A tweet shared by the author before on Toubide: Which one is better, earning a million-dollar annual salary with a mentor vs. concentrating on scientific research and sitting on the bench? talks about how students who don’t like scientific research can earn a million-dollar annual salary by following a “mentor who doesn’t do scientific research” and students who love scientific research can devote themselves to scientific research by following a “mentor who does scientific research”. But the scary thing is that students who love scientific research follow "mentors who don't do scientific research". If the mentor doesn't guide them, this is the most painful thing in their academic career.
Recently, posts related to "sinkhole tutors" and tutors not guiding students have become hot topics, such as a question on Zhihu: " What do you think of the online rumor School of Computer Science, Huazhong University of Science and Technology A certain doctoral supervisor in ten years has not graduated with a doctorate? ” is popular. According to reports from students and former students of this doctoral supervisor, the doctoral supervisor has a series of problems: He has a quirky personality, is a PUA student, and is a stuck student after graduation. " This doctoral supervisor basically does not give guidance to the students in the research group, and his words are negative, which often undermines the students' self-confidence and enthusiasm. "
When encountering such a supervisor, I can only say that I am unlucky and return to the author. , although my tutor has no personality quirks, PUA students, and card students graduate, he only asks me to wait for such questions, but now I basically don’t do scientific research, and I can’t give corresponding guidance for my own scientific research, and those who love scientific research I followed a mentor who did not do scientific research. This was the beginning of my nightmare.
Me: "Teacher, I am going to do this research direction. Do you think it is feasible?"
Tutor: "You can figure it out yourself."
Me: "Teacher, I have written a paper and asked the teacher to give some suggestions."
Tutor: "Just refer to other literature and write."
The tutor pushed and pushed the academic issues again and again, so I spent the first year of my PhD in confusion and confusion, but it was not an option to continue like this, because no matter whether the tutor guided or Without guidance, it doesn’t matter whether you write a paper or not, and whether you publish a paper or not, the school’s publication requirements are there. If you don’t meet the requirements, you won’t be able to graduate. After careful consideration, I decided to seek help from other teachers and found a young and promising associate professor who was in the rising stage to serve as my second supervisor for guidance.
It is really sad and painful for students who love scientific research to follow a mentor who does not do scientific research. But we can't just complain. Every character has legitimate reasons for not taking responsibility. Therefore, we need to save ourselves. Buddha said: To save others, you must save yourself first, and to save yourself, you must save your heart first. If God does not save you, people must save themselves.
As an experienced person, the author shares the self-help experience of someone who loves scientific research but does not become a scientific research mentor. This is for reference only!
01Seek help from others
The tutor is not your only academic guide. If the tutor cannot give you guidance, you need to seek help from other scholars. First, seek the help of your seniors and seniors. Seniors and seniors in the same research group generally have similar research directions to yours. They may have more experience or knowledge, and they have also experienced a period of confusion without the guidance of a mentor. Communicate with them more. You will avoid many detours in academic research and getting along with teachers and students. Second, seek the guidance of other tutors in the college. For example, the author seeks the guidance of teachers who are similar to my own research direction and can give me some substantive guidance. However, in this process, I must handle the relationship between myself and the tutor. Because under normal circumstances, getting close to other teachers behind your back will attract some criticism, and other teachers will not offend your tutor for you. Third, seek guidance from teachers at other schools. You can go out more and attend more academic conferences in your own research field to get to know some experts and scholars in related fields and build your own academic community.
02 Changing tutors and worshiping others
In fact, changing tutors and worshiping others is a helpless move. For example, the student of the tutor surnamed Chen in the School of Computer Science at Huazhong University of Science and Technology has been transferred by multiple people. You must carefully consider changing tutors. You must first obtain the consent of the original tutor. Otherwise, in China's human society, other tutors will not dare to accept you. In addition, the replacement tutor must be in line with your academic pursuits, otherwise you will have just stepped off one pirate ship and onto another. Another problem that may arise when changing tutors is that foreign protégés definitely do not have their own protégés, and they may be treated differently.
03 Cultivate the ability of self-study and self-discipline
Many times tutors are busy with their own affairs and do not have the energy to guide students. At this time, they have to rely on themselves to improve their competitiveness and cultivate the ability of self-study and self-discipline, such as reading literature and setting rules by themselves. Direction, decide the topic, write and publish the paper yourself. This process requires you to manage your time well. You may face more unknowns and spend a lot of time in the process. But you have to improve yourself slowly while making progress, especially when others are guided by mentors to publish top publications, and when others hold group meetings, you often work alone, but don’t give up on yourself, don’t fight for three days It takes two days for the fish to dry on the net. Only by self-discipline can you become stronger.
04Improve your professional skills
The most important thing in academic research is to lay a good theoretical foundation and improve your professional skills through continuous learning. Without the guidance of a tutor, you need to listen to more open online courses and participate in more At academic conferences, read more materials. Information is so developed now and many information resources are shared. You don’t have to worry about finding guidance from professional teachers. The key lies in whether you are willing to do it yourself, develop the habit of active learning, and improve your professional skills through active learning.
05 Make your own plans
Studying for a Ph.D. is just a process, not the final result, so plan in advance what you will do after studying for a Ph.D. Only with goals and plans can you know what you want to do and what not to do. If you want to continue your studies after a doctoral degree or enter a university, you should read the literature carefully and find the research direction you are interested in. During the doctoral study, you can improve your ability to read literature, independent thinking and writing and publishing, and strive to publish more impactful articles. Articles with high factors. If you want to find a job after studying for a Ph.D., then consider taking public exams, editing exams, state-owned enterprises, foreign companies, large factories, etc. Another plan is to plan how many years you will spend studying for a Ph.D., what you will do in the first to fourth years of Ph.D., when will you be able to write your thesis, when will you be able to publish a few articles, when will you be able to participate in pre-defenses and defenses, etc. When you can complete the final draft of your graduation thesis, etc., all of this must be planned in advance.
06 Guarantee that I can graduate
It didn’t take long for me to realize that I could only rely on myself after I started my Ph.D. program. I knew very well that I had to ensure that I could graduate first. After I learned that I needed to publish 3 C journals in order to graduate, Although I didn’t have a tutor to guide me, I insisted on reading the literature, designed my own experimental plan, found other teachers to modify it, learned to analyze data, and asked my classmates to search online. To write and publish as many papers as possible, you must first meet the basic requirements for graduation. This is the most important thing.
is written at the end
As someone who has been there, I can honestly say that graduate students are the real bottom class and are neither protected by labor laws nor by school rules and regulations. As a vulnerable group in the teacher-student relationship, you must learn to protect yourself. Find materials to study on your own without the guidance of a teacher. Never confront the instructor head-on. You must protect yourself, believe in yourself, be calm, study more and do more.
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