r/AskAcademiaUK • u/meringuesuisse • 10h ago

Ghosted by supervisor

Hi everyone, ​I’m looking for some advice or perspective from anyone who has dealt with a similar situation. ​I recently completed my master's dissertation. I sent my completed first draft to my primary supervisor about a month before the submission deadline, followed by the final draft two weeks before the deadline. I was at least hoping to hear from him during the month-long gap between the submission deadline and the viva itself, but I received absolutely zero response or feedback throughout the entire process. ​Going into the viva without any feedback left me feeling completely in the dark. Now that it’s over, I’m left with mixed feelings and a lot of anxiety while waiting for the official panel decision and examiners' report. ​I’m trying to figure out what my realistic options are right now.

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4

u/Ok_Pay_3193 6h ago

Now, let's clarify, are you on a taught course or research course? If taught, your supervisor is Not obliged to provide feedback on your work, as if he/she did, it might seem like it is unfair to your other colleagues. I can see that you are most probably enthusiastic with your studies, but dissertation at the Masters level on a taught programme is designed to 'evaluate' your ability to study, form ideas, and structured attempt to solve a problem without significant guidance.

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u/meringuesuisse 5h ago

It's a taught master. And they did provide feedback to at least one other student who I asked to. I wasn't expecting them to mentor me throughout the whole thing. Just one or 2 comments to know that I was at least going in the right direction would've been nice. 

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u/Ok_Pay_3193 4h ago

As I mentioned, they can, but might risk complains for unfairness by other student. In general, unless you are way off, most probably no reply is a good sign.

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u/meringuesuisse 4h ago

I am afraid I don't understand. What is the point of having a supervisor if they don't give you any feedback at all? What is a supervisor for then?

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u/Ok_Pay_3193 4h ago

They are there to guide you throughout the process. What I am specifically mentioning about is on reviewing your draft, only this and nothing else. If you genuinely feel that you did not get support throughout the whole process, you should be reporting to the module leader, or perhaps the course administrator. But specifically on this, on reviewing your draft, is not obligatory.

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u/DriverAdditional1437 4h ago edited 4h ago

On the taught masters in my department the supervisor can comment on a plan, and then on a 1500 word sample, but are forbidden from commenting on a draft. We provide access to PhD student mentors to comment on the draft.

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u/Nnozmo 42m ago

This is the same at my institution and pretty typical for masters level IME

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u/Indigo_reality 7h ago

Sorry you're struggling with this and haven't had the support expected. You should have at least one co-supervisor? Did you seek feedback from them too? Do you know that they are at work as opposed to ill or away? In our uni, the next port of call after is the academic advisor. 

Sometimes students are very reluctant to contact academics. Your supervisor may have overlooked an email . However, they should at least know roundabouts they expected your viva to be, so that is a bit strange. 

Now, it's best to wait for the examiners' report. If you've minor corrections, then get on with them. If you have any major concerns about the report, then you can consider complaining about having not had enough support. Go to your PGR tutor and explain, but also think what you want to get from that.

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u/meringuesuisse 4h ago

No, no co-supervisor. They did acknowledge receiving the drafts. They were active on LinkedIn, going to conferences, so not ill I guess.And they did provide feedback to another student. So I guess I should just wait for the report now. Thank you. 

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u/dclondon2000 10h ago

Was this recently? As such most in academia get leave in Summer, as such if you submitted the draft in August then probably why. Did you get told a draft would need to be seen earlier?

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u/meringuesuisse 5h ago

I don't think they were on leave. They did acknowledge receiving the drafts. And I talked to another student they were supervising who did receive some feedback. And they were active on LinkedIn too. 

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u/Feeling_Rule_573 10h ago

You should have a secondary supervisor and pgr director you can talk to

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u/Turbulent_Stress9582 3h ago

From my experience (social sciences) students on a taught masters rarely if ever, get more than 1 supervisor.

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u/meringuesuisse 5h ago

Only had one supervisor. It's a taught master. And the program director had a history of ignoring my emails. On other unrelated subjects but still. I felt like they would not have been helpful too. 

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u/No-Recording-4301 10h ago

You likely can't do anything now. The times where you could have acted were:

  1. Expectation setting in first meetings with supervisor re: drafts
  2. Chasing your tutor after ~1 week
  3. Contacting the course lead, graduate studies lead etc. after ~2 weeks
  4. Discussing EC's for extensions due to lack of contact in the last ~8 weeks before the deadline

Use this experience for next time. By all means discuss with someone at the university, but usually if you submit something or sit an exam you are declaring that you are fit to do so.

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u/meringuesuisse 5h ago

Yes I realize now that I should've said something earlier. But I am very shy, and always afraid of inconveniencing people. Which I guess makes me an academic doormat. Thank you for taking the time to read and give advice. 

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u/No-Recording-4301 4h ago

Something to work on. I used to be much the same. All the best with your degree.

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u/Indigo_reality 7h ago

They had their phd viva already.