Adviser Anxiety -- help me get to office hours!

puckish — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:39:39 -0800

How do I stop freaking out about orals advising? Grappling with the age-old problem of adviser anxiety: After much internal debate, I'm working with Professor X on my orals exams (for literature). The problem? I cannot talk to him, and I'm getting dangerously close to the syndrome of "avoiding his office hours until absolutely necessary." It sucks! What can I do to change it?

There is some background here. I did my M.A. with the same adviser, which was a largely disappointing experience -- partly because I feel like I didn't get particularly good feedback, mostly because we just didn't communicate very well. Part of the reason why I chose this graduate program is because I really like his work, and because he is himself a fantastic resource -- really smart, constantly "on," but tends to think aloud in a really inaccessible free associative way. The problem is that I simply *can't talk to this man.* I don't know how to interject into the series of conversations that he's interested in having. I don't know how to link them to the ideas that I'm interested in talking about. I don't know how to kick the overwhelming feeling self-doubt that crashes down *every time* I leave his office hours.

At this point, I'm so anxious and flustered that I can barely hold a conversation with him. Switching advisers is an option, of course, but not a very good one -- for one thing, he's solidly in my field and doing work I'm quite interested in, and for another, it's certainly not so much of a problem that I *wouldn't* work with him (this seems like a really dumb reason to switch advisers). What I want, really, is to be able to figure out how to talk to him - that is, to be less self-conscious, to stop freaking out, and to figure out how to cross this communication gap.

I hate the avoidance thing - there lies the road to self-loathing and shoddy work. How do I get over myself and make this work?

Some background info: My field is 20th c. British literature. The field in question is nationalism and imperialism - mostly 19th c. political theory (Hobson, Mill, Bentham, etc), which I'm fine with, but also a smattering of 20th c. critical theorists (Deleuze, Habermas et al), with whom I am on decidedly shakier ground. Particularly with the more recent theorists I do feel kind of overwhelmed by the weight of everything I don't know. Again - not a new, unique, or particularly interesting neurosis - but obviously less than ideal.

Disaffected grad students, faculty, scholarly mefites -- please help!

Needed: Seattle Area Financial Planner

Smarson — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:42:30 -0800

Seattle Filter: Looking for a Financial Planner to assist twenty-something newlyweds with combining finances, investment strategies, etc. Anyone know of a good financial planner in the Seattle area? I've read the previous threads, checked NAPFA's site, and done my homework, but before I called someone out of the blue I thought I'd see if anyone had previous experience with someone they liked/trusted/would recommend.

My new wife and I are both under 25 and realize that if we can get a jump start now on saving for retirement, kids' college funds, home ownership, etc. then it'll pay off (literally) later in life. We're not so much interested in debt management since our credit is great and our student loans are low interest, however CD's, Roth IRA's, 401k's, Mutual Funds, etc. are all things we're looking to consult a professional on. Preferably a fee-only adviser with 5 yrs. + experience.

Know anyone that fits this criteria in the Seattle area?

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Adviser Anxiety -- help me get to office hours!

Needed: Seattle Area Financial Planner