tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534598933965521300.post2200837688337972454..comments2023-04-26T02:28:13.648-07:00Comments on Madame L Has an Opinion: The Worst That Could Happen?Madame Ellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265879154586439823noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7534598933965521300.post-15423950462553268472011-07-10T19:12:09.714-07:002011-07-10T19:12:09.714-07:00There is a graduate school equivalent to this situ...There is a graduate school equivalent to this situation: a tyrannical adviser. <br /><br />I know and have counseled a Saudi who was literally driven out of one university after four years of hard work on his PhD. I had known him in Saudi Arabia and encouraged him by saying that *I* knew he was capable, and not to let a JERK make that evaluation - at least not BELIEVE the Jerk. Mansour changed to another university and completed in another 18 months, and has thanked me each year since then via email. He's now a department chairman in Riyadh.<br /><br />The first three rules of grad school are:<br />1. Get the Hell out as fast as possible<br />2. Get the Hell OUT as fast as possible<br />3... you get the picture.<br /><br />We all have these ugly things in our lives. Sometimes we have no say in getting out: cancer, divorce, etc. Sometimes we DO: and I commend your reader for sticking it out. Very tough, that.<br /><br />A crucial lesson we get in this life is to NOT let ANOTHER person's evaluation of us decide OUR understanding of who we are or what we can do. <br /><br />Another crucial lesson is that no matter what our past history says, we can ALWAYS step up higher, get smarter, become more effective, GROW... but it usually requires getting through a good long period of high stress and nastiness.<br /><br />But your writer has learned that there IS Light at the end of the Tunnel... and got there by pure grit and determination. <br /><br />That last piece is what counts 100 years from now.<br /><br />~~~~~AskTheGeologisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06354833219992420022noreply@blogger.com