Unfortunately, I have to confirm #7. One of the students that started their program with me has gone through exactly this. It was especially jarring when a neurodegenerative disease researcher reacted with hostility to a student’s diagnosis of MS.
Unfortunately, even though academics are smart, highly educated people, this does not guarantee interpersonal and management skills, or empathy. Equally frustrating is that even with the support of your department and institution, a soured relationship with your academic advisor can still ruin your time in graduate school.
I think most students pick their supervisor using the heuristics of prestige or academic “productivity”, but a bigger contributor to a students grad school success is probably the soft skills which get often overlooked in academics.
Unfortunately, even though academics are smart, highly educated people, this does not guarantee interpersonal and management skills, or empathy. Equally frustrating is that even with the support of your department and institution, a soured relationship with your academic advisor can still ruin your time in graduate school.
I think most students pick their supervisor using the heuristics of prestige or academic “productivity”, but a bigger contributor to a students grad school success is probably the soft skills which get often overlooked in academics.