Skip to main content

Phrases that must never be used when talking to your PhD Guide


There are some phrases that must never be uttered when talking to your PhD guide. 'Coz if you do, then you might have to endure a lecture from him/her that will leave you wondering what got into you, that you said that!!

  • "You said so earlier..." : Never ever say this. If your Prof. asks you to remove something from your presentation that he himself had asked you to add, you're done for if you tell him, "But, you asked me to put this in earlier". The standard reply you may get will be something like this- "I may have said so many things." Or worse, you may get a scorn for a reply that will instantly shut you up.
  • "I didn't get time to..." : You should definitely steer clear from saying anything of this sort. 'Coz if you do, then before you even finish your sentence, you're bound to get a look that says, "What? You didn't get time?!!." Then your Prof. will ask you, "So, what is it that you do that you don't get time for research? As far as i know, this is your only job right now. Correct me if I'm wrong." Well obviously, you know that you haven't just whiled away your time. It's just that you were doing some other thing that your Prof. himself asked you to do. So, either you got the priorities wrong or worse, maybe he expects you to do both simultaneously!! Phew! You never know what they really want.
  • "What should I do now?" : No. No. Wrong way to begin to tell him that whatever you had tried and whatever he had suggested wasn't working. I did exactly that sometime ago and what I got was a huge lecture on what research is, and how one should not throw up their hands and say that things are not working out (even if that exactly is the case!) and how one should take initiative (yeah right! What did he think I did?! Took initiative to come and tell him that something else must be tried. I didn't wait for him to come up and ask. And, what I got was a lecture on how I didn't do just that), and how he couldn't give me all the answers, and...Oh! It simply goes on and on. So now, learn from others' experience and never begin that way.
I guess more phrases will be added to this list during the course of my stay here as a PhD student. I'll do that as and when i come across them.

(Pssst... Hope my Prof. doesn't ever come across this blog.)

xxRS

Update: As fate would have it, my Prof. has seen this blog. Guess, I should have maintained anonymity! But thankfully, he is the sweetest and so, he took it in the right spirit. I hope this makes up for all that is written in this blogpost.

Comments

  1. nice one! i liked the "i didn't get time to.." that's something that happens in the corporate world as well. you daren't tell your boss you didn't get time, or you'll be sacked! that shud give u enough free time! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. @ SEO: hehe...I wouldn't want that much free time!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice post... though I have not experienced anything of this sort... [that does not mean I never get scolded... my guide has a different way of doing it... but mostly it had been a mistake from my side...!].

    By the way, it would have been nice if instead of Albert Einstein's caricature you had put a caricature of your guide advising you and yourself wondering how to escape the situation...! lol!!! :~P

    :~)

    akp.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @ akp: thanks. i'm not creative enough to draw caricatures, so had to make do with this. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beware: You may also here something like "This is your Ph.D., If the guide tells you what to do, he/she should get the Ph.D. Why should you".....

    ReplyDelete
  6. @ Ayan Bhaiyya: yeah, i guess i would :P

    ReplyDelete
  7. I would suggest not to believe that your advisor would never visit your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  8. @ iisc life: I will never mention it to him and hope that no one else does. And I don't think he would dream that I write a blog. Anyways, fingers crossed. Don't want to jeopardise my phd! :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I hate to have to tell you this, but your Prof. did come across this blog. And, yes, it does mean that your PhD is now in jeopardy. Serious jeopardy. But mostly because your act of lese majeste failed to include these other things you should never say to your prof.: "When can I graduate?" "Do I have to attend your lectures?" "Can I take the summer off?" And of course the completely verboten "Can I switch advisors?"

    ReplyDelete
  10. @ Sir: Thanks a lot for not getting angry. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am grateful for the author who had shared this post. This was just awesome. Thanks for sharing the useful post.
    Thesis Writing Service

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A letter to the "smart" students

To the students who think they're so smart that they can fool the instructor: Sorry to break this to you, but no, you're not fooling anybody! In fact, you are the fool if you think otherwise. So, let me tell you something that might shine a light on your otherwise dead brain. Learning is a two-way street. If you want to learn, I am willing to teach over and beyond what is expected of me. I will still teach even if you don't want to learn because that is my job. However, like they say, you can only bring the horse to the water, you cannot make it drink.  When you leave the class, I notice. When you talk, I notice. When you don't bring a notebook or a pen and pretend to be attentive, I notice. So, to reiterate, you're really not fooling anybody. I frankly don't care. I am happier teaching a small class of students who are sincere and want to learn. In fact, that's better for me. As then, we are in sync and I don't have to worry about the distractor

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee: A book review

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee My rating: 4 of 5 stars Pachinko is a story spanning four generations of a Korean family living in Japan during the tumultuous 20th century that saw the annexation of Korea by Japan and the two world wars. The story of the family is pretty tragic. They deal with poverty, discrimination, suicide, forced imprisonment, all consequences of war and hatred from Japanese. What I liked about this book is that it tells you a lot about what happens when people are displaced and try to make a new place their home in the time of war and chaos. I admit my ignorance in that I had never heard of the term "Zainichi" which literally means foreigners living in Japan. The Zainichi even though born and raised in Japan are not considered Japanese citizens. They were made to choose between North and South Korea after the Korean war of the 1950s even though they have not known any country other than Japan. These people have faced a lot of discrimination and negativ

Tribute to Kankan Sir

Prof. Kankan Bhattacharyya was an eminent scientist and I'm sure his students will tell you about all the ways he trained them to become scientists. However, my interactions with him and memories of him are more of  a personal nature. I first met him in February 2019 right after I joined IISER Bhopal to begin my independent research career. In the dining hall of the Visitors Hostel at IISER Bhopal, there was one person who was the loudest, constantly cracking jokes, teasing people and taking the conversation forward. I was introduced to him, i.e, Kankan Sir, by one of my colleagues there and he immediately involved me too in the ongoing conversation. He was that person who instantly made you feel at home. Every day following this first interaction was a joy as he was constantly the life of the dining hall. Everyone  used to be clustered around him. He was such an enthusiastic person and so full of life that it was infectious. He also, in his own way, constantly tried to motivate us