Evaluations and criticism in your program from professors

[texgirl5660]

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I am really curious as to the experience of other doc students in other psych programs. In my program, most people feel like they are under the lens of the faculty all the time and that so much of what they do is criticized during eval time and that nothing is really off limits in terms of what they assess. I'm curious to know if other psych grad students have had this same experience or not? And of course they say it is for our development...........but it can feel pretty soul crushing sometimes. Does this map onto anyone else?

 

[Ollie123]

I suspect this varies widely by program. Frankly, I wish I got more feedback and criticism from my faculty. I feel they tend to go a little too far towards seeming "supportive" when I feel like having your work torn apart is one of the best ways to improve it, and that there is a middle ground where one can be extremely critical but still supportive. Pluses and minuses for either one...frankly I feel like I'd have fit in better in your program than my own, even if I don't have to deal with soul-crushing experiences as frequently.

 

[erg923]

What exactly are you being evaluated on besides ethical/professional behavior (which is important in a psychologist) and the obvious clinical and research competencies?

Personally, from faculty, I don't feel this way at all. I only interact regularly with 2 faculty members. One of whom who is a super-laid back, an elder statesmen of sorts (he was my clinic supervisor and also on my dissertation committee-my 3rd dissertation committee member is from the medical school) and my advisor/mentor, who is very motherly towards all of us. I have had one brutal eval from a notoriously blunt supervsior at a VA practicum though.

 

[deleted176373]

I am really curious as to the experience of other doc students in other psych programs. In my program, most people feel like they are under the lens of the faculty all the time and that so much of what they do is criticized during eval time and that nothing is really off limits in terms of what they assess. I'm curious to know if other psych grad students have had this same experience or not? And of course they say it is for our development...........but it can feel pretty soul crushing sometimes. Does this map onto anyone else?

It can be pretty intense at times... 🙂 It depends on your program.

Mark

 

[texgirl5660]

Well I'm not talking about academic work. I feel that is very well founded given one is receiving a doctorate. I am talking about like criticism on your behavior or like professionalism. Getting feedback that you aren't doing enough in the department (extra activity wise), that you need to work on professionalism, that you are too aggressive in your communication style, that you aren't doing enough in terms of self-care. These are things that my program evaluates us on..........not just in terms of academics. I'm giving examples of things that people in my dept have gotten feedback on. I should have been more specific. Receiving feedback on your academic work is necessary.

 

[stigmata]

This is all very normal, IF they perceive that you are having problems in these areas.

 

[thewesternsky]

Just wanted to chime in that this happens at least occasionally in my program, too. I think in some measure it can be helpful, and in my program it is helpful. However, I can also see how it might get out of hand. If it's happening at a frequency where everyone feels they're "under a microscope" at all times, that's probably not good.

 

[erg923]

Well I'm not talking about academic work. I feel that is very well founded given one is receiving a doctorate. I am talking about like criticism on your behavior or like professionalism. Getting feedback that you aren't doing enough in the department (extra activity wise), that you need to work on professionalism, that you are too aggressive in your communication style, that you aren't doing enough in terms of self-care. These are things that my program evaluates us on..........not just in terms of academics. I'm giving examples of things that people in my dept have gotten feedback on. I should have been more specific. Receiving feedback on your academic work is necessary.

I think most of that is fair game, although Im not sure what "extra activity" is? What...they want you to be on the student counsel?...🙂 It sounds like you might interact alot with various people/faculty, more so than I do. We have a large department and a large graduate program here, of which only one section is clinical. Thus, I really only talk to my advisor and one other faculty member on a regular basis. My TAing experiences were also under my advisor. The other faculty know my name and what I research of course, but I'm not sure they know much else about me really. We get a letter once a year that states that our progress in areas X, Y, Z has been satisfactory or not (I suppose they hold a meeting to deciede this), but we dont have any formal "sit-down" evals with anyone other than your major professor. And even those are pretty informal. Nevertheless, if you have an "agressive communication style" or are percieved to be having personal issues (e.g., look unhealthy, tired, distracted, etc.) these are things that the faculty should be on you about--namely because they are all things that can affect your work with patients.

 

[edieb]

According to the APA Code of Ethics, your professors CANNOT evaluate your progress towards the Ph.D. on criteria that are not described in your program's manual. For instance, most programs' manuals talk about grades, scholarly productivity, et cetera as a basis for evaluations. On the other hand, most (none?) don't talk about self-care, extra departmental activities, etc., as things to be evaluated. Therefore, your professors are almost certainly violating the ethics code. I would anonymously call the APA and report your program.

 

[O Gurl]

I would agree that this probably varies by program and by supervisor. At my program, we certainly had some who were more vocal than others. Some questions might be helpful: do you feel the person providing the feedback has your best interest at heart? is their feedback fairly balanced in that they provide you with positives and negatives? If so, then it is probably a good thing. Your training years are your only opportunity to receive constructive criticism before practicing on your own. It certainly beats diminishing client referrals, repeated low grant scores, poor professor ratings, high lab personnel turnover, and all the other "subtle signs" of trouble once you are in the field. 😉

 

[thewesternsky]

According to the APA Code of Ethics, your professors CANNOT evaluate your progress towards the Ph.D. on criteria that are not described in your program's manual. For instance, most programs' manuals talk about grades, scholarly productivity, et cetera as a basis for evaluations. On the other hand, most (none?) don't talk about self-care, extra departmental activities, etc., as things to be evaluated. Therefore, your professors are almost certainly violating the ethics code. I would anonymously call the APA and report your program.

I'm not sure this is as clear as you make it sound. Depending on what is actually going on in the original poster's department, there may or may not be ethical violations. For example, the following are in no way ethical violations:

-a supervisor meeting with a student to talk to them about self-care because they seem constantly tired and lacking energy, and he/she worries that it is impacting their work with clients...

-talking with a student about an overly aggressive communication style because you worry it may impact the quality of their client work or their later career opportunities-- leaving it out of formal evaluation records unless it *is* currently impacting their current client work...

-a supervisor suggesting a student become more involved in non-required department activities (e.g., networking with potential dissertation committee members, getting involved in relevant or interesting research projects that do not officially make up the student's dissertation research, attending a non-required but relevant talk by a visiting faculty member, taking an optional didactic course or workshop that may be useful for future client work...)

Maybe part of the distinction involves whether these issues are being formally evaluated, or simply suggested/discussed as things to work on for future professional development?

For those interested, the relevant portions of the ethical code are here:

http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx

 

[Ollie123]

I would agree wholeheartedly with that westernsky. My read of APA is that "progress towards the PhD" is perhaps a more narrow term than professional career development. There is a world of difference between a student being failed on their thesis defense or having their degree withheld because of personal issues, versus a professor saying "I think x, y z, are things that it would be good for you to work on because otherwise it is going to impact a, b, c down the line".

Hell, I would consider it unethical if a professor DIDN'T give that kind of feedback in situations where it was warranted. I'd call that good mentoring. Its about more than just making sure you have the proper control groups🙂

So I think the answer is that it depends what these evaluations are used for. If this is feedback that is designed to make you a better professional but isn't going to be used to deny you a degree after you have completed all the requirements, I find it hard to see that as a problem. It might not be warm & fuzzy at times, but getting feedback on your "communication style" could be vital for graduate students, and I'd worry about any program that didn't discuss that with students.