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Lecturer completely knocked my confidence

Hey guys,
I went to one of my lecturer's office hours the other day to gain some help with my dissertation and instead, I received a 30-minute 'lecture' on how my dissertation is completely flawed, how my research questions are crap, and how I don't know what I'm doing. Throughout that entire exchange with this lecturer, he made me feel so crap, he intimidated the life out of me by staring at me in a judgemental way as he continued to ask me questions and due to shock, I struggled to answer. Never in my life have I felt so crap. Not to mention that he didn't even try to understand the scope of my study and he just was so condescending with everything I answered. Ever since this interaction, my confidence has fallen to pieces. I'm not sure why I feel the way I do, but it almost felt scary. Like I have never had such a judgemental, intimidating, unfriendly, and cold conversation with a so-called 'teacher' who is supposed to help me but instead decides to crash my confidence. I don't understand why lecturers think because they have years of research experience from their PhDs, from their job or their overall role, they can act up, especially towards an undergraduate student who is just trying to make it out. I have luckily got an amazing supervisor who completely disagreed with this lecturer's comments but the damage has wreaked havoc because I am not someone who has good self-esteem and I have been feeling really sad since this interaction. Sorry if I seem like I am ranting.

Reply 1

Heriot-Watt Uni

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous #1

Hello there,

I'm sorry to hear about your challenging experience. It can be tough to receive critical feedback, especially when it feels overwhelming. Please don't be sorry. I understand how you are feeling right now, as I have been in several similar situations. But it only made me stronger as time went on. Initially, even though I had self-image problems, I learnt how to deal with them over time. You will be fine.

I just wanted to share a bit of my journey with you. I am doing a conversion MSc, and everything I do here is entirely different from my Undergraduate studies. Initially, I felt slightly overwhelmed with doubts as my peers seemed to have more potent ideas for our dissertations. But I pushed through and worked hard every day, and now I'm in the data collection phase with a concept I'm proud of. There was a moment when a peer made fun of my idea, which only fueled my determination to create a more robust proposal. My supervisor was impressed with the work, which boosted my confidence. Remember, we all have unique paths in this process; your journey matters. Keep pushing, and you'll surprise yourself!

It's great that your supervisor has a different perspective on your project, offering a more positive outlook. You might find it helpful to focus on constructive feedback from your supervisor and use it to refine your research questions and overall approach.

Remember, you're not alone in facing challenges during the dissertation process, and there are resources available to help you succeed. Wishing you resilience and success in your dissertation journey.

Cheers,
Shri (MSc International Business Student).