They told me to change one thing, now they tell me to change it back...dealing with inconsistency

TheStudentForLife
Nov 28, 2019
2 min read

Updated: Dec 17, 2019

One thing that you more than likely will come across is inconsistency of your academic superiors, creating a sense of frustration and a moment of "wtf." Transparency moment...I've been working on my dissertation research proposal for the last month and a half and submitted it to my "mentor" to review before meeting in Atlanta at this thing we call residency. So, on the last day he has all 15 of doctorate students assigned to him until December 13th do a presentation on our proposed topics. As we're presenting, he's providing us feedback and telling us what to explore more of or change how something is presented. Now, us being the good doctorate students that we are took that feedback to heart and made changes in our proposals and submit, only to receive feedback from him that conflicts with what he told us in person. Annoying, right? So how do we deal with this? How do we get over the frustration at this point in our journey of becoming a PhD?

Well, one option would be to place all blame and action on the person who has the PhD while you're working to earn yours. So that won't work. Another option would be to really look into the feedback provided throughout the months, take it to heart, and let that be your motivation to prove you are better and bigger than this, and realize getting a doctorate degree is not an easy task, there will definitely be challenges and it's all a matter of how we perceive and handle them. It's challenging, I get it, I probably cry in one of my closest friends' office at least once a week because of school, but I bounce back, as you should too! The last option that could be combined with the others is to have a conversation with your mentor/supervisor/professor on the feedback you've received to make sure you both are on the same page and you are setting yourself up for getting the approval of your research proposal! It may not be an easy conversation, but if you feel strongly about what was provided, it can't hurt to have that conversation.

At the end of the day, we're human, challenges like these can definitely trigger us mentally, emotionally, and more. But I challenge you to change your perspective or "fight back"