How Could You Be Stuck in Graduate School When You Did Everything Right?
“I can’t take graduate school anymore,” Rachel said packing up her bag to go home. ” I have been working for him for over 6 years and I just lost a job offer because he says I am not “ready” to defend.”
As a 7th year student, Rachel had been networking actively with industry professionals.
During a networking event she met the founder of a startup,who was looking for someone with Rachel’s expertise to head their new research group.
After a few meetings, the founder offered Rachel the job on the condition that she would start within 3 months.
Rachel assumed that she would be ready to graduate by then, as she already had a publication and she felt she had enough data for her thesis.
Rachel’s supervisor had a different opinion.
He felt that she had bits and pieces of a thesis, but she didn’t have a complete story.
In order to defend, she would need to collect more data, and even by the most optimistic estimate it would take her at least 12 months to do so.
Rachel lost her job offer and was stuck in grad school for another year.
While she did get her PhD a year later, she felt that grad school was a waste of time, and it cost her tens of thousands of dollars in lost income.
What could Rachel have done differently to graduate sooner?
5 Common Mistakes that Can Cost You an Extra 12 Months in Graduate School
Mistake #1: Do what you think your advisor and thesis committee wants you to do, and avoid conflict at all cost
Miscommunication is the #1 reason for unpleasant surprises at committee meetings.
Many students think they know what they need to do to graduate.
They put a lot of work into collecting and analyzing data without communicating frequently enough with their supervisor to see whether they are on the right track.
The frequency of meetings with your supervisor depends on his or her management style (hands-off vs. hands-on), but in either event you need to make sure that you have sufficient communication (in person, phone, email) that you know with 100% certainty that you are on the right track.
Fear is a major reasons that students don’t approach their supervisors frequently enough.
They may be asking themselves questions such as:
“What if my supervisor thinks less of me because I made mistakes, or I don’t know what I should do next?”
Rachel did not have a good relationship with her supervisor because he frequently raised his voice or talked to her in a condescending tone.
To avoid conflict, Rachel worked on her thesis without asking for feedback from her supervisor, and was (very) unpleasantly surprised to learn that she needed to stay at least an extra year to collect more data.
What you can do to avoid this mistake:
Always know what your supervisor’s and committee’s expectations are for you to complete thesis by asking for their input as you are making progress.
In some cases, getting clarification will involve disagreements, but it is better to work through conflicts sooner rather than going off in the wrong direction or not collecting sufficient data.
As research evolves in graduate school, these expectations will change over time, but you always need to know what you are supposed to be working on now.
What if the expectations for your thesis aren’t clear? This brings up the next mistake:
Mistake #2: Assume that all the hard work that you do will turn into a thesis eventually
Rachel assumed that she would be allowed to graduate after 6 years, because the average time for completing a thesis in her department was 6 years.
However, some students finished their thesis in 4 years and other took 9 years.
Thesis committees did not take into consideration how long a student had been in the program.
They only allowed student to defend when they had a cohesive story that was publishable.
Rachel worked on multiple projects and collected lots of data, but she was missing the most important ingredient of a finished thesis: a central question or hypothesis.
With her time scattered among all her projects, Rachel lost focus.
Her projects were related, but not closely enough for a comprehensive doctoral thesis.
Eventually she collected sufficient data for one of her projects for a doctoral thesis, but lost a lot of time on side projects that did not lead to tangible progress or add to her skill set.
What you can do to avoid this mistake:
Some students in graduate school are hesitant to set up goals and milestones because the thesis question might change as more data is collected.
What’s the point of a plan if it keeps changing?
Given the uncertain nature of research, your initial plan will most certainly change.
However, you always need to have a plan to start with, and milestones to measure your progress.
You might need to develop this plan on your own, but be sure to get your supervisor’s and committee’s approval, so you can turn your hours at work into tangible progress on your thesis.
Mistake #3: Do research that you think is interesting
This is related to #1 and #2, but it is so common that it deserves a category of its own.
Going off in a research direction that you think is interesting (while neglecting your actual thesis topic) is a type of “shiny object syndrome.”
Perhaps you come across a paper, or a new technique, and you want to try it on your own.
As an independent researcher, you don’t need to consult with your supervisor each time you try something new.
The problem occurs when this new “side-project” starts to become a significant time-sink, and students pour a lot of their resources into it, without checking whether it complements their thesis research.
What you can do to avoid this mistake:
You might need to do literature research or collect preliminary data before presenting your idea to your supervisor.
However, don’t assume that just because you think this research is interesting, your advisor will too. (Perhaps he/she has tried it in the past and chose not to pursue it for a good reason).
Mistake #4: Relying on email to communicate with your supervisor
Email is ideal for sharing recently published articles and distributing important announcements, but it can lead to disastrous mistakes (and a lot of wasted time) if you rely on it solely to communicate with your supervisor.
Without hearing someone’s tone of voice or seeing their body language, it is hard to understand their point of view and why they agree or disagree with you.
Since Rachel didn’t have a a good relationship with her supervisor she communicated with him primarily over email, just to request permission to order supplies and give him a quick update on her progress.
He responded to her emails promptly, and assumed that her work was on track.
Rachel was embarrassed to admit when she needed help, and she “hid” from him hoping that she could solve her problems on her own.
Over time this gap in communication grew bigger and bigger, until Rachel realized that her supervisor had much higher expectations than she had anticipated, and she needed to stay in school for another year.
What you can do to avoid this mistake:
Use email for quick updates or for sending files, but do not rely on email to resolve complicated issues in your research.
If your supervisor is very busy ,use email to request a time to meet or talk with him or her.
Even the busiest professors can set aside 15 minutes to help you overcome bottlenecks that are holding you back from making progress in your research.
Mistake #5: Expecting that your supervisor will tell you what you need to do to graduate
Rachel assumed that if she followed everything that her supervisor told her to do, she would be guaranteed to get her Ph.D. in 6 years.
She worked on all the projects that he assigned to herm without realizing that her work lacked focus and couldn’t be pulled together into one thesis.
When she was a new student Rachel frequently asked her supervisor for help, but she quickly realized that he was either unavailable, or he didn’t how to help her.
Supervisors are very busy, your thesis is not at the top of their priority list.
If you walk in to your supervisor’s office asking for help with a problem, they will probably not know how to help you right then.
This can lead to a lot of wasted time for you and your supervisor, and it can also damage your relationship if your supervisor sees that you are not taking initiative to solve your problems.
What you can do to avoid this mistake:
You need to take “ownership” of your thesis, and all the responsibility that comes with it.
It is always better to try to fix the problem on your own first, to show that you have leadership skills and take initiative.
Remember, your thesis does not need to be ground-breaking.
You are in graduate school to learn how to become an independent researcher and once you make a commitment to take ownership of your project, you will be ready to resolve all the challenges you need to finish your thesis.