How a prof treats his doctoral students is I think the key to his/her character.
There was this prof who had a series (6 I think) of students working on a particular substance from different sources. When my friend joined him she was given the same problem. After 7 years of frustrating work, the prof turns around and says "how can you get a PhD for working on a problem that is similar to what 6 others have done?" or words to that effect. Did he realise this only after 7 years of work? She was devastated, started showing signs of mental imbalance, until luckily, she got a job. She turned out OK and he later relented and allowed her to submit her thesis.
While I agree that doing almost the same work as your predecessor does not make a good thesis, it would have been impossible for her to have told him to give her another problem at the outset...he would have thrown a fit!
My PhD supervisor on the other hand, was a true gentleman.
There have been eminent scientists who have made lives miserable for their doctoral students, not because they expected good sound work, but due to sheer cussedness and ego hassles.
No comments:
Post a Comment