and/or PhD. No one would take her. Our adviser was one of the first when the dept. was created in the late 60's or early 70's. Did he sway peoples opinion? In retrospect I don't think she would have wanted to stay in his lab. I don't agree with the way my adviser "dumped" her, but I can't completely blame him for doing it. It was obvious for a while that they didn't see science or grad school in the same way, and that he didn't specialize in the direction she wanted the project to head. Should my friend have noticed this soon enough and got out herself? Maybe, but I don't think students feel they can do this anymore than professors feel they can dump students. So she ended up spending two semesters finishing course work and writing a report to get a non thesis masters, during which she had no funding and had to pay for her credits.
One more point on adviser relationships. I also have a friend, who in her 4th or 5th year is having to be a TA again, due to lack of funding. This isn't so bad as some funding is better than none, but what is bad is that another student in her lab who is a 2nd/3rd year, Asian and male does not have to TA but is being funded by a group the adviser works with. Their projects are not that different yet when my friend asked to be funded by said group her adviser said her research wasn't in the scope of the groups funding. Hm, suspicious. So, is she a TA now because she speaks better English, is female, is somehow less worthy?
So what should she do. It's too late now as she signed the TA contract. But we decided the fair thing for her adviser to do would have been for his two students to share the TA ship and only TA one semester each, giving both more time for research. Although I really think her senority should have been the trump card. Don't make her TA so she can finish and you won't have to fund her anymore.
So I'm curious, how much can a student be honest with an adviser when they don't want to ruin their relationships since they 1) need the advisers help graduating and 2) will want good letters of recommendation.
*zie is my attempt at a gender neutral pronoun
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