Mentally abusive advisor, toxic environment August 18, 2021
By Francesco Tessa (Koç University) - abroad from 02/01/2017 to 02/23/2021 with
Koc University: Istanbul - Direct Enrollment & Exchange
Wasted 4 years of my life and mental health
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 6 months+ |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
If you are interested in studying Archaeology at Koc University, DON'T work with Cigdem Maner! She will pretend to be nice to you because she needs free labour, but soon after you start working with her, she will show her true colors. She will insult you for no reason, will accuse you of not working enough, eventually she will take away the thesis topic from you when you are already writing your thesis, so that you have to start everything all over again. She was my PhD advisor unfortunately, and she had been highly mentally abusive for 4 years. The other professors in the department are not great either, but please stay away from Maner, for your own good! |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Poor administration and no support |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Old apartments, old furnitures, cockroaches and pipe problems in the house |
| * Food: |
Cheap solutions are bad and unhealthy, better options cost way too much |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Very poor initiatives |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
Although we are provided with health insurance, most of the time we still have to pay a large amount of the expenses for health issues |
| * Safety: |
Istanbul is not a safe city for sure, overpopulated and with increasing criminality |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
If you are interested in studying Archaeology at Koc University, DON'T work with Cigdem Maner! She will pretend to be nice to you because she needs free labour, but soon after you start working with her, she will show her true colors. She will insult you for no reason, will accuse you of not working enough, eventually she will take away the thesis topic from you when you are already writing your thesis, so that you have to start everything all over again. She was my PhD advisor unfortunately, and she had been highly mentally abusive for 4 years. The other professors in the department are not great either, but please stay away from Maner, for your own good! |
Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
Ridiculously difficult, the university gives us so little money whereas the cost of life in Istanbul is very high and constantly increasing due to inflation. Had to use personal savings on a monthly base |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
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Direct Enrollment/Exchange
| * Did you study abroad through an exchange program or did you directly enroll in the foreign university? | Direct Enrollment |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | I wish I had known how toxic the environment is, at least in the Archaeology department, but I am sure that the other departments are not much different. I wish I had known that Cigdem Maner is a terrible person, she only pretends to be nice at first because she is in constant need of students to exploit and to treat like her slaves. People like her should be banned by universities. |
