Advice for difficult PHD supervisor?

Hi..... I dunno if anyone can help... or maybe it will help me to just get this off my chest. I'm going to keep the details of this all very vague to avoid any potential difficulty.

Started my PHD 3 months ago and it was a dream to get into Cambridge. Was very excited to start and work under my supervisor. But basically I am having some trouble with my supervisor right now.

To begin with they are very closed off and it is very tough to figure out what they are thinking. They are always polite about it, but they are very direct about criticisms but extremely closed off about encouragement and positives of my work. Part of this is my own fault as I am a bit behind on my thesis, but the way they go about it is so unhelpful. For example I gave my opinion on something related to our humanities field and they just cut across me and said "no this isn't the case at all" and then started to ask me questions about my academic history. I have very tough skin but this meeting, for a whole range of reasons like the ones just given, made me feel small and belittled.

I was also at a pub departmental social event where this supervisor was present. One thing that happened was they quite openly said things about non-Oxbridge unis in the UK that very clearly meant they looked down on them. This worried me a lot because I am their student and I did my bachelors and masters at UK non-Oxbridge unis. You can obviously see why this would jar me.

This is just two examples but there are a few more like it. I don't want to give more details just in the rare case someone sees this and can connect the dots.

Especially after our last in-person meeting, I feel like if they aren't happy with my work that they've asked to see mid-Jan they are going to ask me to leave my course. Now I feel sick every time I think about my thesis.

Ive dreamt for years about coming here, everyone was so proud of me, and I don't want to just give it up. But I'm also worried I might not be able to last 3/4 years with this supervisor. If anyone has had to deal with something similar I would love your advice.

Reply 1

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by Anonymous

You are reading too much into someone's personality I think. For the first 2.5 years of my PhD at Cam, my Supervisor said nothing but 'Yes, very interesting to read TPD' and frequently fell asleep in supervisions, until I twigged never to organise them (yes, I arranged every single one, I'm sure there would have been none had I not done that) after lunch! Then in the Lent term of my final year, when I had pulled something together, he suddenly sprung into action, was really engaged, helpful, thoughtful, probing etc. He just couldn't engage with the 'thinking' period and needed a more complete thesis to get to grips with.

Have a chat to your Tutor in College and see if they can allay some of your concerns and give advice on working with Supervisors. Also, see if you can find a 2nd, 3rd or even graduated PhD with the same Supervisor and get advice from them on how to handle. I did that with mine and it was invaluable - the fact that I had to set Supervision dates and say what I woudl have completed and when I'd send it in advance etc was a tip I was told by a 3rd year.

And you simply can't be 'behind' 3 months into a humanities PhD. Many people get to the end of the first year and have only just decided their approach!