what to do if you feel like the professor is biased?

[loves.pink]

So this is my first semester in a very small graduate program (<10) and my current teacher is also the chair for the program. Long story short these are the things she has done so far that I feel are unacceptable:

• my admission interviews were very unprofessional; she was driving while doing a phone interview with me and that was after having to reschedule the interview two times because she did not call me the first two appointments
  
• she plays favorites; she really helps the students she likes while the rest of us have to suffer and figure things out ourselves. an example: she helped one student prepare for a practicum interview while she did not help others and because she has ties with that practicum I have a very strong hunch that she had her favorite student placed there instead of another one of my classmates who was more qualified
  
• she randomly cancels classes and then adds on homework that was not originally assigned
  
• she neglects to tell her non-favorites certain vital information; i.e., the fact that getting at least one place to take you on for your practicum is not guaranteed and that this will affect your graduation date. I understand that there are practicum and internships that are this way but it was never specified that it applied to this program.
  

So basically my question comes down to is there anyone who i can talk to at my school or if i should even bother given that it's basically her program. Should I even continue the program or is it possible to transfer to a different graduate school. Does anyone know if financial aid will allow me to transfer to a different school and if i do not start immediately (i.e., if i have to wait til next fall), will i have to start paying back my loan? Has anyone ever been in my situation and if you are/were, what did you do?

[fuzzylogician]

It's hard to tell from what you write really how bad things are. Some of the behavior you describe doesn't sound that out of the ordinary to me. I had an phone interview when I was applying that had three people on the line where one of them was driving, had a terrible lag and was constantly breaking up. I thought it was unprofessional and ended up not accepting that school's offer (for many different reasons) but I wasn't outraged.

Same goes for someone having favorites -- that's just life. It's great when you're one of the professor's favorites and less fun when you're not; I think it's unfair to expect someone to like everyone in their program equally and there are places where being the favorite has benefits that others may consider unfair (say, if a professor has to choose one student to be his TA or RA, or if he has funding to pay someone over the summer). You may think that your professor endorsed someone less qualified but better-liked than someone who "deserved" the job more, but what does that really mean? It's a fact of life that the best person doesn't always win the prize, and if this endorsement didn't happen in an official capacity but more on a personal level then I don't think it's unprofessional. Making connections is an important skill and this other student is doing a better job at it than the one who is "more deserving".

This:

she randomly cancels classes and then adds on homework that was not originally assigned

is more worrisome. That shouldn't happen. I'd concentrate on the cancelling part and not on the adding homework part because no one will interfere with the classroom management decisions a colleague is making, unless they are egregiously unprofessional. Adding extra homework might not qualify as that, but it is worth mentioning because it's an unfair way of dealing with missed classes.

Your last point, again, I'm not sure I follow. Is it her job -- and hers alone -- to give you all this information? It sounds like general information that is not even program-specific. Where is your advisor? The DGS? Where are the other professors in the program? I'd start by choosing another professor in the program who you feel comfortable talking to (your advisor, or an established professor who can successfully manage dealing with the chair) and bringing up the things that you are unhappy with. Be careful about how you lay out your grievances. Start with the professional concerns -- getting an internship, getting good advice on how to obtain one and who should give it. Then talk about classes and the one that gets unexpectedly cancelled. Since you can't expect to suddenly become the chair's favorite, a good outcome will be getting good advice on how to successfully navigate the program - learning about other sources of information, making connections with other professors who might endorse you when you are looking for an internship. I think you need to try and solve this program-internally before you take it outside, but if you feel that you won't find a sympathetic ear in your program then start learning about the services your university offers. Is there a student council? A dean in charge of student affairs? There must be someone whose job it is to address concerns like the ones you are bringing up.

[Eigen]

Interestingly enough, I think the canceling classes/assigning extra assignments is the least worrisome of the above points- it was par for the course in a lot of my graduate classes. We were expected to be much more self directed in our learning and we were treated more as peers- including being understanding when something comes up that they need to cancel class for. We ended up having a lot of our classes shifted to another day/the weekend/night or being canceled outright because the teacher was at a conference/speaking engagement/etc. For the assignments, it depends if the notice for the assignments is enough time to complete them. If she, say, assigns one thing a week ahead of time, and then a few days later sends out an e-mail tacking something else on, that shouldn't really be a problem. If she's not sending out e-mails or is not giving enough time to complete the assignments, that's different.

As to having favorites- it's a part of grad school, imo. You may all be taking the same class, but if another student is TAing or RAing for the teacher, or has asked them to be on their committee, etc. there *should* be a closer working relationship than with other students who are simply taking the class. If she was *grading* based on favorites, that would be one thing, but it seems like she simply has a few students who she's helping with professional development/planning more than the others.

Have you gone to her and asked for her help on practicums, etc? Maybe the students she's helping out were the first/only ones that went to her and asked- or maybe they're just closer to her area, and she has more of a connection to helping them out. She's not the only professor in the department, I assume- maybe you should find some others to help you out in the same fashion.

[fuzzylogician]

Interestingly enough, I think the canceling classes/assigning extra assignments is the least worrisome of the above points- it was par for the course in a lot of my graduate classes. We were expected to be much more self directed in our learning and we were treated more as peers- including being understanding when something comes up that they need to cancel class for. We ended up having a lot of our classes shifted to another day/the weekend/night or being canceled outright because the teacher was at a conference/speaking engagement/etc. For the assignments, it depends if the notice for the assignments is enough time to complete them. If she, say, assigns one thing a week ahead of time, and then a few days later sends out an e-mail tacking something else on, that shouldn't really be a problem. If she's not sending out e-mails or is not giving enough time to complete the assignments, that's different.

I agree that those situations are not problematic -- I should have made it clear that I wasn't referring to that kind of situation. Professors go on conferences or give talks all the time and having to reschedule for that reason is not a problem, in my opinion. Those thing are usually planned well ahead of time, however, so there is no reason why they would (consistently) pop up at the last minute and force changes in schedule or homework load. I was imagining the extra homework being a way of making up for material that a last-minute cancelled class was supposed to cover, and while there is a lot of self-teaching involved in grad school I don't think it's fair to have that be a solution for a class that is not administered properly.

[UnlikelyGrad]

You know, it's funny, people say that professors "play favorites" with me...this was true in undergrad, and it's frequently true in grad school as well. (I've probably been "teacher's pet" in >50% of my grad classes.)

There are good reasons for this, though:

(1) I make an effort to connect with my profs outside of the classroom. (Not so much in undergrad, definitely MUCH more in grad school.)

(2) Also, I always treat my profs as people rather than as automatons whose sole purpose is to help me. (To this I add: good manners go a long way.)

(3) I work my butt off. I do all of the assigned reading before class starts. Sometimes I even read ahead a couple of lectures. Plus, I'm one of those weird people who LIKES doing extra problems in math-based classes--not for the sheer joy of it, but because I like the satisfaction of getting a concept down and being able to do it backwards and forwards without much effort. I try to really get into whatever-it-is I'm studying.

(4) If I get a question on a quiz/test/assignment wrong, I want to go over it afterwards until I can work it correctly. If I can't figure it out on my own, I'll talk to the prof to help me understand what I did wrong--even though it won't affect my grade in the future.

Now I don't know about you, but in addition to being a student, I've also been a teacher. And I *LIKE* students like me. They're so much more enjoyable to have in the classroom. You can talk to them without feeling like you're getting cavities drilled at the dentist. Some of these students are not necessarily at the top of the class, but they really WANT to succeed...and I want to help them.

On the other hand, there are the students who don't do anything unless they absolutely have to; the students who do everything at the last possible minute; the students who treat you like you're a piece of shit because you actually deigned to mark their assignment down. I'm always happy to see these students go, and I generally count their evals as worthless. (Of course you didn't learn anything from me. You didn't ever crack open the textbook.)

I look at some of my fellow grad students, and they're just as bad as the recalcitrant undergrads I've had to deal with. And they constantly gripe about how Dr. X doesn't like them, how Dr. X seems to act annoyed with them when they go to office hours...at least one of these people comes to ME for homework help when we're in the same class, and she doesn't want a hint, she wants me to work the whole damn problem for her! Yeah, Dr. X would get annoyed at her during office hours if she tried that on him.

Now, the department head doesn't seem to like me very much, but that's a different cup of tea. (I've never taken his class.) To him, I'm annoying, because I'm constantly asking why they do A, B, or C in the freshman labs, when it might be more effective/better teaching to do X, Y, or Z instead...I'm sure he finds me way too outspoken.

[juilletmercredi]

-Your admissions interviews are neither here nor there. You are in the program now, so the point is moot.

-Seek out mentorship and advisement elsewhere. Unless these are things that only the chair can do for you (which is uncommon)...you should be able to get assistance elsewhere. "Playing favorites" is not uncommon in academia; most people in most industries help out the people they really like and don't help other people so much. Be someone else's favorite.

Also, learn that placements, jobs, and fellowships are hardly ever based solely on "objective" qualifications. If two people can do the job reasonably well, employers are going to go with the person they like better or have a connection to. This is a fact of life and is pretty consistent across industries.

-What does "randomly cancels" mean? The phrase could indicate that she did it once or twice, or that it's an ongoing pattern. Is she canceling class because she's sick, or has an emergency, or is she canceling because she mismanages her schedule and forgets things? If you feel it's impeding your learning, talk to the DGS - but beware, because if it gets back to her you may make an enemy out of her. I guess I can't imagine being PO'd about this, unless the extra assignments are given right before a due date or take an inordinate amount of time to finish.

-How is this information that's not self-explanatory? I go to a program where master's students are required to do a practicum, and it's pretty obvious that no one is REQUIRED to take on a practicum student but that if you don't do it in time, you won't graduate. It's up to the students to find an appropriate practicum that will count towards graduation. That's pretty much common knowledge; it's not any different from having a required class to take towards graduation. It's your responsibility to be familiar with the course requirements and to sign up for the class, even if it's a popular one. And as someone else said, presumably she's not the only professor in the department, so if you feel you need help you can always go to another professor.

Have you ever talked to your chair one-on-one? Made an appointment with her, or visited her office hours? Or do you just expect her to do the same things she does for the other students she likes simply because you exist and are taking her class?