Things are not that simple, I learned it the hard way: Professors are given too much power of treating PhD students in their labs. They can cut your financial

Things are not that simple, I learned it the hard way: Professors are given too much power of treating PhD students in their labs. They can cut your financial support, kick you out of PhD program (after 4,5,6 years) with some good reasons 'unproductive performance'. Deans usually don't want to get deep involved into such issues. From their perspectives, other professors are their coworkers, and will be seen for a long time. While PhD students just come and go, for people with less integrity, PhD students don't matter that much. As long as the professor doesn't cross the borderline, they are totally fine. Life for a international PhD student is even worse. They forsake their home country life, families and friends to pursue this academic research path. They cannot easily just quit and find a job in U.S. due to the visa issue. (OPT time has a strict timing requirement for application, for most PhD students, once getting their master degree, they will lose the eligibility of OPT application) Big tips for international PhD students, don't get your master degree just because you gain enough credits. Save it when you need an exit plan. After 3-4 years, the sunk cost and difficult visa status can make the international students get stuck there.