I hate saying that, because I've put four years (in what is supposed to be a 2 - 2 1/2 year program) and a lot of effort into it, but I'm coming to the
end of my rope. I just found out that I'm going to be getting a job in Washington state, working for a federal agency. I am SO tempted to just say,
"Screw it. I've had enough." and leave. My adviser is absolutely terrible. Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming this whole disaster on
him, but he definitely had a part in it. Over the last few years, I've sent him my research data in an excel file several times. He sat through the seminar
I had to give in front of all the faculty and grad students. And he chooses NOW (after I finally had to email him a few weeks ago to tell him that we were now
on a deadline, as I will hopefully be on the other side of the country by December) to basically say, "Your data is horrible. Why do you have so many
gaps? Why couldn't you identify more prey items, the individual adults, yadda, yadda, yadda?" (FYI, my thesis is about what a particular bird species
feeds its chicks, which adult feeds them, etc.) I just want to ask him if he's ever looked at my data when I've sent it to him in the past, or it he
listened when I gave my seminar. Dude, my data from 2 years ago looked a hell of a lot like it does now. If it was going to be a problem, you should have
brought it to my attention THEN, not TWO YEARS LATER.
And on top of that, I am literally at a point in writing the thesis where I cannot write anything more until he starts sending shit back to me. He needed to add some figures to my data in order for me to have a complete data set to analyze. I sent it to him at the beginning of MARCH. Four months later, nothing. I CANNOT write anything until I analyze data. I can't analyze data until he sends it back to me. I can't even be reworking what I've already written at this point, because I sent him a draft of it at the beginning of April, and he still hasn't sent it back to me with suggestions/critiques/edits/whatever. So, around and around and around in circles we go.
It's just all very frustrating. I don't WANT to give up. I'm almost finished, I've done all my classes, exams, etc. I just have to finish writing the damn thesis and defend it. Plus, I don't want to disappoint my parents, since they paid the excess tuition that my assistantship didn't cover. But I'm at the end of my rope. I'm so angry with my adviser, and I get even angrier whenever I start thinking about the whole situation.
And on top of that, I am literally at a point in writing the thesis where I cannot write anything more until he starts sending shit back to me. He needed to add some figures to my data in order for me to have a complete data set to analyze. I sent it to him at the beginning of MARCH. Four months later, nothing. I CANNOT write anything until I analyze data. I can't analyze data until he sends it back to me. I can't even be reworking what I've already written at this point, because I sent him a draft of it at the beginning of April, and he still hasn't sent it back to me with suggestions/critiques/edits/whatever. So, around and around and around in circles we go.
It's just all very frustrating. I don't WANT to give up. I'm almost finished, I've done all my classes, exams, etc. I just have to finish writing the damn thesis and defend it. Plus, I don't want to disappoint my parents, since they paid the excess tuition that my assistantship didn't cover. But I'm at the end of my rope. I'm so angry with my adviser, and I get even angrier whenever I start thinking about the whole situation.
sorry to hear about this. i had a supervisor who was like that and it was
probably the worst time of my life. he was an ass but that's another story. after 4yrs i think you could try and finish, you are much closer to were you
are going than were you came from. until you see that no matter how much effort you put into it nothing will help then you cant do anything about it,
that's just the way it is. cant you still take the job and continue the finishing touches part-time???
