Friday, August 8, 2014

Students meeting irregularity

I have a PhD student who I meet after every other week. I send him an email that we can meet on this day and time. Then the student will reply and say that we will meet and I set aside a time to meet this student.

This is the second time the student has cancelled the meeting at the last minutes citing different reasons. I am not sure how to deal with this but this does not seem acceptable.

6 comments:

  1. A little butt kicking is in order...

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  2. Dr. Noncoding ArenayAugust 11, 2014 at 2:01 PM

    The third time they cancel, you need to come down firmly, but politely, and tell them clearly that this is not acceptable and that they need to let you know at least _?_ days in advance about rescheduling and must make sure to reschedule at the earliest possible date. That's what I would do.

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    Replies
    1. Interesting. So he does have another shot. May be I will give him a warning this time and next time is going to be butt-kicking

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    2. Dr. Noncoding ArenayAugust 12, 2014 at 1:33 PM

      My sequence:

      First strike - benefit of doubt

      Second strike - warning

      Third strike - you said it already.

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  3. That's not good news. If the student is brand new, they either have to get their shit together yesterday, or cut them loose ASAP.
    In the immortal words of I don't remember which of my friends
    "When things look weird, that's usually because there's weirdness involved."
    I have never, not once, worked with the student where they started by acting weirdly and unprofessionally and then magically got better even after intervention. Shit just gets more weird.

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    Replies
    1. I have given him a stern warning ( he had an excuse of bad food poising the day of the meeting). Lets see if he is weird or if this was a honest excuse

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