How to Deal with Dissertation Advisor Problems

Although many people have a positive experience with their dissertation advisor, there are times when a student has problems with their dissertation advisor. One common situation Ph.D. students and candidates face is not getting responses from their advisor. This is a complicated time when the course work and exams have successfully been completed, and feedback from a dissertation advisor is crucial and necessary to move forward in the process. Dissertation advisors provide guidance and need to approve your work, so having regular communication with them is necessary.

Why Isn’t my Dissertation Advisor Responding?

First, it’s important to remember that faculty members are human. Your advisor may have difficult things going on in his or her life that are affecting the feedback and communication you get. Faculty can become overwhelmed with their varied responsibilities that include teaching, research, service, and advising students. If you send an email and don’t receive a response, don’t be afraid to send another message a week later.

Other Dissertation Advisor Problems

Not getting responses from your dissertation advisor isn’t the only problem that can come up. If your advisor is responding but isn’t helping you move forward with your research and your dissertation, you also need to figure out a solution. In this situation, you may need to quickly switch to another advisor.

You also need to switch advisors if there are more serious problems that come up. These problems include a dissertation advisor speaking to you in inappropriate ways (e.g., yelling or berating you) or your advisor pushing you in a direction you’re not interested in going. For example, they may have a research interest they try to push you more closely to, but it’s not something you want to focus your career on.

Set up regular meetings

If you’re not getting feedback in a reasonable amount of time, setting up regular meetings with your dissertation advisor can help. If you both know you will meet every week on a certain day and at a certain time, you can get into a routine. This can help you move things forward. It also gives you a deadline to focus on in working on the tasks you have to complete, such as writing the literature review, and gives your advisor a deadline in terms of providing feedback on the tasks you complete.

Develop Your Network

If you’re having dissertation advisor problems, it’s even more important than usual to expand your network. Attend conferences your advisor doesn’t go to and ask presenters questions about their research. If possible, you can even present a research project you worked on in one of your courses. Conferences usually share their agenda online prior to the event. You can look at the schedule to find presenters whose research interests you and think of questions to ask them.

Another option to expand your network is to work on research projects with other students or other faculty in your program. If you worked on a research project in one of your classes, you could talk to the instructor about developing the project into a journal article or conference presentation. This is helpful because you will gain research experience. It’s also a benefit because you’ll need recommendations and can have a bigger pool of people to ask.

Even if you hate networking, asking questions of a person with similar interests is a great way to interact without having to make small talk. Attending conferences your advisor won’t be at is also a great way to get a glimpse of academia without a problematic mentor-mentee situation.

Follow University & Department Guidelines

If you feel like you’ve tried everything and aren’t making any progress, you may need to change your dissertation advisor. Read your department’s guidelines along with your graduate school’s guidelines. Each of these may have useful information on the steps you should follow to make this change. Talk to the department chair and/or the graduate studies chair. They may have suggestions and insights to help you.

Document Your Communication

If your advisor fails to set up regular meetings, or fails to show up to any scheduled meetings, document everything. Print all emails you send and receive, and record dates and details of any incidents. This is important if it comes to the point where you feel you must switch to another advisor and/or must speak to your department’s graduate studies chair or the department chair about the situation.

If you feel that your advisor is holding you back from moving forward in the program, talk to the Chair of Graduate Studies in your department first and explain the situation. That person has probably worked with your advisor and can advise you on how to improve the situation or can direct you to other forms of assistance.

Before you talk to the administrators in your department about the situation with your advisor, it is important to communicate with your advisor and let him or her know your concerns (in a respectful way!). The point is not to confront your advisor, but to let him or her know what you need and to better understand his or her viewpoint. Perhaps he or she isn't giving you the feedback you're asking for because he/she thinks it is work you need to figure out on your own, and that figuring these things out independently is a part of becoming a scholar in your field.

As with any relationship, communicating with your advisor is crucial. The ability to communicate with a variety of people is a part of all working relationships, so developing these skills during your graduate studies will greatly benefit you in your career. In some cases, improved communication doesn’t solve advisor-student problems and more problem-solving is required.

When you’re having dissertation advisor problems, you don’t want to wait too long to deal with the issue. This can delay or even prevent the completion of your dissertation and doctorate. A bad dissertation advisor shouldn’t prevent you from earning your doctorate.

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