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Nasty professor ? URGENT

I'm doing my masters at a sort of well known university in London. For my core module (hes the covenor) I have to submit 4 reaction papers, each of 750 words. 2 weeks ago, he asked to send a draft reaction paper which he will check and provide feedback.
So yesterday, I met with him online. My microphone wasn't working for some reason as he said he cant hear me. Even though my microphone was on. Ultimately I had to use the chat box.

Then he said he hadn't read the paper and read through it in front of me.
Then gave mixed replies saying most of it was critically engaging, and good but also said it lacks something which I need to address. He made a few points which I agree with but apparently it seemed it wasn't good enough. So I'm pretty much assuming he will give me around 50s in my final project.

I dont really understand. No matter how hard you try to appear critically engaging, he will still say its enough or it still down mark.

I'm so fed up of hearing comments like this. What can I do?
Original post by Sylvia_Guzman23
I'm doing my masters at a sort of well known university in London. For my core module (hes the covenor) I have to submit 4 reaction papers, each of 750 words. 2 weeks ago, he asked to send a draft reaction paper which he will check and provide feedback.
So yesterday, I met with him online. My microphone wasn't working for some reason as he said he cant hear me. Even though my microphone was on. Ultimately I had to use the chat box.

Then he said he hadn't read the paper and read through it in front of me.
Then gave mixed replies saying most of it was critically engaging, and good but also said it lacks something which I need to address. He made a few points which I agree with but apparently it seemed it wasn't good enough. So I'm pretty much assuming he will give me around 50s in my final project.

I dont really understand. No matter how hard you try to appear critically engaging, he will still say its enough or it still down mark.

I'm so fed up of hearing comments like this. What can I do?

How is that nasty?

You should check your microphone and also have a spare.

If you address all the points, then why didnt you challenge him?
If his points were unfair , then challenge him.
If his points were valid then take them on board.

Think you are overreacting or you havent explained the whole context.
Thought about this again and he sounds like my kind of professor.

1. The microphone thing must have irked him a lot. You should have been in the position to ptove and know it wasnt your end and your connection was working. You need to sort that out in future otherwise you let him get away with thinking you are the problem whereas a tech savvy person could have held their ground. Typing answers is already a bad start.

2. The fact he asked for your draft arguments is a great thing and to be valued. It means he is willing to spend his time chatting with you and going through your work to give you a shot at where the issues are and some insight at how you can improve.
You arent an undergrad anymore and a higherstandard is expected of you as a scholar.
Where he is right agree, where he is wrong disagree, where he is minsinformed point it out. Just because he is a professor doesnt mean he is always right.

3. Assuming you are at a decent uni then imagine how many students the professor must be seeing and bored senseless at hearing the same things, its a chance to raise your game. From your account these werent personal attacks, they were to do with the content of your work, to which you are expected to defend it as an academic.

4. The alternative is he doesnt talk to you at all and you go in blind? I think its a big advantage getting to pick his brains and argue the toss over your subjects. I think other students will have seen that and taken the opportunity.

5. You get all sorts of personalities as tutors/ lecturers and they are first academics, which is what you are studying to be. They can have differing personalities, some are more suuted to teaching than others but they are all academics. If you are smart then rather than think of him being nasty because he didnt give you glowing reviews take a step back and see if his academic opinions had merit? Rather than have hurty feelings, get even and learn from it.

If you let people like this intimidate you or you throw them into the nasty people box you may be letting yourself down as presumably you still have to deal with them.

The real sort of academic you have to be concerned about is the indifferent and incompetent.

Maybe you will see things differently after you have finished the degree at your sort of well known university in London.
Original post by 999tigger
Thought about this again and he sounds like my kind of professor.

1. The microphone thing must have irked him a lot. You should have been in the position to ptove and know it wasnt your end and your connection was working. You need to sort that out in future otherwise you let him get away with thinking you are the problem whereas a tech savvy person could have held their ground. Typing answers is already a bad start.

2. The fact he asked for your draft arguments is a great thing and to be valued. It means he is willing to spend his time chatting with you and going through your work to give you a shot at where the issues are and some insight at how you can improve.
You arent an undergrad anymore and a higherstandard is expected of you as a scholar.
Where he is right agree, where he is wrong disagree, where he is minsinformed point it out. Just because he is a professor doesnt mean he is always right.

3. Assuming you are at a decent uni then imagine how many students the professor must be seeing and bored senseless at hearing the same things, its a chance to raise your game. From your account these werent personal attacks, they were to do with the content of your work, to which you are expected to defend it as an academic.

4. The alternative is he doesnt talk to you at all and you go in blind? I think its a big advantage getting to pick his brains and argue the toss over your subjects. I think other students will have seen that and taken the opportunity.

5. You get all sorts of personalities as tutors/ lecturers and they are first academics, which is what you are studying to be. They can have differing personalities, some are more suuted to teaching than others but they are all academics. If you are smart then rather than think of him being nasty because he didnt give you glowing reviews take a step back and see if his academic opinions had merit? Rather than have hurty feelings, get even and learn from it.

If you let people like this intimidate you or you throw them into the nasty people box you may be letting yourself down as presumably you still have to deal with them.

The real sort of academic you have to be concerned about is the indifferent and incompetent.

Maybe you will see things differently after you have finished the degree at your sort of well known university in London.

I'm pretty sure my microphone was working. I could clearly hear him. He said he had muted his microphone and checked it again but still couldn't hear me. Ultimately I had to say something is wrong with my microphone because it was getting late and he only had 15 mins per student.

Also he asks for critical analysis which I did. He also agreed with it but was still didn't seem like he would give a mark from 65-70
Original post by Sylvia_Guzman23
I'm pretty sure my microphone was working. I could clearly hear him. He said he had muted his microphone and checked it again but still couldn't hear me. Ultimately I had to say something is wrong with my microphone because it was getting late and he only had 15 mins per student.

Also he asks for critical analysis which I did. He also agreed with it but was still didn't seem like he would give a mark from 65-70

Om such a situation if you test, then you know its not you and it reverts to being the incompetent professor v tech savvy student as opposed to professor v slack lazy student. I would never have conceded faults with my microphone if it wasnt true and you could have moven on, on that basis.
Also if he has 15 mins a student then he will know if its working for previous and subsequent students.

Maybe you did critical analysis, just wasnt up to the standard. You have high expectations, maybe they have higher standards at this uni? You are going to have to take the fight to him or you will be steamrollered and forgotten. Your choice.
Original post by 999tigger
Om such a situation if you test, then you know its not you and it reverts to being the incompetent professor v tech savvy student as opposed to professor v slack lazy student. I would never have conceded faults with my microphone if it wasnt true and you could have moven on, on that basis.
Also if he has 15 mins a student then he will know if its working for previous and subsequent students.

Maybe you did critical analysis, just wasnt up to the standard. You have high expectations, maybe they have higher standards at this uni? You are going to have to take the fight to him or you will be steamrollered and forgotten. Your choice.

I had no other option than to concede because time was running out and he was getting annoyed.

I'm not sure if they have higher standards because the pass mark for masters is 50 while for other well known unis is 40. This professor does seem like a harsh marker because he kept saying from the beginning that not everyone will pass their 1st assignment. Which I didn't like honestly. This core module has 2 assignments both 50% weight.

If he's going to give 50-59 for 1 assignment then it makes it extremely difficult to obtain a 68+ mark for the overall module. Its even worse for me because I'm really aiming to get a distinction.

And I honestly think he is secretly hating this whole online set up which is making him more annoyed. Another student criticized him for rushing lectures but he said he can't fit in everything in 1 hour so lectures will remain for 1 hour only .
(edited 3 years ago)
Reply 6
Original post by Sylvia_Guzman23
I'm doing my masters at a sort of well known university in London. For my core module (hes the covenor) I have to submit 4 reaction papers, each of 750 words. 2 weeks ago, he asked to send a draft reaction paper which he will check and provide feedback.
So yesterday, I met with him online. My microphone wasn't working for some reason as he said he cant hear me. Even though my microphone was on. Ultimately I had to use the chat box.

Then he said he hadn't read the paper and read through it in front of me.
Then gave mixed replies saying most of it was critically engaging, and good but also said it lacks something which I need to address. He made a few points which I agree with but apparently it seemed it wasn't good enough. So I'm pretty much assuming he will give me around 50s in my final project.

I dont really understand. No matter how hard you try to appear critically engaging, he will still say its enough or it still down mark.

I'm so fed up of hearing comments like this. What can I do?

I don't really understand what the problem is here? You submitted some drafts, he gave you some pointers on how to improve them. That's exactly what the interaction was supposed to be!
Clearly, some parts of the interaction were frustrating with tech problems and the fact he didn't have time to read them in advance, but that's life, I'm afraid.
Tbf a lot of students starts postgraduate qualifications and expect to be achieving roughly the same marks that they got at undergraduate, but that's simply not the case. I've just finished an MSc and all lecturers made it quite clear that getting a distinction in the MSc is a hell of a lot harder than at BSc level, as they're not equivalent. They said outright that those used to getting firsts will most likely achieve merits or passes at the very beginning, but that doesn't mean they can't improve over time.
(edited 3 years ago)

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