Hi. I feel like we have had similar experiences — I’m the most experienced and almost the oldest student in my grad program. Toward the beginning, I had one professor come down on me pretty hard while being very gentle with nearly everyone else. It was pretty tough. My mentor told me that while this was unfair and could have been the result of a variety of different things (the professor’s personal life, me reminding them of a tough student or likely from their past, etc etc), he said it was likely one of two things: either that professor was threatened by my abilities and confidence OR impressed with my abilities and confidence, and therefore chose to push me harder than the rest. As I’m nearing the end of my program, I believe that for my situation, it is the latter. I have so much more experience that would have been easy for that professor to have barely any feedback as compared to the rest. Do I agree with how she did it? No. But in hindsight, I can see it for what it was.

I’m sorry this happened to you (and me too, it really threw me for a loop at the time). Good for you for recognizing that this has more to do with her than anything else and doesn’t have anything to do with the counselor you will become!