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Graduate advisors: what are some qualities that make a graduate student difficult to supervise?
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I am asking this question to seek some perspectives from graduate advisors.
My question is: what qualities of a student makes him or her difficult to supervise? It is all the more valuable if this is based on actual experience.
Note that "difficult" is open to interpretation. The student may not necessarily be a bad student or poor learner; after all, most of the people who are admitted to a graduate program has went through some rigorous examinations in their lives. Maybe a student is such a genius, that he/she won't listen to you, and hence that presents a difficulty.
graduate-school advisor research-undergraduate academic-life supervision
asked 4 hours ago
The man of your dream
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up vote
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down vote
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I am asking this question to seek some perspectives from graduate advisors.
My question is: what qualities of a student makes him or her difficult to supervise? It is all the more valuable if this is based on actual experience.
Note that "difficult" is open to interpretation. The student may not necessarily be a bad student or poor learner; after all, most of the people who are admitted to a graduate program has went through some rigorous examinations in their lives. Maybe a student is such a genius, that he/she won't listen to you, and hence that presents a difficulty.
graduate-school advisor research-undergraduate academic-life supervision
asked 4 hours ago
The man of your dream
18224
New contributor
The man of your dream is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
The challenge with this question is going to be that, aside from trivialities such as a student who does not have the necessary knowledge, my "difficult to supervise student" may be your "once in a lifetime awesome student". It will very much boil down to work mode preferences.
– xLeitix
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
I am asking this question to seek some perspectives from graduate advisors.
My question is: what qualities of a student makes him or her difficult to supervise? It is all the more valuable if this is based on actual experience.
Note that "difficult" is open to interpretation. The student may not necessarily be a bad student or poor learner; after all, most of the people who are admitted to a graduate program has went through some rigorous examinations in their lives. Maybe a student is such a genius, that he/she won't listen to you, and hence that presents a difficulty.
graduate-school advisor research-undergraduate academic-life supervision
asked 4 hours ago
The man of your dream
18224
New contributor
The man of your dream is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
I am asking this question to seek some perspectives from graduate advisors.
My question is: what qualities of a student makes him or her difficult to supervise? It is all the more valuable if this is based on actual experience.
Note that "difficult" is open to interpretation. The student may not necessarily be a bad student or poor learner; after all, most of the people who are admitted to a graduate program has went through some rigorous examinations in their lives. Maybe a student is such a genius, that he/she won't listen to you, and hence that presents a difficulty.
graduate-school advisor research-undergraduate academic-life supervision
graduate-school advisor research-undergraduate academic-life supervision
asked 4 hours ago
The man of your dream
18224
New contributor
The man of your dream is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 4 hours ago
The man of your dream
18224
New contributor
The man of your dream is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 4 hours ago
The man of your dream
18224
New contributor
The man of your dream is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 4 hours ago
The man of your dream
18224
asked 4 hours ago
The man of your dream
18224
18224
New contributor
The man of your dream is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
The man of your dream is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
The man of your dream is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
The challenge with this question is going to be that, aside from trivialities such as a student who does not have the necessary knowledge, my "difficult to supervise student" may be your "once in a lifetime awesome student". It will very much boil down to work mode preferences.
– xLeitix
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
The challenge with this question is going to be that, aside from trivialities such as a student who does not have the necessary knowledge, my "difficult to supervise student" may be your "once in a lifetime awesome student". It will very much boil down to work mode preferences.
– xLeitix
1 hour ago
The challenge with this question is going to be that, aside from trivialities such as a student who does not have the necessary knowledge, my "difficult to supervise student" may be your "once in a lifetime awesome student". It will very much boil down to work mode preferences.
– xLeitix
1 hour ago
The challenge with this question is going to be that, aside from trivialities such as a student who does not have the necessary knowledge, my "difficult to supervise student" may be your "once in a lifetime awesome student". It will very much boil down to work mode preferences.
– xLeitix
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
up vote
3
down vote
Strange question, but here you go:
- Knowing better than the advisor (in reality or imagination) and hammering that point in to the advisor
- Being disorganised
- Having to be told to do the same thing repeatedly, without effect, without proposing an alternative, or without explicit (justified) refusal
- Being unable to write, even while having results
- Being a brilliant writer, making weak results look better than they are
- Being perfectionist to the point of ineffectiveness
- Being sloppy, so that everything that the student does needs to be double- and triple-checked for correctness; sometimes, reintroducing errors after they have been corrected already
- Being afraid of success and/or one's own greatest enemy
One thing that does not constitute a difficult to supervise student is a genius who doesn't listen, but gets results and writes them up. It may give a dent to the ego of the adviser, but, like a dent in a Jeep, it's a dent worth having.
answered 1 hour ago
Captain Emacs
20.9k95171
It's a good list, but re (1) I love students who know more than me, and (5) can really be a skill of its own as long as they are still willing to improve results.
– xLeitix
1 hour ago
1
@xLeitix Note my "dent" comment. Point 1 is not about the student being better than you (I very much prefer them to be better than me than weaker ;-), but constantly harping about that. However, most of the time, when they do so, it's their imagination that they are better, because the really brilliant ones I found not to do it. But I know from colleagues that "genius" students let them know how much superior they were - and even iff (!) that were true, it is a pain to supervise them. Why didn't they pick a supervisor that matches their ever so superior skill? And to 5 (contd.)
– Captain Emacs
1 hour ago
1
... to 5. the point is that they write so brilliantly that they are in danger of falling in love with their own results. In other words, it can become very difficult to convince them that their results are not as good as they look by virtue of their grandiloquence. Of course, if they are critical enough and do not fall for their own words, great writing skills are a gift.
– Captain Emacs
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
The amount and time spent on asking questions is one major point.
There are students who come to your office almost every day and want to have every little detail explained to them, and there are students who you don't see for months, and if they talked to you earlier you could have told them right away not to waste their time on X.
Both extremes are problematic, and student and advisor should aim to find a middle path, e.g. agree on a fixed meeting date/time once a week.
answered 1 hour ago
Dirk Liebhold
6,0931726
add a comment |Â
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
3
down vote
Strange question, but here you go:
- Knowing better than the advisor (in reality or imagination) and hammering that point in to the advisor
- Being disorganised
- Having to be told to do the same thing repeatedly, without effect, without proposing an alternative, or without explicit (justified) refusal
- Being unable to write, even while having results
- Being a brilliant writer, making weak results look better than they are
- Being perfectionist to the point of ineffectiveness
- Being sloppy, so that everything that the student does needs to be double- and triple-checked for correctness; sometimes, reintroducing errors after they have been corrected already
- Being afraid of success and/or one's own greatest enemy
One thing that does not constitute a difficult to supervise student is a genius who doesn't listen, but gets results and writes them up. It may give a dent to the ego of the adviser, but, like a dent in a Jeep, it's a dent worth having.
answered 1 hour ago
Captain Emacs
20.9k95171
It's a good list, but re (1) I love students who know more than me, and (5) can really be a skill of its own as long as they are still willing to improve results.
– xLeitix
1 hour ago
1
@xLeitix Note my "dent" comment. Point 1 is not about the student being better than you (I very much prefer them to be better than me than weaker ;-), but constantly harping about that. However, most of the time, when they do so, it's their imagination that they are better, because the really brilliant ones I found not to do it. But I know from colleagues that "genius" students let them know how much superior they were - and even iff (!) that were true, it is a pain to supervise them. Why didn't they pick a supervisor that matches their ever so superior skill? And to 5 (contd.)
– Captain Emacs
1 hour ago
1
... to 5. the point is that they write so brilliantly that they are in danger of falling in love with their own results. In other words, it can become very difficult to convince them that their results are not as good as they look by virtue of their grandiloquence. Of course, if they are critical enough and do not fall for their own words, great writing skills are a gift.
– Captain Emacs
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
Strange question, but here you go:
- Knowing better than the advisor (in reality or imagination) and hammering that point in to the advisor
- Being disorganised
- Having to be told to do the same thing repeatedly, without effect, without proposing an alternative, or without explicit (justified) refusal
- Being unable to write, even while having results
- Being a brilliant writer, making weak results look better than they are
- Being perfectionist to the point of ineffectiveness
- Being sloppy, so that everything that the student does needs to be double- and triple-checked for correctness; sometimes, reintroducing errors after they have been corrected already
- Being afraid of success and/or one's own greatest enemy
One thing that does not constitute a difficult to supervise student is a genius who doesn't listen, but gets results and writes them up. It may give a dent to the ego of the adviser, but, like a dent in a Jeep, it's a dent worth having.
answered 1 hour ago
Captain Emacs
20.9k95171
It's a good list, but re (1) I love students who know more than me, and (5) can really be a skill of its own as long as they are still willing to improve results.
– xLeitix
1 hour ago
1
@xLeitix Note my "dent" comment. Point 1 is not about the student being better than you (I very much prefer them to be better than me than weaker ;-), but constantly harping about that. However, most of the time, when they do so, it's their imagination that they are better, because the really brilliant ones I found not to do it. But I know from colleagues that "genius" students let them know how much superior they were - and even iff (!) that were true, it is a pain to supervise them. Why didn't they pick a supervisor that matches their ever so superior skill? And to 5 (contd.)
– Captain Emacs
1 hour ago
1
... to 5. the point is that they write so brilliantly that they are in danger of falling in love with their own results. In other words, it can become very difficult to convince them that their results are not as good as they look by virtue of their grandiloquence. Of course, if they are critical enough and do not fall for their own words, great writing skills are a gift.
– Captain Emacs
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
up vote
3
down vote
Strange question, but here you go:
- Knowing better than the advisor (in reality or imagination) and hammering that point in to the advisor
- Being disorganised
- Having to be told to do the same thing repeatedly, without effect, without proposing an alternative, or without explicit (justified) refusal
- Being unable to write, even while having results
- Being a brilliant writer, making weak results look better than they are
- Being perfectionist to the point of ineffectiveness
- Being sloppy, so that everything that the student does needs to be double- and triple-checked for correctness; sometimes, reintroducing errors after they have been corrected already
- Being afraid of success and/or one's own greatest enemy
One thing that does not constitute a difficult to supervise student is a genius who doesn't listen, but gets results and writes them up. It may give a dent to the ego of the adviser, but, like a dent in a Jeep, it's a dent worth having.
answered 1 hour ago
Captain Emacs
20.9k95171
Strange question, but here you go:
- Knowing better than the advisor (in reality or imagination) and hammering that point in to the advisor
- Being disorganised
- Having to be told to do the same thing repeatedly, without effect, without proposing an alternative, or without explicit (justified) refusal
- Being unable to write, even while having results
- Being a brilliant writer, making weak results look better than they are
- Being perfectionist to the point of ineffectiveness
- Being sloppy, so that everything that the student does needs to be double- and triple-checked for correctness; sometimes, reintroducing errors after they have been corrected already
- Being afraid of success and/or one's own greatest enemy
One thing that does not constitute a difficult to supervise student is a genius who doesn't listen, but gets results and writes them up. It may give a dent to the ego of the adviser, but, like a dent in a Jeep, it's a dent worth having.
answered 1 hour ago
Captain Emacs
20.9k95171
answered 1 hour ago
Captain Emacs
20.9k95171
answered 1 hour ago
Captain Emacs
20.9k95171
answered 1 hour ago
Captain Emacs
20.9k95171
20.9k95171
It's a good list, but re (1) I love students who know more than me, and (5) can really be a skill of its own as long as they are still willing to improve results.
– xLeitix
1 hour ago
1
@xLeitix Note my "dent" comment. Point 1 is not about the student being better than you (I very much prefer them to be better than me than weaker ;-), but constantly harping about that. However, most of the time, when they do so, it's their imagination that they are better, because the really brilliant ones I found not to do it. But I know from colleagues that "genius" students let them know how much superior they were - and even iff (!) that were true, it is a pain to supervise them. Why didn't they pick a supervisor that matches their ever so superior skill? And to 5 (contd.)
– Captain Emacs
1 hour ago
1
... to 5. the point is that they write so brilliantly that they are in danger of falling in love with their own results. In other words, it can become very difficult to convince them that their results are not as good as they look by virtue of their grandiloquence. Of course, if they are critical enough and do not fall for their own words, great writing skills are a gift.
– Captain Emacs
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
It's a good list, but re (1) I love students who know more than me, and (5) can really be a skill of its own as long as they are still willing to improve results.
– xLeitix
1 hour ago
1
@xLeitix Note my "dent" comment. Point 1 is not about the student being better than you (I very much prefer them to be better than me than weaker ;-), but constantly harping about that. However, most of the time, when they do so, it's their imagination that they are better, because the really brilliant ones I found not to do it. But I know from colleagues that "genius" students let them know how much superior they were - and even iff (!) that were true, it is a pain to supervise them. Why didn't they pick a supervisor that matches their ever so superior skill? And to 5 (contd.)
– Captain Emacs
1 hour ago
1
... to 5. the point is that they write so brilliantly that they are in danger of falling in love with their own results. In other words, it can become very difficult to convince them that their results are not as good as they look by virtue of their grandiloquence. Of course, if they are critical enough and do not fall for their own words, great writing skills are a gift.
– Captain Emacs
1 hour ago
It's a good list, but re (1) I love students who know more than me, and (5) can really be a skill of its own as long as they are still willing to improve results.
– xLeitix
1 hour ago
It's a good list, but re (1) I love students who know more than me, and (5) can really be a skill of its own as long as they are still willing to improve results.
– xLeitix
1 hour ago
1
1
@xLeitix Note my "dent" comment. Point 1 is not about the student being better than you (I very much prefer them to be better than me than weaker ;-), but constantly harping about that. However, most of the time, when they do so, it's their imagination that they are better, because the really brilliant ones I found not to do it. But I know from colleagues that "genius" students let them know how much superior they were - and even iff (!) that were true, it is a pain to supervise them. Why didn't they pick a supervisor that matches their ever so superior skill? And to 5 (contd.)
– Captain Emacs
1 hour ago
@xLeitix Note my "dent" comment. Point 1 is not about the student being better than you (I very much prefer them to be better than me than weaker ;-), but constantly harping about that. However, most of the time, when they do so, it's their imagination that they are better, because the really brilliant ones I found not to do it. But I know from colleagues that "genius" students let them know how much superior they were - and even iff (!) that were true, it is a pain to supervise them. Why didn't they pick a supervisor that matches their ever so superior skill? And to 5 (contd.)
– Captain Emacs
1 hour ago
1
1
... to 5. the point is that they write so brilliantly that they are in danger of falling in love with their own results. In other words, it can become very difficult to convince them that their results are not as good as they look by virtue of their grandiloquence. Of course, if they are critical enough and do not fall for their own words, great writing skills are a gift.
– Captain Emacs
1 hour ago
... to 5. the point is that they write so brilliantly that they are in danger of falling in love with their own results. In other words, it can become very difficult to convince them that their results are not as good as they look by virtue of their grandiloquence. Of course, if they are critical enough and do not fall for their own words, great writing skills are a gift.
– Captain Emacs
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
The amount and time spent on asking questions is one major point.
There are students who come to your office almost every day and want to have every little detail explained to them, and there are students who you don't see for months, and if they talked to you earlier you could have told them right away not to waste their time on X.
Both extremes are problematic, and student and advisor should aim to find a middle path, e.g. agree on a fixed meeting date/time once a week.
answered 1 hour ago
Dirk Liebhold
6,0931726
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
The amount and time spent on asking questions is one major point.
There are students who come to your office almost every day and want to have every little detail explained to them, and there are students who you don't see for months, and if they talked to you earlier you could have told them right away not to waste their time on X.
Both extremes are problematic, and student and advisor should aim to find a middle path, e.g. agree on a fixed meeting date/time once a week.
answered 1 hour ago
Dirk Liebhold
6,0931726
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
up vote
1
down vote
The amount and time spent on asking questions is one major point.
There are students who come to your office almost every day and want to have every little detail explained to them, and there are students who you don't see for months, and if they talked to you earlier you could have told them right away not to waste their time on X.
Both extremes are problematic, and student and advisor should aim to find a middle path, e.g. agree on a fixed meeting date/time once a week.
answered 1 hour ago
Dirk Liebhold
6,0931726
The amount and time spent on asking questions is one major point.
There are students who come to your office almost every day and want to have every little detail explained to them, and there are students who you don't see for months, and if they talked to you earlier you could have told them right away not to waste their time on X.
Both extremes are problematic, and student and advisor should aim to find a middle path, e.g. agree on a fixed meeting date/time once a week.
answered 1 hour ago
Dirk Liebhold
6,0931726
answered 1 hour ago
Dirk Liebhold
6,0931726
answered 1 hour ago
Dirk Liebhold
6,0931726
answered 1 hour ago
Dirk Liebhold
6,0931726
6,0931726
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
The man of your dream is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
The man of your dream is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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The challenge with this question is going to be that, aside from trivialities such as a student who does not have the necessary knowledge, my "difficult to supervise student" may be your "once in a lifetime awesome student". It will very much boil down to work mode preferences.
– xLeitix
1 hour ago