Struggling with advisor
I am a second-year Master's student in a public health research field. He is the only advisor at my institution in the specific subfield I am interested in (ecology). He has consistently lied about funding opportunities, telling me to hold on and that he would get me research funding. This came to a head over the summer months when I would have a gap between my TAships. To support myself, I had to get a full-time job. When I asked him for a letter of recommendation, he joked that he was going to give me a bad recommendation so that I would be forced to work with him for free over the summer. He then hired a paid undergraduate intern after telling me there was no money available. I put every day off, every late start day, and every early off day into data collection, including driving several of my colleagues to and from collection sites (international students without driver's licenses). Additionally, I led a workshop with other lab members on less than 24 hours' notice on my specific research interest. Towards the end of the summer, it felt like a light switch; he became increasingly demanding and rude. I completed all tasks that were asked of me, but due to my work schedule being variable, I was unable to have a consistent meeting time with him until the start of the semester.
On Monday, we had our first meeting of the semester. He led the meeting with comments about how I refuse to work for him without a pay incentive (untrue, literally did field data collection all summer). When I pointed this out, the conversation quickly became hostile, and he accused me of having no accountability, no drive, and no dedication. He told me that I had no clue what I was talking about with my research, and when I replied that I did and have done plenty of research about it, he quizzed me on specific questions, which I answered correctly. He asked if I was still willing to do a larger-scale data collection project involving me driving several hours and staying over the weekend. I said that, from talks with my colleagues, morale was low and it didn't feel like anyone was willing, myself included. He told me that he didn't care that I didn't want to, and that he had a grant riding on me completing this. He said that he would never be a mentor to me, as he didn't have any time. He also told me that if I did not do everything he said, I would not graduate on time. This is untrue. My project is a modeling project based on data that has already been collected, and my coursework is on track. When comparing myself to others in my program, they have yet to even choose a project, and their advisors are unconcerned.
He gave me a list of 2 things to do before Friday of this week, including scheduling a meeting with my thesis committee. I worked through them on Monday and Tuesday, and before I had a chance to send them to him, he sent me a demeaning message on Wednesday morning telling me that he was expecting better of me and that he would not keep reaching out to remind me. I completed everything asked of me and sent them on Wednesday, despite the Friday deadline. This is where I may have been a little too self-righteous. The rest of my thesis committee had responded to scheduling a meeting on Wednesday, and he had still not responded by Friday, so I sent him a message in the same tone that he had sent. Obviously, this did not go well, and he told me never to speak to him like that, which I find incredibly ironic.
I am not the only person in our lab that this is happening to. Others are having similar issues with him, resulting in us losing a lab member. He is also incredibly gossipy, including telling entire lab groups about others' failings. He is never available, as he does a lot of international research where he is gone for a month at a time, with maybe a day or two of availability in between. In my department, there are two programs, and he, to this day, does not remember which one I am in, despite me reminding him every time, resulting in me having to independently sign up for courses, as his advice in my first semester led me to choose the incorrect courses.
I don't know what to do. I love my specific field; I've spent a lot of time researching my topic. I don't want to switch advisors because I am worried that it is too late. I also do not want to get my advisor into any trouble by reporting him or inquiring into other advisors. Any advice would be helpful.
Posted Sep 25, 2026, 5:04 PM UTC