Apathetic PI not the best mentor

[ticktockclock]

I'm currently a 4th year PhD candidate in the life science field. Prior to grad school, I went to a smaller school that only had undergrads, making my experience with real research/labs/graduates pretty much limited to what I've learned these past few years.

 

Anyhow, it's been becoming very apparent to me that my advisor is simply not a good mentor. He loves benchwork and is wonderful at grant-writing, but it's becoming clear that he sees everything else as a requirement (teaching classes, advising, training, etc.). He's fairly young and the lab has always been relatively small, so he's not too old or too busy to mentor. He is very non-confrontational and will never express concern or criticisms, instead favoring a "silent treatment" approach that can last for weeks on end, making for some uncomfortable workdays. Any real criticisms I've received have been through the post-doc grapevine. 

 

He never really seems to stick up for his students and actually seems to be inclined to throw us under the bus before sticking his neck out to help. He doesn't have a bad relationship with anyone in lab, but he doesn't really have much of a relationship with any of us at all. He's a brilliant and nice guy, but I feel like he simply hopes this will rub off on others instead of attempting to push us toward scientific excellence. I really don't receive much positive or negative reinforcement. Anything I've learned has been from other students or just being left to my own devices.

 

I don't know if I have a specific question, I was just hoping someone could relate or perhaps give some advice. I've put forth much effort on my part in going to him with questions and trying to get him more active in a mentoring role, but he really just seems like he'd rather budget his time elsewhere. I'm within 2 years from having my PhD so switching simply is not an option. Additionally, I'm concerned that I won't receive much assistance in finding a job after I'm done. 

 

Sorry for the lengthy rant, but any advice is much appreciated. Thank you!

[fuzzylogician]

I'm going to reply as if you're in my field, even though I realize things could be very different in your field in ways I know nothing about. There are two things I've found helpful in getting criticism out of a non-confrontational advisor. The first is to ask for it very explicitly, and follow that up with a very specific set of questions about actions I've taken or situations I was in that I wanted his feedback on. These are things he knows about already, so I can say "I had problem X, I talked to Y/did Z to solve it. Does that sound like a good strategy for future problems like this? What would you have done in my place?" It's hard to get direct criticism because he's not used to saying anything bad but I've pushed on the one hand and I've learned to ask leading questions that emphasize "improvement for the future" instead of "criticism of the past." The "what would you recommend doing?" strategy, as soon as there is a problem, is also useful.

 

I've also learned that an advisor doesn't have to be a mentor - at least not for every aspect of my academic development. I've found myself other people in my department that I can go to with questions about progress and decisions that my advisor is sometimes not great at. Developing a support network of experienced professors who may not work in my field exactly but have the experience and the willingness to guide me through graduate school has helped me quite a bit.

[jahanzlik]

Some advisors are not made to be good mentors. What I have done in the past is reached out to other mentors, faculty, etc for advice. I agree with the above post, you need to create a network. Your advisor doesnt seem invested in you, so he will not help you on the your professional path. 

 

I also highly recommend talking to other students, find out in your dept who is a good mentor. Then maybe talk to them. Or even, just talk to other students and see how they cope with their advisor. There is no perfect advisor, the key is to realize that and find what you need else where. I am in my 5th year of the phd program. I have a smart, hard working, dedicated advisor who is not as invested in mentoring. I work with others in my lab and have at least 5 other people I email regularly. I found a few people who graduated 2 years ago to help mentor me as well. I hope this helps and realize, you are not alone!