Friday, September 1
Friday, September 01, 2006 | 
Posted by
Dandelion
Clear noted that there are a lot of complaints as secrets, so I thought I'd share a happier one: I love my advisor! She's always so enthusiastic and interesting and supportive. It's a secret because all the other grad students I spend time with constantly seem annoyed or frustrated with their advisors. Sometimes I feel like I have to find something to complain about, so as to not be left out of the conversation, or inspire jealousy. Luckily, there are some things my advisor does, like turn every 5 minute meeting into an hour-plus discussion about the state of our field, that I actually enjoy, but other people conveniently interpret as a bad thing.
It's unfortunate that it seems much more socially acceptable to kvetch about excessive demands and lack of guidance, than to say anything complimentary. My advisor is generally known as one of the nicest people in the department, but surely the other professors can't all be that bad.
Of course, her being so nice makes me feel even worse about my lack of productivity, but this is supposed to be a happy secret, so I'll ignore that for now. I did just write 750 words today! I was tempted to put it off again, but I wanted to be able to show my advisor something for a change. Maybe I should try to focus on making her happy as a motivational tool.
3 comments:
I have no complaints about my advisor. More accurately, I have numerous complaints, but I also think it's very possible (even probable?) that I wouldn't have finished grad school without him, which makes my complaints ultimately rather carpy.
I love my advisor, too, and definitely use her approval as a motivational tool.
I have to agree that there are some folks out there who are amazingly generous with their time and make super wonderful and important mentors. Kudos to them! (What's a good way of acknowledging this and letting them know that we appreciate them?)
Post a Comment