Thesis Writing: Is Crying Typical for Advisors?

[Pythagorean]

Is it typical for advisors to want to see their students cry?

 

[lisab]

 

[rootX]

So the rumors I heard in the first week of my grad school are true!

 

[drizzle]

It's in your head. Supervisors are walking angels...*




* To be continued.

 

[Pythagorean]

"" would have been more appropriate,

 

[Pythagorean]

It's in your head. Supervisors are walking angels...*




* To be continued.

Lucifer was a walking angel (I hear he lost his wings).

 

[chill_factor]

My professors would say:

"Its part of the program."

"No pain no gain."

"Builds character."

"Tears wash the face and cleans out your pores."

"Sobbing opens up the airways."

 

[Pythagorean]

My advisor would say:

"This is not thesis quality"

"It's ok, you have weekends and evenings, too"

"Anybody can list procedures and facts"

and then once I spend countless all-nighters on revisions:

"Perfect! Did you do the other things we discussed?"

 

[chill_factor]

well... you're almost out... since its your thesis. think of it that way, and it doesn't seem so bad!

 

[Pythagorean]

Yeah, it's not a big deal; just enough to justify whining.

 

[chill_factor]

Yeah, it's not a big deal; just enough to justify whining.

yeah, its the new grad students that need to whine. first other classes, then jackson, then some other classes, then research, then the thesis... damn makes me want to just go to sleep already.

 

[Drakkith]

Is it typical for advisors to want to see their students cry?

Of course. Advisers gain their tremendous powers from the tears of students.

 

[DragonPetter]

Much better to have a strict thesis advisor with high expectations and well thought out goals than one who doesn't set any specific goals for you, expecting you to basically guide yourself with guesses down the road..

The example quotes you listed would only make a sensitive baby cry. However, any advisor trying to make you cry on purpose is unprofessional and a sick person.

 

[matt.o]

Much better to have a strict thesis advisor with high expectations and well thought out goals than one who doesn't set any specific goals for you, expecting you to basically guide yourself with guesses down the road..

Really? What happens when you need to come up with your own ideas or set your own goals?

 

[Drakkith]

Really? What happens when you need to come up with your own ideas or set your own goals?

That's when you become the adviser.

 

[Pythagorean]

I actually do come up with (many of) my own ideas and set my own goals... and watch many of them get crushed/demolished/obliterated/maimed/annihilated/destroyed/etc. Of course, my adviser brings a lot of intellectual merit (not so much goal setting, leaves most of that to me) but she likes me to nurture, care for, and grow my own little flowers of delicate and expendable hypotheses so that she can crush/demolish/obliterate/maim/etc. them.

(I'm terribly over-dramatizing this)

 

[matt.o]

That's science for you!