Advice for a Struggling Graduate Student?

Question

I am a third year biomedical graduate student and my life is not so great right now. My "mentor" and I are not seeing eye to eye on anything.

He does not know basic scientific procedures. He pitched a fit because I did not know which band was my protein of interest on a coomassie stained western blot (another PI informed him that was not possible).

He keeps throwing more research at me (although my committee told him my project was too large).

He told me 2 weeks ago I should work 7 days a week (I am only required to work 40 hours a week - I work 50-65 as is).

He think I don't do enough experiments - I am currently taking classes, writing a paper, writing aims, working on a presentation, a poster, doing experiments, and trying to prep for my next committee meeting. I average 2-3 exper per week and each takes about 5 days

I get yelled at for being scatterbrained but i can't catch my breathe ever

I am bipolar, on two mood stabilizers and in very bad shape. plz help.

Answer 1

Sounds to me like he's bi-polar. If you can switch, switch mentors.

I think your mentor may be jealous, or may be discriminating against you (either because of your disorder or out of sexism or something else).

Don't listen to him. You're very patient with him. I would have hit that jerk or kneed him down there.

Take some breaks, see a film or go to the zoo, enjoy life.

Answer 2

First, try and talk to your mentor and tell him what you just told us. He may not realize he is pushing too hard.

Failing this, arrange a meeting with your graduate committee and explain the situation there. If everything you say has transpired, this will not be new to them. Perhaps they can lean on your mentor to get some appeasement from the mentor.

If things don't improve or get worse...go to the Graduate Dean and explain, in detail, what is happening and the steps you have taken to remedy the situation.

PhD candidates are not slaves, even though they sometimes get treated as such. Hang in there...remember the goal...a business card starting with "Dr".

Answer 3

I've been there. What worked for me - switching advisors. But remember, grad students don't get days off. We don't get the weekend off. We don't get spring break. We're working 16 hour days. If you need a break, try taking a semester off or something. Your mental health is more important than your advisor's research project.

Answer 4

I FEEL FOR U! I WAS STRUGGLING MY FINAL YEAR BUT MADE IT SOMEHOW. ASKED FOR EXTENSIONS ON MY ASSIGNMENTS, CHANGED THINGS IN MY LIFE THAT WERE GETTING ME DOWN, TRIED TAKING SOME TIME OFF...
YOUR HEALT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EDUCATION END OF THE DAY. IF U HAVE A GREAT DEGREE BUT AREN'T PHYSICALLY OR MENTALLY HEALTHY TO DO ANYTHING WITH IT WHAT A WASTE HUH?
TAKE LITTLE BREAKS WHEN U CAN & DONT PRESSURE YOURSELF TOO MUCH. STRESS CAUSES MOST ILLNESSES & U NEED TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF MORE THAN ANYTHING
BEST OF LUCK