December 2, 2004
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So, I sent the essays I’ve been working on to my advisor. Read a portion of her response:
“Let me be brutally honest: these essays are extremely weak. They need a lot of work, more than what you will be able to accomplish immediately, and actually would require more direct input from me than I think is appropriate for one of these grfs (which are supposed to be written by students). I know that is a blunt statement: I am not saying this to discourage you in general, but it is a serious issue. I think you’ve made a good start, and of course you have to start somewhere. And the more times you try something like this and submit it, the better. But, I have to tell you I have some real concerns about your writing—my honest opinion is that these essays strike me as high school level at best. If you really hope to go into academics, good writing needs to be so second hand that you can do it in your sleep (because that’s about all the spare time you’ll have). This issue could seriously hamper your success as a PhD student and certainly as a professor.
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The overall essay organization is poor, paragraph transitions are lacking, and sentence structure needs help as well. There are whole sentences that just make no sense.
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It’s up to you whether you want to submit these with whatever revisions you have time to do. I don’t mind if you do go ahead and submit them, but I think the chances for success are quite low—I am more concerned with the bigger picture here.”Damn, I promise to get my GED soon. S-M-R-T.
And then someone pointed this out to me on the dept picture board:
No faith… things like this make me want to quit and become a HS teacher.
Comments (13)
Damn.
That is f-ing brutal.
criticism can either make you or break you, matt …
eye of the tiger …
dude…. but what if it was like… gary? ANYWAY… cheer up! can’t wait to see all you guys!
dude… my advisor basically tells me the same thing everytime i give him something i have written… weird thing is that i woke up at about 4am this morning and started panicing about what a shitty writer i am and that maybe i should go do something else. Moral… you are not the only one with this problem so don’t be too hard on yourself.
Damn! Do you know what I do when prof makes me feel dumb? Invite them for a game of Scrabble, KICK THEIR ASS and laugh in their face!!!
Anyway, we got a group lesson yesterday in my isotope class. We all heard the same thing. But at least we at Cal State LA all have the excuse of being ESL learners…oh wait, nope, not me…
I especially love the added touch of the photo with the MS note.
Are you applying for NSF grant? Because An Yin gave me the same kind of feedback. I went out side to the bench near the bombshelter and cried by myself. So, I think your advisor is b****h. Nobody says that to my friend Matt…..you did type it on computer, right?
One more thing! Are you going to be in LA for Jan 1? Cause the Rev is playing at the House of Blues Anahiem….And I am going, and you should buy a ticket and come with us
FUCK THAT SHIT MATT, YOU ARE A SCIENTIST - NOT A POET!!!!
Dude… I just heard ya’lls coach is leaving for florida!
crazy. I think they talked to out coach too, but he is
staying put at OU.
Damn Brother, but better honest then bullshiting and lying to your face. Take it as constructive criticism.When i was interviewing for a job 2 years ago i used my summer field paper. The version I turned in to Gary was a piece of shit AND I KNEW IT but i had to use it cause i had no other report saved. (I think we all knew we had piece of shit papers.) Well i rewrote it ..after, say…a year? Apparently i impressed the guy i was interviewing with (i think he was drunk tho, cause i know damn well i hate writing and that i suck at it), *shrugs*. Sleep on it and revisit it after a while and let all your thoughts mingle into one kick ass thought.
My greatest pleasure (well one of them at least, rarrr at hot hotel workers, lol), is proving people wrong, step up man and make this person feel like a moron for putting ya down. As a white boy to survive and come out alive from high school full of mexicanos and negritos with not even a scratch on your body, and a valley full of porno stars, that’s quite a miracle. Ah fuck it…maybe we can go find jobs as porno stars. JAJAJA. Or maybe porno thugs.
Andy put it best. “eye of the tiger”. Dont quit. Sometimes it takes one person to say. “I believe in you” so here’s my “I believe you” to you, and im sure everyone above me will back me up. Break all them advisors knees, drop a bottle of calcium and leave laughing.
. (Yes that last sentence made no sense, oh well.).
Hopefully she is just a tough love advisor who really wants the best for/from you instead of getting off on putting you down for no reason.
*hug* See you soon, Maaaaa…
Matt, if you’ve read my post, you’ll understand that I’m also having some writing troubles “write” now. I came to re-read your post to remind myself how dumb I am. If Matt got slammed like that, I now understand that I will have nothing to do but cry every day in a PhD program.
Wait, did I foretell my future back in 2004? I searched out this post for a reason…
Nothing to do but cry.