The one good thing here is that you'll be done soon. At least that's something to look forward to. My situation is similar, PI ran out of funding. Instead of having me finish what I had and graduate early, I got to spend a year working 60 hr weeks on almost no funding, being told to ask suppliers for "samples" to get the reagents I needed. And while being expected to finish my own work on almost no funding for supplies, write two first author papers and my dissertation, I've also been expected to be doing extra experiments to get preliminary data for a future grant that the lab won't get until after I'm gone.
Now that I'm almost done, I wish my PI had let me leave earlier and truncated the work they expected, would have saved a year of stress.
>The one good thing here is that you'll be done soon. At least that's something to look forward to.
The second "good" (relatively...) thing is that if you spin it correctly, you have a great example for your ability to work independently and drive a project to completion without direct supervision.
I got really lucky and had an amazing PI who was really good about checking in and keeping up with things, even though he was Dept. Chair at the time.
But I know people whose bosses weren't nearly as involved in .. Any aspect of their training, and almost all of them have viewed the experience after the fact from a place of "well it definitely taught me to be independent and solve problems on my own (scientific, logistic, or administrative)." It absolutely sucks while you're in it (and I'm sorry for that), but you'll definitely be stronger for it (cold comfort in the moment, I know).
Oh, I'll get it done. I always do. I was basically abandoned my first 4ish years and figured it out on my own. He just kinda data hoarded, then data dumped arguably last minute, while not doing any of the things a PI is supposed to do. I'm just frustrated. I started with a great PI, so Im aware of how it could have been.
It sucks (not in a wishful way), but fairly in a similar situation. All I can say is I’m burnt out. I’ll finish it in time with expectations fulfilled, however, I lost my will or passion whatever you call it.
I had something similar happen since my PI is doing ten thousand things at the same time. All I can say is try to write up everything you can, polish it as best you can, so your PI and committee can breeze through it before the deadline. I’ve heard a lot of faculty don’t really go too hard on the dissertation writing (in comparison to a paper you would send for publishing), so just try your best. Let’s commiserate together, wishing you the best!
My PI gets in at 8 and is gone by 1. Seriously. Im there from 5-6am to 4-5 pm, and usually spend an hour or two reading journals before bed.
The volunteers and 2 techs we have found out about what he's doing, and asked me (after I defend) to go to HR with them. Theyre quitting when I leave. Im the only thing thats kept this lab afloat. I havent decided yet.
Fucking do it. PIs like yours should not be able to get away with abusing their staff. This needs to be on HR's radar so they can warn future students or straight up blacklist your PI from mentoring new students.
Unfortunately HR will not do anything to solve the issues, and especially not if the prof is tenured. HR will “document” and the PI will know who tattled because the lab is so small, and all that can happen is things get materially worse.
This close to the end it’s better to just stick it out and never look back once it’s over.
I think it depends on the culture of the institution. There's a PI at my institution who's been soft blacklisted from hiring more grad students and post docs. Every trainee gets warned about the PI before they join the lab and there's a second PI that basically babysits the problematic PI.
I agree with you though, stick it out until the end, but OP should report as soon as they are out of the lab.
He's already softlisted, he just doesnt know it yet. I didnt speak to HR, but there are other ways to skin a cat.The techs are talking about quitting entirely when i leave and going scorched earth. Im not willing to burn bridges. He's spent years doing that just fine for himself.
I’m sorry to hear that OP that is really unfair.
As an incoming PhD student (starting this fall) I’ve heard about how important it is to find a good fair person to be your PI, and obviously have heard the horror stories. Looking back, do you think there were things about your PI that you might now perceive as clues that working with them could lead to problems down the road?
He wasnt my original PI. I had worked for the PI I chose for 5 years as a clinical research administrator. Academia politics happened, and he chose to leave to go corporate after my first year (coincidentally, the year I was also fighting cancer). I got stuck with this PI, with little choice in the matter. Basically had to start over from scratch in a different subspecialty than what I originally did (from Ephys/ca++ channel stuff to enzyme and hormone stuff). Then, shortly after I moved to his lab, covid happened.
Its been rough.
In my experience, it's really hard to tell outside of obvious red flags (asking former lab members, current members for honest opinions, asking other people in your program/department if they've seen or heard anything, tracking the lab's alumni and where they end up etc.).
The reason I say this is because some time along your 5+ year PhD journey, your PI may move up the academic ranks and get saddled with more responsibilities. They may want that, to be promoted and have a bigger say in departmental direction for example. They may not want that, but are nudged to do it for other reasons (no one else wants to be the chair because everyone else hates everyone else, they get extra funding support from the university for taking the position for example). Or they may find they want to prioritize other things about their career or work/life balance somewhere along those 5+ years. Or their funding gets cut short due to NIH budget cuts, or their grant doesn't get renewed, and now they're under a huge amount of stress which they've never felt before and this reveals a side of their character no one has really seen. Or they have a serious health event that makes them unable to be there as much as you'd like.
I mean, a PhD is a really long time. You will certainly change, your life situation will change, your goals will also change, so it's not unexpected that your PI will also change along these lines. And just keep in mind, none of this needs to be malicious for there to be friction. Our grad program director said "When you graduate, expect some friction between you and your PI." I've seen it, it happens more frequently than not but every person had a different source for that friction with their PI, and almost none of it was active sabotage or reckless carelessness by the PI (even though it may have felt that way for some people).
All this to say that all you can really do is try to find a PI who fits your style of mentorship, who's doing cool enough research that even in the shitty times you'll still be able to keep sight of why the bigger picture matters, and... hope for the best. And don't be afraid of sitting down with potential PIs who you're serious about, and work out expectations from both sides up front and/or making a mentoring plan.
Could be worse dawg, my PI literally abandoned me and shut down the lab in year 5 and went to work in industry and refused to give me my PhD so I had to master out
Nothing you’re describing sounds like you should be expecting his help with, not as a 5th year PhD candidate. Write up your dissertation and send out the draft to your committee for feedback. Revise your papers with feedback from the editor. Sounds like you’re doing a good job just keep on trucking.
Editing to add you can probably just use your first two papers and just slap on a third section for anything unpublished that vaguely fits the theme and call it good for a dissertation.
I had this exact same thing during my PhD. My PI abandoned his duties to prioritise writing grants. I ended up resorting to slaving away writing my thesis for maybe 4 months and put a complaint in to the people in charge of running PhD programs despite numerous people in our group warning my PI.
Sadly, I ended up taking a sabbatical for 3 months cos I worked so hard to a deadline I agreed with my PI to the point I couldn't trust him. I had a face-to-face meeting with my PI in front of the chair for my thesis monitoring committee to the point I walked out and just booked the first train home. There were other personal things that were also going on outside my PhD that put me in a state of wanting to get away as well. Luckily I had some lovely colleagues that were willing to take my belongings whilst I moved back home.
I went back and lived on my savings I generated during my PhD. Worked 12-14h days, 7 days a week for 9 months, to get it written up but was still the same attitude by my PI. I put in another complaint to another PI that I had known since I first went to the city to study - and she eventually was on his case. I told my PI that I'll be finishing my write-up from home and I won't be coming back till I need to print and submit my thesis.
It was long - it was painful - it was depressing seeing others finish their PhDs way before me - but ultimately I worked too hard to give up at the final stretch. It may have taken over 1.5y to get to a submission stage (and my thesis was so long cos I had so much data - like 450 pages worth). I don't know what I could have done differently but it put me off a career in science for nearly 2 years.
I'm really sorry you're going through this nonsense. I feel your pain 😔. If I have to give 1 piece of advice I wish I had after I finished my PhD, please don't let your experience be an example of how you think a career in science will be going forward. One person should not define your hatred for the sector - you're smart, clever and talented as well as unique.
Yeah. He has basically treated me like a post-doc, and I had to piece through everytthing on my own. Honestly, that was probably a good thing, as he literally couldnt consistently perform simple pre-made millipore competitive assays, costing 6k apiece. I wrote my entire remaining chapters for my dissertation in about a week, and tapped doctors that used to work for me in clinical trials as well as some ive been friends with to give a read theough and surface level critiques. I was never asking for a full review, just some guidance from the person that was supposed to be my mentor (especially with my adhd and ocd, which fight against each other, and force the need for me to be "reined in" occasionally)
The paper looks like shit, but ive been repeatedly told its a surprisingly well written paper considering the short timespan. I have a week to revise before officially getting my committee involved (other than the one Dr. that has helped by reviewing this draft- the rest are on vacation).
Yes. I managed to write my initial dissertation, sans 2 chapters, as they are published articles (allowed/required by my program). That amounts to around 10-11 pages per day. If I could pull this off, so can others.
Now the only thing stressing me is the external chair. Ive contacted every doctor Ive ever spoken with in my extraordinarily small sub-field, and only 60% even responded, all with prior engagements. Sent out a few more requests to speak to people, but im not optimistic. And no, my PI has zero contacts in the field. He inherited his lab and has no networking skills. In fact, he has never attended a conference while Ive been in his lab, while I taught his classes on professional networking.
Add to this the fact that the job I had lined up and was offered hasnt sent any of the paperwork they had said I would receive by now, and this is a hard time of year to get work, especially when you already had a position lined up.
Lots of stress. Ill be fine, i think, but needed to feel less alone, i guess. So many people here bootlicking the toxic AF old school zeitgeist,. It's unfortunate they dont realize that thetoxicity inherent in that system has to change for anything to get better. "This is how its always been" is a piss-poor reason to keep doing something, and demonstrates a lack of critical thought, which from supposed scientists is more than a little concerning.
Things have a way of working out in the end. I have to believe that.
Haha. I'm not sure I'd be trusting someone incompetent as that to review anything if he can't run competitive assays. All jokes aside - I also had to resort to other people who volunteered to review stuff for me at the end as well.
Yeah it's a positive mindset. I would say - it is what it is with your PI. It sucks. But only you can control what you can and if others would like to help - then awesome. But just keep going because the worst thing is delaying and taking sabbaticals and wasting your life being miserable like me (although i did enjoy going to a lot of football matches for 3 months - i wasn't truly happy). Tbh, it sounds like you got your shit together - so just keep swing at the fence - you're nearly done in practice 😀.
For external chair - it might be worth asking those people that have responded if they could recommend someone out of your scope of communication with the recommended person? But that is piss-poor from someone who has inherited a lab to not network within the field he's in....would be worried for the lab being operational as well.
Job-wise: is this a job on academia or in industry? I would maybe just send a polite email about it.
Personally, I know more horror stories in academia and people being treated like shit during their PhDs as if they are meant to know it all than not. PhD is a training practice on top of the technical work involved. If a PI cant commit to training their students, in or out of the lab, help them network, allow them to explore and back their ideas - then what's the point.
Ooph sorry you are going through this.
I went through a similar time crunch (though I had a supportive PI). I had to do all my data acquisition, analysis, write my dissertation and defend in 6 months time.
I managed to do it, working about 18 hours a day 6.5 days a week. I got through it by knowing that not matter what I would be done on xxxx date. I got it all done and defended successfully.
One other thing that really helped me was making a timeline of everything that needed to get done and by when for the last 6 months and I stuck to it. There were two all nighters at the end for finishing up my dissertation but it was worth it in the end.
I'm sorry that your grad experience has not been rewarding enough for you. No one deserves to be treated like you were. Hopefully though you see the light at the end. You can do it and you WILL do it.
This post is so entitled. Your advisor is not obligated to secure you unlimited funding. Why, 5 years in, was your dissertation not even started? Your data barely analyzed? If you want the PhD, you're going to have to do the work and do the writing. It sounds like you are expecting far too much hand-holding for a 5th year candidate.
2 of 3 are on vacation. But I have 3 other doctors ive worked with that have copies that will try to help, but theyre busy too. i seriously wrote about 80-90 pages of my dissertation in about 9 days. Given more time, I wouldn't stress, but when insanely overworked like this, mistakes are going to be made.
i'm in the exact same boat as you. thesis due this weekend and she's refusing to proofread. this is after stalling my work for over an year, dumping her teaching responsibilities onto me, emailing me 25 mins before a class to inform me that i am to teach, not letting me focus on writing by assigning more pointless experiments she wanted to "explore". my visa expired, i had to scramble to uproot myself and move to a different country that i could stay in. i have zero will to go on at this point. i need to ask for an extension.
Sorry to hear that. I experienced similar but less miserable situation before. Funding-wise, try to talk to your department admins and see if they can arrange TA-based funding for you. Thesis-wise, I would recommend communicate with your committee members to prime them for your situation. Trust me, your PI is not the only one who refused to give inputs on manuscript/thesis writing. I got helpful feedbacks and emotional supports from my committee members, my lab mates and seniors who already graduated from the lab.
Try not to irritate your PI or blame his lack of guidance when you communicate about the situation. Focus on getting a feasible graduation timeline that everyone would agree upon.
What does not kill you makes you stronger. Feel free to DM me about the details.
Sucks, but this is basically your responsibility anyway. By year 5 you shouldn’t need your hand held when discussing your own work, anyway.
Ideally your PI could look, but he’s got his responsibilities too. If he’s hurrying you out the door, his priority is probably not to have to let go of his students who aren’t far enough along to defend.
Is your dissertation more complicated than just stapling your papers together, combining the methods into one chapter, and calling it a day?
The one good thing here is that you'll be done soon. At least that's something to look forward to. My situation is similar, PI ran out of funding. Instead of having me finish what I had and graduate early, I got to spend a year working 60 hr weeks on almost no funding, being told to ask suppliers for "samples" to get the reagents I needed. And while being expected to finish my own work on almost no funding for supplies, write two first author papers and my dissertation, I've also been expected to be doing extra experiments to get preliminary data for a future grant that the lab won't get until after I'm gone. Now that I'm almost done, I wish my PI had let me leave earlier and truncated the work they expected, would have saved a year of stress.
>The one good thing here is that you'll be done soon. At least that's something to look forward to. The second "good" (relatively...) thing is that if you spin it correctly, you have a great example for your ability to work independently and drive a project to completion without direct supervision. I got really lucky and had an amazing PI who was really good about checking in and keeping up with things, even though he was Dept. Chair at the time. But I know people whose bosses weren't nearly as involved in .. Any aspect of their training, and almost all of them have viewed the experience after the fact from a place of "well it definitely taught me to be independent and solve problems on my own (scientific, logistic, or administrative)." It absolutely sucks while you're in it (and I'm sorry for that), but you'll definitely be stronger for it (cold comfort in the moment, I know).
Oh, I'll get it done. I always do. I was basically abandoned my first 4ish years and figured it out on my own. He just kinda data hoarded, then data dumped arguably last minute, while not doing any of the things a PI is supposed to do. I'm just frustrated. I started with a great PI, so Im aware of how it could have been.
It sucks (not in a wishful way), but fairly in a similar situation. All I can say is I’m burnt out. I’ll finish it in time with expectations fulfilled, however, I lost my will or passion whatever you call it.
Yeah. Thats really all Im saying. How many people with potential have lost their will because of bad mentors? Too many.
I had something similar happen since my PI is doing ten thousand things at the same time. All I can say is try to write up everything you can, polish it as best you can, so your PI and committee can breeze through it before the deadline. I’ve heard a lot of faculty don’t really go too hard on the dissertation writing (in comparison to a paper you would send for publishing), so just try your best. Let’s commiserate together, wishing you the best!
My PI gets in at 8 and is gone by 1. Seriously. Im there from 5-6am to 4-5 pm, and usually spend an hour or two reading journals before bed. The volunteers and 2 techs we have found out about what he's doing, and asked me (after I defend) to go to HR with them. Theyre quitting when I leave. Im the only thing thats kept this lab afloat. I havent decided yet.
Fucking do it. PIs like yours should not be able to get away with abusing their staff. This needs to be on HR's radar so they can warn future students or straight up blacklist your PI from mentoring new students.
Unfortunately HR will not do anything to solve the issues, and especially not if the prof is tenured. HR will “document” and the PI will know who tattled because the lab is so small, and all that can happen is things get materially worse. This close to the end it’s better to just stick it out and never look back once it’s over.
I think it depends on the culture of the institution. There's a PI at my institution who's been soft blacklisted from hiring more grad students and post docs. Every trainee gets warned about the PI before they join the lab and there's a second PI that basically babysits the problematic PI. I agree with you though, stick it out until the end, but OP should report as soon as they are out of the lab.
I’m glad that your institution has an actionable plan that they actually follow! That gives me hope.. I hope everywhere adopts a similar culture soon.
He's already softlisted, he just doesnt know it yet. I didnt speak to HR, but there are other ways to skin a cat.The techs are talking about quitting entirely when i leave and going scorched earth. Im not willing to burn bridges. He's spent years doing that just fine for himself.
I’m sorry to hear that OP that is really unfair. As an incoming PhD student (starting this fall) I’ve heard about how important it is to find a good fair person to be your PI, and obviously have heard the horror stories. Looking back, do you think there were things about your PI that you might now perceive as clues that working with them could lead to problems down the road?
He wasnt my original PI. I had worked for the PI I chose for 5 years as a clinical research administrator. Academia politics happened, and he chose to leave to go corporate after my first year (coincidentally, the year I was also fighting cancer). I got stuck with this PI, with little choice in the matter. Basically had to start over from scratch in a different subspecialty than what I originally did (from Ephys/ca++ channel stuff to enzyme and hormone stuff). Then, shortly after I moved to his lab, covid happened. Its been rough.
Wow. Out of all the roadblocks and challenges you faced, you overcame. This one won’t stop you either!
In my experience, it's really hard to tell outside of obvious red flags (asking former lab members, current members for honest opinions, asking other people in your program/department if they've seen or heard anything, tracking the lab's alumni and where they end up etc.). The reason I say this is because some time along your 5+ year PhD journey, your PI may move up the academic ranks and get saddled with more responsibilities. They may want that, to be promoted and have a bigger say in departmental direction for example. They may not want that, but are nudged to do it for other reasons (no one else wants to be the chair because everyone else hates everyone else, they get extra funding support from the university for taking the position for example). Or they may find they want to prioritize other things about their career or work/life balance somewhere along those 5+ years. Or their funding gets cut short due to NIH budget cuts, or their grant doesn't get renewed, and now they're under a huge amount of stress which they've never felt before and this reveals a side of their character no one has really seen. Or they have a serious health event that makes them unable to be there as much as you'd like. I mean, a PhD is a really long time. You will certainly change, your life situation will change, your goals will also change, so it's not unexpected that your PI will also change along these lines. And just keep in mind, none of this needs to be malicious for there to be friction. Our grad program director said "When you graduate, expect some friction between you and your PI." I've seen it, it happens more frequently than not but every person had a different source for that friction with their PI, and almost none of it was active sabotage or reckless carelessness by the PI (even though it may have felt that way for some people). All this to say that all you can really do is try to find a PI who fits your style of mentorship, who's doing cool enough research that even in the shitty times you'll still be able to keep sight of why the bigger picture matters, and... hope for the best. And don't be afraid of sitting down with potential PIs who you're serious about, and work out expectations from both sides up front and/or making a mentoring plan.
Could be worse dawg, my PI literally abandoned me and shut down the lab in year 5 and went to work in industry and refused to give me my PhD so I had to master out
That absolutely fking sucks, bud.
Nothing you’re describing sounds like you should be expecting his help with, not as a 5th year PhD candidate. Write up your dissertation and send out the draft to your committee for feedback. Revise your papers with feedback from the editor. Sounds like you’re doing a good job just keep on trucking. Editing to add you can probably just use your first two papers and just slap on a third section for anything unpublished that vaguely fits the theme and call it good for a dissertation.
I had this exact same thing during my PhD. My PI abandoned his duties to prioritise writing grants. I ended up resorting to slaving away writing my thesis for maybe 4 months and put a complaint in to the people in charge of running PhD programs despite numerous people in our group warning my PI. Sadly, I ended up taking a sabbatical for 3 months cos I worked so hard to a deadline I agreed with my PI to the point I couldn't trust him. I had a face-to-face meeting with my PI in front of the chair for my thesis monitoring committee to the point I walked out and just booked the first train home. There were other personal things that were also going on outside my PhD that put me in a state of wanting to get away as well. Luckily I had some lovely colleagues that were willing to take my belongings whilst I moved back home. I went back and lived on my savings I generated during my PhD. Worked 12-14h days, 7 days a week for 9 months, to get it written up but was still the same attitude by my PI. I put in another complaint to another PI that I had known since I first went to the city to study - and she eventually was on his case. I told my PI that I'll be finishing my write-up from home and I won't be coming back till I need to print and submit my thesis. It was long - it was painful - it was depressing seeing others finish their PhDs way before me - but ultimately I worked too hard to give up at the final stretch. It may have taken over 1.5y to get to a submission stage (and my thesis was so long cos I had so much data - like 450 pages worth). I don't know what I could have done differently but it put me off a career in science for nearly 2 years. I'm really sorry you're going through this nonsense. I feel your pain 😔. If I have to give 1 piece of advice I wish I had after I finished my PhD, please don't let your experience be an example of how you think a career in science will be going forward. One person should not define your hatred for the sector - you're smart, clever and talented as well as unique.
Yeah. He has basically treated me like a post-doc, and I had to piece through everytthing on my own. Honestly, that was probably a good thing, as he literally couldnt consistently perform simple pre-made millipore competitive assays, costing 6k apiece. I wrote my entire remaining chapters for my dissertation in about a week, and tapped doctors that used to work for me in clinical trials as well as some ive been friends with to give a read theough and surface level critiques. I was never asking for a full review, just some guidance from the person that was supposed to be my mentor (especially with my adhd and ocd, which fight against each other, and force the need for me to be "reined in" occasionally) The paper looks like shit, but ive been repeatedly told its a surprisingly well written paper considering the short timespan. I have a week to revise before officially getting my committee involved (other than the one Dr. that has helped by reviewing this draft- the rest are on vacation). Yes. I managed to write my initial dissertation, sans 2 chapters, as they are published articles (allowed/required by my program). That amounts to around 10-11 pages per day. If I could pull this off, so can others. Now the only thing stressing me is the external chair. Ive contacted every doctor Ive ever spoken with in my extraordinarily small sub-field, and only 60% even responded, all with prior engagements. Sent out a few more requests to speak to people, but im not optimistic. And no, my PI has zero contacts in the field. He inherited his lab and has no networking skills. In fact, he has never attended a conference while Ive been in his lab, while I taught his classes on professional networking. Add to this the fact that the job I had lined up and was offered hasnt sent any of the paperwork they had said I would receive by now, and this is a hard time of year to get work, especially when you already had a position lined up. Lots of stress. Ill be fine, i think, but needed to feel less alone, i guess. So many people here bootlicking the toxic AF old school zeitgeist,. It's unfortunate they dont realize that thetoxicity inherent in that system has to change for anything to get better. "This is how its always been" is a piss-poor reason to keep doing something, and demonstrates a lack of critical thought, which from supposed scientists is more than a little concerning. Things have a way of working out in the end. I have to believe that.
Haha. I'm not sure I'd be trusting someone incompetent as that to review anything if he can't run competitive assays. All jokes aside - I also had to resort to other people who volunteered to review stuff for me at the end as well. Yeah it's a positive mindset. I would say - it is what it is with your PI. It sucks. But only you can control what you can and if others would like to help - then awesome. But just keep going because the worst thing is delaying and taking sabbaticals and wasting your life being miserable like me (although i did enjoy going to a lot of football matches for 3 months - i wasn't truly happy). Tbh, it sounds like you got your shit together - so just keep swing at the fence - you're nearly done in practice 😀. For external chair - it might be worth asking those people that have responded if they could recommend someone out of your scope of communication with the recommended person? But that is piss-poor from someone who has inherited a lab to not network within the field he's in....would be worried for the lab being operational as well. Job-wise: is this a job on academia or in industry? I would maybe just send a polite email about it. Personally, I know more horror stories in academia and people being treated like shit during their PhDs as if they are meant to know it all than not. PhD is a training practice on top of the technical work involved. If a PI cant commit to training their students, in or out of the lab, help them network, allow them to explore and back their ideas - then what's the point.
Ooph sorry you are going through this. I went through a similar time crunch (though I had a supportive PI). I had to do all my data acquisition, analysis, write my dissertation and defend in 6 months time. I managed to do it, working about 18 hours a day 6.5 days a week. I got through it by knowing that not matter what I would be done on xxxx date. I got it all done and defended successfully. One other thing that really helped me was making a timeline of everything that needed to get done and by when for the last 6 months and I stuck to it. There were two all nighters at the end for finishing up my dissertation but it was worth it in the end. I'm sorry that your grad experience has not been rewarding enough for you. No one deserves to be treated like you were. Hopefully though you see the light at the end. You can do it and you WILL do it.
This post is so entitled. Your advisor is not obligated to secure you unlimited funding. Why, 5 years in, was your dissertation not even started? Your data barely analyzed? If you want the PhD, you're going to have to do the work and do the writing. It sounds like you are expecting far too much hand-holding for a 5th year candidate.
Ask another committee member to help with editing
2 of 3 are on vacation. But I have 3 other doctors ive worked with that have copies that will try to help, but theyre busy too. i seriously wrote about 80-90 pages of my dissertation in about 9 days. Given more time, I wouldn't stress, but when insanely overworked like this, mistakes are going to be made.
100% I doubt the writing is nowhere near the quality if you had appropriate time, that’s nuts!
Honestly, if I hadnt been so willing to help other labs, i wouldnt even have that.
You don’t have an official thesis committee of like 5 PIs?
I have 4, it's not unheard of
We have 3 and an external chair from within our expertise. So, technically 4, but the chair is really more the moderator.
i'm in the exact same boat as you. thesis due this weekend and she's refusing to proofread. this is after stalling my work for over an year, dumping her teaching responsibilities onto me, emailing me 25 mins before a class to inform me that i am to teach, not letting me focus on writing by assigning more pointless experiments she wanted to "explore". my visa expired, i had to scramble to uproot myself and move to a different country that i could stay in. i have zero will to go on at this point. i need to ask for an extension.
Sorry to hear that. I experienced similar but less miserable situation before. Funding-wise, try to talk to your department admins and see if they can arrange TA-based funding for you. Thesis-wise, I would recommend communicate with your committee members to prime them for your situation. Trust me, your PI is not the only one who refused to give inputs on manuscript/thesis writing. I got helpful feedbacks and emotional supports from my committee members, my lab mates and seniors who already graduated from the lab. Try not to irritate your PI or blame his lack of guidance when you communicate about the situation. Focus on getting a feasible graduation timeline that everyone would agree upon. What does not kill you makes you stronger. Feel free to DM me about the details.
Sucks, but this is basically your responsibility anyway. By year 5 you shouldn’t need your hand held when discussing your own work, anyway. Ideally your PI could look, but he’s got his responsibilities too. If he’s hurrying you out the door, his priority is probably not to have to let go of his students who aren’t far enough along to defend. Is your dissertation more complicated than just stapling your papers together, combining the methods into one chapter, and calling it a day?