Do professors drive talented eighth-year students to drop out by making crazy demands on their time?
This is a pretty rare occurrence. The talented eighth year student, I mean, not the professor making crazy demands on time.
Another very common occurrence, mostly absent from PhD Comics, is a professor failing to kick out an untalented/unmotivated student in their second or third year. The result is that the student wastes 5 more years in the fruitless pursuit of a PhD, eventually dropping out due to neglect by their adviser.
Getting to a tenured professorship is a tournament. Many apply, but only a select few will win. The problem is that very often, no one tells you when you were eliminated. They just let you carry on as if you still have a chance.
I absolutely agree: The hardest thing in academia is to get honest feedback. Partly because telling academics that they are not going to succeed is like kicking puppies, but more because of the conflicts of interest: To succeed as a prof you need to attract good students, and a prof with a reputation for judging students harshly might have trouble recruiting. Academic adviser is one hell of a job: You must advocate passionately for your students, and you must also correct them, and you must motivate them, but you should give them honest advice...
This is a pretty rare occurrence. The talented eighth year student, I mean, not the professor making crazy demands on time.
Another very common occurrence, mostly absent from PhD Comics, is a professor failing to kick out an untalented/unmotivated student in their second or third year. The result is that the student wastes 5 more years in the fruitless pursuit of a PhD, eventually dropping out due to neglect by their adviser.
Getting to a tenured professorship is a tournament. Many apply, but only a select few will win. The problem is that very often, no one tells you when you were eliminated. They just let you carry on as if you still have a chance.