DU'ers with Master's degrees: Have you ever...

[Writer]

switched thesis advisors just before beginning the thesis process? Did you receive any grief from your department?

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. I did

and it turned out just fine.

[Old_Fart]

2. Can you elaborate on which way you want to go?

:shrug:

[Writer]

5. I'd prefer not to elaborate.

If you don't mind. :)

[IChing]

3. I did also because I changed my idea

neither advisor was pissed the other was more of expert in the area I wanted to go with

[Bossy Monkey]

4. Yes and no, respectively.

Then again, my original advisor was the department chair, and he was the one who suggested changing advisors when I changed topics to one that was more in line with the interests of another professor.

[Wickerman]

6. Not really, but I dumped my thesis and started over at the mid-point

I was trying to do a study on a test that was in commercial development. When it became apparant the test was going to be delayed in its publication I had no choice but scrub a year's worth of work and start over. No chance the co. publishing the test (will remain unnamed) would allow me to publish my data prior to test publication.

Because of the change I had to find another advisor but the dept was cool, actually helpful.

[mike_c]

7. I switched four times while working on my Ph.D....

1) switched advisors after one year in one department;
2) new advisor left, so I switched departments (third advisor)
3) switched advisors again in the second department after two years

Still finished in 5.5 years (no Masters). No, the departments generally were supportive. I certainly don't recall getting any grief about it. I think the general sense was that as long as the funds were available from one source or another, they didn't really care where I did my work.

[Igel]

8. Thesis, no.

PhD, yes.

My original advisor was a complete and utter bastard. An outside review team agreed with me, so it's an opinion backed up by 6 tenured professors from other universities. He wasn't the only person the outside review team decided was a complete and utter bastard.

The department neither provided grief nor protection from grief; it had no interest in the well-being of the students at the time. The department was too busy dealing with suspended admissions and the recommendation that the dean supervise every departmental decision, including photocopy allocations. Then again, had it cared about the students' well-being, it wouldn't have had it's admissions suspended.

My new advisor got grief. But she had been getting grief for so many other things prior to that--and continued to get grief for so many things after that--that she went on sabbatical for a year, then leave for a year, and when she finally returned to the US, she was transferred to another department. The dean "moved" her tenure-line to accommodate her.

A field in which it has been noted, in print, that it routinely eats its young.

[Writer]

9. Would you mind defining "complete and utter bastard?" n/t

[tigereye]

10. a relative of mine had a similar experience

big mess. :(

[gkhouston]

11. I wouldn't worry about the department as a whole so much

as the professors involved. If you're thinking about moving because your proposed thesis topic has changed, that happens now and then and no one will think anything of it. If you're thinking of changing because the new advisor will be able to give you more attention (old advisor is going on sabbatical, has health issues, is widely known within the department to be overcommitted), people will understand why you're making the move but you really shouldn't talk about it too widely -- you might miff current advisor and set off a chain reaction of pissed attitudes among the faculty. If you're thinking of leaving because you and the current advisor do not get along (different mindset, harassment, whatever), MAKE THE CHANGE. How you play it after that is up to you, but departments tend to thrive on gossip and backbiting and you might want to let the old advisor retain as much face as possible unless the situation is one where you're considering legal action (in which case you should speak to a lawyer before you say anything to anybody about the situation). People are going to know/guess that the advisor is a total shit because he/she is probably that way to everyone, but you can simply say, "I think I'll finish faster with X" and the department is always for getting people out the door quicker so that's usually an acceptable line, IMHO.