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[tenured_feminist]

Because of the way our program operates, I have to deliver this message to a handful of graduate students every year. Most wash out because they haven't progressed toward candidacy in a timely fashion, a few just can't come up with viable dissertation prospectuses, and there are a handful of other reasons.

I know there's no good way to deliver this news. But I'd appreciate your advice about how to do it sensitively. Thus far, the themes I've used are that a lot of very smart and successful people have started graduate school but just haven't found it to be the right path for them, that washing out of grad school doesn't make a person a failure or a loser, and that it's not in their interest to keep on deferring their lives and giving their money to the institution if our faculty don't think they have good prospects for completing their degrees.

Yes, I have a good supply of tissue on hand . . . .

[norvell]

The conversation you describe shouldn't be a surprise to the student. Is there a review process where the student is told what steps need to be taken to stay in the program? Letting students flounder then kicking them out without any kind of previous warning isn't good for the program or for its students.

[bibliologos]

Do you hand them a letter or other paperwork as you're making the speech?  If so, could you slip in a brochure from your uni's counselling center and/or career center?  Raising it during the speech itself might smack of "don't the the door whack you on the way out", but having the information might later give the student some comfort.

[tenured_feminist]

We send annual progress letters. The students who are getting the kill letters generally have been threatened with consequences in the previous year's letter. A few people notify their advisees before the formal letters go out. I would guess that it's not a surprise for most people who get them. The students then are encouraged to come and talk to me.

[sciencephd]

Don't use the phrase "wash out" !

[tenured_feminist]

Don't use the phrase "wash out" !

Here or to them? I certainly wouldn't to them.

[kamiakin]

The bad news is that the academic job market is terrible. Tenured lines are being converted in part time, and part time lines get less dependable every year. Many people with doctorates in our field spend years looking for a TT job, and if they are lucky end up teaching 5/5 in flyover country while wading in the shallow end of the local dating pool. And the tenure expectations are increasing across the board.

The good news is that none of this is going to happen to you...

[mountainguy]

These are not easy conversations to have. Judging by T_F's previous posts, I imagine that she doesn't take such situations lightly. I concur with the others in this thread that ideally, the students should already have some idea this is coming down the pipeline.

Ultimately though, it's more humane to let students know early in the process so that they don't waste years of their lives toiling away unnecessarily. Several years ago, a student failed out of my program in her dissertation defense (when she should have been told years earlier). It was a traumatic experience for all involved an. Everyone--the student, the student's advisor, and the grad director at the time--had (metaphorical) blood on their hands from how poorly it was handled.

A few other ideas for softening the blow:

1) For students who might have an emotional meltdown, see if it's possible to have counseling services on on call in case they need psychological assistance.

2) Try to let the students know that their dreams are not over. I'm not sure of the norms/requirements in your field, but maybe they'd be happy teaching at a community college with just a master's degree. Maybe they can find employment in some (non-teaching) part of the academy. Of course, it's not your responsibility to find these opportunities for them, but letting them know that they're out there may help the students to feel some sense of hope for the future.

[verysneaky]

I read an article once about how we as a society have lots of rites of passage around success, but none around failure, so failures end up making people feel doubly lost. That article comes to mind here because I feel that what you are really trying to do is not just ease the blow of failure but also help someone make a successful transition. On that front:

Could you provide some kind of clear, concrete recommendations about new/alternative career paths...like the CC route that mountainguy mentioned?


Could you provide a couple of phone numbers of people who have left your program and are now doing well at something else, who would be willing to talk to others that will be unable to finish? (Or is that a terrible idea? I dunno; it came to mind.)

Could you create more checkpoints along the way, and make at least one of those face-to-face? Even one "the writing's on the wall" meeting three months before the ax falls might be of help.

[bread_pirate_naan]

Why is this on the grad board?  Advice seeking about advisory matters seems more appropriate to the TT or mid-career boards. 

[tenured_feminist]

Why is this on the grad board?  Advice seeking about advisory matters seems more appropriate to the TT or mid-career boards. 

Naan, I am asking here because I want to get the perspectives of people who are in graduate school now. I already know what my colleagues think. I don't see why it is problematic for me to seek in specific terms the wisdom of the graduate students on the fora, but perhaps you will articulate your reasons.

Many thanks to folks who have responded. The counseling suggestion is a good one; I need to have that info at my fingertips in case it is necessary. And finding some concrete answers to/people to talk to about the "what next" question is truly brilliant. Now to get in touch with the folks I know who didn't finish and see if they would be willing to correspond . . . .

[greyscale]

Do these students already have master's degrees, or is it a program like mine in which you get a master's only if you leave early? If it's like mine, maybe you could help the student find out what bureaucratic or academic hoops stand between the student and the master's. Sometimes it helps people to have something concrete and positive to think about.

[bread_pirate_naan]

Why is this on the grad board?  Advice seeking about advisory matters seems more appropriate to the TT or mid-career boards. 

Naan, I am asking here because I want to get the perspectives of people who are in graduate school now. I already know what my colleagues think. I don't see why it is problematic for me to seek in specific terms the wisdom of the graduate students on the fora, but perhaps you will articulate your reasons.

Because it's tantamount to asking a bunch newlyweds how to file for divorce.

[tenured_feminist]

Why is this on the grad board?  Advice seeking about advisory matters seems more appropriate to the TT or mid-career boards. 

Naan, I am asking here because I want to get the perspectives of people who are in graduate school now. I already know what my colleagues think. I don't see why it is problematic for me to seek in specific terms the wisdom of the graduate students on the fora, but perhaps you will articulate your reasons.

Because it's tantamount to asking a bunch newlyweds how to file for divorce.

How so, Naan?

[bread_pirate_naan]

Why is this on the grad board?  Advice seeking about advisory matters seems more appropriate to the TT or mid-career boards. 

Naan, I am asking here because I want to get the perspectives of people who are in graduate school now. I already know what my colleagues think. I don't see why it is problematic for me to seek in specific terms the wisdom of the graduate students on the fora, but perhaps you will articulate your reasons.

Because it's tantamount to asking a bunch newlyweds how to file for divorce.

How so, Naan?

Because you are asking people at the beginning of an enterprise how to communicate a failure to succeed at that enterprise.