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[abdecon]

The job search is going fine, 3 good interviews, everything is looking up. Then the advisor drops a bomb: "I don't think you are going to finish in time for a September position. If my friends from these departments ask me about your progress, I won't know what to say." (Hello--it's November.) She has tried to sabotage me before. She takes credit for all of my successes--grants, interviews, publications--yet, she is extremely critical to the point of abuse. (Recent comment: I am not sure you are capable of making a clear, logical argument.)

I have had enough. There is someone else willing to sponsor my work. Shall I rework my committee and advisor at this point, or tough it out?

[dark_globe]

I'd lose the weasel as fast as I possibly could. Obviously, she'll be a detriment to your career as long as you are associated with her.

An advisor who cared about their grad student would have approached this situation in a completely different manner.

[busyslinky]

Have you been telling the places you interview at that you will be finished by September?

The reason she may have mentioned this is because they may have called her to ask and she's just giving you what she replied to the person on the phone.

Changing committee etc. would probably lengthen the time before your completion.

[abdecon]

I have planned to defend as early as May--and that has been fine up to this week. (With 3 finished chapters behind me.) This is unreasonable on the advisor's part. She is trying to re-establish her authority at a moment when I am becoming indepedent. I don't think a new committee will slow me down; I am worried however that her reaction could be toxic and disrupt the job search process.

[busyslinky]

If she is your advisor and is on your reference list, she has already disrupted your process.

I assume she is the head of your committee and it will be difficult to find a replacement, especially if she is very senior.

Hopefully, you will be able to defend as you plan, but some schools will look at it as misleading them.  Did your advisor tell you that May was likely in the first place?

[helpful]

Talk to the grad advisor in your dept and see what can be done.

I would advise you to change advisors. I have seen other colleagues stick with a toxic advisor, and the defense and the time after defense was horrible.

In one case, the advisor selected an external examiner that they knew would hold up approval of the dissertation and the ctee (outside of the advisor) had to argue with grad studies that the dissertation should be passed.

[dark_globe]

Talk to the grad advisor in your dept and see what can be done.

I would advise you to change advisors. I have seen other colleagues stick with a toxic advisor, and the defense and the time after defense was horrible.

Yes, I've seen this happen too. The advisor actually undermined the person's chances at jobs for which s/he was well qualified. Maybe changing advisors will delay the defense, but no good can come from keeping an advisor who is clearly not interested in advocating for you.

[mdespell]

Sorry for the long post to follow:

This sounds very familiar.  My advisor did the same thing when I was trying to get a fellowship that required me to have filed my dissertation prior to the start date. Up to that point, he had said I was on track, my results looked good, etc., but when he was told I needed to be finished by the next summer, he seemed to panic.  Maybe he needed counseling for separation issues.  Or Prozac and a polo mallet.  Anyway, I found out that he had apparently caused similar problems for other students, but I had been unaware of it (or in denial). 

My suggestions: call your other committee members NOW and carefully try to determine whether they know this person's history and ask what you should do.  I would also follow the previously suggested advice re: talking to your grad advisor and/or dept. chair.  Let them do the talking after you explain the basics of the situation.  They probably will not be surprised, and will offer suggestions to help you.  I ended up having to extract my advisor because I realized he would never, ever help me.  I didn't see any other alternative.  The fact that this person is your reference makes things somewhat trickier, but don't give up on this opportunity to further your career!

[hermance]

One thing that seems worth pointing out is that your advisor won't just affect your prospects this year, but will be a factor in your applications for many upcoming years if you want to apply for new jobs or postdocs.

So, I second (or third) finding a way out.  I think people have recommended good courses of action--finding more senior folks, talking to the graduate chair, etc.  If nothing else, you can chalk it up to personality difficulties.