Dropping off advisor?

[OliviaV]

Hello,

 

I am a fifth year graduate student in literature. I have 2 advisors. I'll call: Advisor 1 (famous and more experienced) and Advisor 2 (up and coming, first time advising) . I finished my first chapter after working on it for 9 months and with some dissappointment on the part of my advisors. In the meantime, I gave them a timeline with due dates for each chapter. I finished the first one on time, but by the time they got back to me and I did the necessary corrections, I had only 1 month left to finish the next one, and there was no way that I could do that. So I finished it in two months, working day and night. I proofread it multiple times and had others proofread at least 3 times.

 

After two months of hard work, advisor 1 (famous and more experienced), sent me a very harsh email pointing not only at my work but my personality, saying that I understand very slow and he does not know what to do at this point. I have never heard of such a thing from any of my professors and I think it is disrespectful to point at someone's personality like this. After that, advisor 2 sent me a separate email stating that I should not be discouraged and persevere.

 

My question is: I haven't replied to advisor 1 yet (it has been 2 days). Shall I just continue as if nothing happened and say I will send another draft in a week? Or shall I add that I worked hard but I am upset that I could not reflect the hard work in my writing.

Would the second option burn bridges completely (given that he already burn bridges with me anyway)? Shall I show that I can stand up for myself or remain passive and respectful like how I was since the beginning, (seems that passivity is not working for me)?

 

I appreciate any other advice because I feel very desperate, thinking of dropping from my phd program after 4 years of work

 

Thank you very much for your help.

[St Andrews Lynx]

I don't think 1 slightly-harsh email from an advisor is worth quitting your PhD over. I wouldn't call his actions "burning bridges" either - some advisors are just brutally honest with their feedback & opinions, in American academia that kind of feedback is fairly common. Try not to take it personally. 

 

This isn't worth getting into an argument with Advisor 1 over. Focus on the corrections both advisors requested, revise your submission timeline if necessary (if you have to rush to finish the chapters then you're probably not producing your best work - give yourself more time to write, correct and edit so that the advisors will receive better drafts).

[Guest |||]

Harsh and brutal honest feedback is excellent

 

Attacking an individual personally by calling slow, really depends on the kind of relationship you have with your adviser.  If neither of you have the reputation of "screwing around" or joking around, it is of course insulting.

 

I would say, give it a shot and perhaps assume he was having a bad day (we all have them right?), if he seems to snap at you again, bring it up that youre not sure why he is making such statements.

[rising_star]

Brutal honesty ahead, feel free to skip:

 

9 months is a loooooong time to work on a single chapter and still need corrections. That's an entire academic year. If you work at that pace, it'll take 5-8 years to finish your dissertation, which nearly any advisor would find unacceptable without extraordinary circumstances affecting your work.

 

Taking weeks to do revisions and then using that as an explanation for why you couldn't work on another chapter makes you sound unorganized and ill-prepared for the task at hand.

 

At this point, you need to figure a few things out about yourself. How fast can you realistically write this dissertation? Why is it taking you so long to write chapters? Is it because you're still doing lit review and analysis? Do you suffer from writer's block? Are you letting distractions interfere with your work? Do you need to find better places to work where you can be more productive? These things are important for you to figure out before you go dashing off an email to either one of your advisors.

 

If and when you do email your advisors, DO NOT MAKE EXCUSES. They're your advisors and they've heard every excuse in the book. And, even though you'll think you aren't making excuses, they (particularly Advisor 1) in all likelihood will think that's exactly what you're trying to do. This is, ideally, a situation where you would sit down with Advisor 1 to discuss his concerns about your work in a mature fashion. In that meeting you will listen and be respectful in an effort to better understand his expectations of the project and of you. You will not be defensive in any way or "stand up for yourself". This is about your work, not you personally, and if you want to finish, you'll need to know and understand the work your advisors are expecting.

[OliviaV]

Thank you all very much for your answers.