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AI2 Adapt Dev 52

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I can read a skeleton from head to toe (estimate age, sex, diseases they might’ve suffered that left their mark on the bones, like syphilis, tb, leprosy, rickets, scurvy, their handedness and sometimes their occupation)", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I know how to make a dental mold that's attached to a syringe to squirm barium into your pharynx. PhD is communication sciences and disorders-- swallowing physiology", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I wrote my dissertation in LaTeX. Doesn't seem obscure? Trust me: it is in the humanities.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I can figure out the sex of a fruit fly almost immediately", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I wrote my dissertation in LaTeX. Doesn't seem obscure? Trust me: it is in the humanities.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I can skin most mammals pretty quickly. Anatomist", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I wrote my dissertation in LaTeX. Doesn't seem obscure? Trust me: it is in the humanities.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Probably not as cool as a lot of these but doing a MA in archaeology plus a lot of museum work has made me pretty good at guessing sizes in centimeters/mm", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I wrote my dissertation in LaTeX. Doesn't seem obscure? Trust me: it is in the humanities.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I can hold a glass coverslip with metal tweezers in gloved hands and wash them with pressurized water without snapping them.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I wrote my dissertation in LaTeX. Doesn't seem obscure? Trust me: it is in the humanities.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I got really good at holding a lot of things at once. I did a lot of PCR and pipetting in grad school. It recently came in handy when I had to do a drive-thru COVID sample collection on myself. The employee seemed impressed that I could hold the sample tube and take the lid off of the sample with one hand without dropping it or contaminating the swab in my other hand.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I wrote my dissertation in LaTeX. Doesn't seem obscure? Trust me: it is in the humanities.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I had to learn the Cyrillic alphabet to read Russian and Ukrainian descriptions of fossils from the 50s", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I wrote my dissertation in LaTeX. Doesn't seem obscure? Trust me: it is in the humanities.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I think making agarose gels made me better at making hot cocoa. It really does matter whether you add the powder to the liquid or liquid to the powder.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I wrote my dissertation in LaTeX. Doesn't seem obscure? Trust me: it is in the humanities.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I know how to make a dental mold that's attached to a syringe to squirm barium into your pharynx. PhD is communication sciences and disorders-- swallowing physiology", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Weighting things by eye. You'd be surprised by how often I get exactly 4.84 mg of material (or other similar silly numbers) at my first try, I scare myself sometimes lol", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I know how to make a dental mold that's attached to a syringe to squirm barium into your pharynx. PhD is communication sciences and disorders-- swallowing physiology", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Swallowing repressed anger and frustration, and putting on a smile.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I can figure out the sex of a fruit fly almost immediately", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I can figure out the sex of a fruit fly almost immediately", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Probably not as cool as a lot of these but doing a MA in archaeology plus a lot of museum work has made me pretty good at guessing sizes in centimeters/mm", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I can figure out the sex of a fruit fly almost immediately", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I can hold a glass coverslip with metal tweezers in gloved hands and wash them with pressurized water without snapping them.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I can figure out the sex of a fruit fly almost immediately", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I got really good at holding a lot of things at once. I did a lot of PCR and pipetting in grad school. It recently came in handy when I had to do a drive-thru COVID sample collection on myself. The employee seemed impressed that I could hold the sample tube and take the lid off of the sample with one hand without dropping it or contaminating the swab in my other hand.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I can figure out the sex of a fruit fly almost immediately", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I know how to make a dental mold that's attached to a syringe to squirm barium into your pharynx. PhD is communication sciences and disorders-- swallowing physiology", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Swallowing repressed anger and frustration, and putting on a smile.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I can skin most mammals pretty quickly. Anatomist", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Swallowing repressed anger and frustration, and putting on a smile.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Probably not as cool as a lot of these but doing a MA in archaeology plus a lot of museum work has made me pretty good at guessing sizes in centimeters/mm", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Swallowing repressed anger and frustration, and putting on a smile.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I can hold a glass coverslip with metal tweezers in gloved hands and wash them with pressurized water without snapping them.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Swallowing repressed anger and frustration, and putting on a smile.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I got really good at holding a lot of things at once. I did a lot of PCR and pipetting in grad school. It recently came in handy when I had to do a drive-thru COVID sample collection on myself. The employee seemed impressed that I could hold the sample tube and take the lid off of the sample with one hand without dropping it or contaminating the swab in my other hand.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Swallowing repressed anger and frustration, and putting on a smile.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I had to learn the Cyrillic alphabet to read Russian and Ukrainian descriptions of fossils from the 50s", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Swallowing repressed anger and frustration, and putting on a smile.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I think making agarose gels made me better at making hot cocoa. It really does matter whether you add the powder to the liquid or liquid to the powder.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Swallowing repressed anger and frustration, and putting on a smile.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I know how to make a dental mold that's attached to a syringe to squirm barium into your pharynx. PhD is communication sciences and disorders-- swallowing physiology", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I can skin most mammals pretty quickly. Anatomist", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I know how to make a dental mold that's attached to a syringe to squirm barium into your pharynx. PhD is communication sciences and disorders-- swallowing physiology", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Probably not as cool as a lot of these but doing a MA in archaeology plus a lot of museum work has made me pretty good at guessing sizes in centimeters/mm", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I can hold a glass coverslip with metal tweezers in gloved hands and wash them with pressurized water without snapping them.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Probably not as cool as a lot of these but doing a MA in archaeology plus a lot of museum work has made me pretty good at guessing sizes in centimeters/mm", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I got really good at holding a lot of things at once. I did a lot of PCR and pipetting in grad school. It recently came in handy when I had to do a drive-thru COVID sample collection on myself. The employee seemed impressed that I could hold the sample tube and take the lid off of the sample with one hand without dropping it or contaminating the swab in my other hand.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Probably not as cool as a lot of these but doing a MA in archaeology plus a lot of museum work has made me pretty good at guessing sizes in centimeters/mm", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I know how to make a dental mold that's attached to a syringe to squirm barium into your pharynx. PhD is communication sciences and disorders-- swallowing physiology", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I can hold a glass coverslip with metal tweezers in gloved hands and wash them with pressurized water without snapping them.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I know how to make a dental mold that's attached to a syringe to squirm barium into your pharynx. PhD is communication sciences and disorders-- swallowing physiology", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I got really good at holding a lot of things at once. I did a lot of PCR and pipetting in grad school. It recently came in handy when I had to do a drive-thru COVID sample collection on myself. The employee seemed impressed that I could hold the sample tube and take the lid off of the sample with one hand without dropping it or contaminating the swab in my other hand.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I know how to make a dental mold that's attached to a syringe to squirm barium into your pharynx. PhD is communication sciences and disorders-- swallowing physiology", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I had to learn the Cyrillic alphabet to read Russian and Ukrainian descriptions of fossils from the 50s", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I know how to make a dental mold that's attached to a syringe to squirm barium into your pharynx. PhD is communication sciences and disorders-- swallowing physiology", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I think making agarose gels made me better at making hot cocoa. It really does matter whether you add the powder to the liquid or liquid to the powder.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "What obscure skill have you picked up as a grad student/academic? I'm doing a biology PhD, and know exactly how to empty a mortar of powdered plant material suspended in liquid nitrogen into a tiny vial without it exploding (easier said than done), an obscure \"skill\" I've picked up doing hundreds of DNA extractions. Purely our of curiousity, what's your obscure skill?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I know how to make a dental mold that's attached to a syringe to squirm barium into your pharynx. PhD is communication sciences and disorders-- swallowing physiology", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I think they probably should, but they don't warrant the full effort of an academic paper. One solution might be if journals had a \"negative notes\" section that left people publish very short briefs about the findings. This prevents having to read and write full length papers with zero impact, but also puts it in the scientific record to advise future studies.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I think the results should be published, and I also think they shouldn't be paywalled, particularly if the research were publicly-funded.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Really weird for the article to use the term \"negative finding.\" The commonly used term is \"null finding,\" i.e., \"our research design did not produce credible and informative results.\" Null findings should be publishable. So should replications. There are also what are called \"informative null findings,\" which means your model credibly demonstrated that there is no effect.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Honestly, I feel that null results are just as important as significant results because 1) it's important to rule alternatives out, rather than only looking for evidence in favor of your hypothesis, and 2) if something doesn't work, please publish it so future researchers don't attempt the same thing and also fail. I do think the emergence of Bayesian statistics has been helping with that lately (at least in my field) because it's providing evidence *for* the null, rather than simply failing to reject it. It's making it easier to publish null results.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Really weird for the article to use the term \"negative finding.\" The commonly used term is \"null finding,\" i.e., \"our research design did not produce credible and informative results.\" Null findings should be publishable. So should replications. There are also what are called \"informative null findings,\" which means your model credibly demonstrated that there is no effect.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I'm actually writing an editorial for my journal as we speak about the peer review process. Part of it will be to not allow our personal biases taint our view of the contrarian results and conclusions of a paper. That is followed by a tip to the authors to acknowledge the other perspective and emphasize that the contrarian results do not invalidate prior research but simply indicate a discrepancy that deserves further investigation for potential boundary conditions.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Really weird for the article to use the term \"negative finding.\" The commonly used term is \"null finding,\" i.e., \"our research design did not produce credible and informative results.\" Null findings should be publishable. So should replications. There are also what are called \"informative null findings,\" which means your model credibly demonstrated that there is no effect.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I think the results should be published, and I also think they shouldn't be paywalled, particularly if the research were publicly-funded.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Really weird for the article to use the term \"negative finding.\" The commonly used term is \"null finding,\" i.e., \"our research design did not produce credible and informative results.\" Null findings should be publishable. So should replications. There are also what are called \"informative null findings,\" which means your model credibly demonstrated that there is no effect.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I don't think this only applies to STEM. In linguistics it's extremely hard to publish negative results, and often to do so you need to introduce either a new method or a new dataset.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Honestly, I feel that null results are just as important as significant results because 1) it's important to rule alternatives out, rather than only looking for evidence in favor of your hypothesis, and 2) if something doesn't work, please publish it so future researchers don't attempt the same thing and also fail. I do think the emergence of Bayesian statistics has been helping with that lately (at least in my field) because it's providing evidence *for* the null, rather than simply failing to reject it. It's making it easier to publish null results.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I think the results should be published, and I also think they shouldn't be paywalled, particularly if the research were publicly-funded.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "It's a way too complicated problem to just give an umbrella suggestion about what should be done.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I'm actually writing an editorial for my journal as we speak about the peer review process. Part of it will be to not allow our personal biases taint our view of the contrarian results and conclusions of a paper. That is followed by a tip to the authors to acknowledge the other perspective and emphasize that the contrarian results do not invalidate prior research but simply indicate a discrepancy that deserves further investigation for potential boundary conditions.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "It's a way too complicated problem to just give an umbrella suggestion about what should be done.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I think the results should be published, and I also think they shouldn't be paywalled, particularly if the research were publicly-funded.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "It's a way too complicated problem to just give an umbrella suggestion about what should be done.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I don't think this only applies to STEM. In linguistics it's extremely hard to publish negative results, and often to do so you need to introduce either a new method or a new dataset.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "It's a way too complicated problem to just give an umbrella suggestion about what should be done.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I have plenty of failed theories and failed designs. I want to publish them, but journals don't accept research that results in the failure of a theory. You have to bring forth a successful and a failed theory to get a journal to give your failed theory some representation, only because it's being compared to positive results. I hate this shit. It leads to researchers tweaking results and corrupting data. More than that, given that most theories fail and coming towards a successful solution that works requires an understanding of what doesn't work and why, this attitude has bastardized the academic record. This is damaging to the collective knowledge base of humanity.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I'm actually writing an editorial for my journal as we speak about the peer review process. Part of it will be to not allow our personal biases taint our view of the contrarian results and conclusions of a paper. That is followed by a tip to the authors to acknowledge the other perspective and emphasize that the contrarian results do not invalidate prior research but simply indicate a discrepancy that deserves further investigation for potential boundary conditions.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I think the results should be published, and I also think they shouldn't be paywalled, particularly if the research were publicly-funded.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Wasn’t it the Michelson-Morley experiments that informed Einstein’s relativity, and were also a huuuuge negative result?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I think the results should be published, and I also think they shouldn't be paywalled, particularly if the research were publicly-funded.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Wasn’t it the Michelson-Morley experiments that informed Einstein’s relativity, and were also a huuuuge negative result?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I don't think this only applies to STEM. In linguistics it's extremely hard to publish negative results, and often to do so you need to introduce either a new method or a new dataset.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Wasn’t it the Michelson-Morley experiments that informed Einstein’s relativity, and were also a huuuuge negative result?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Do you think research results in STEM should be published regardless of negative or positive conclusions? Researchers in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter believe that publishing scientific articles is not an end unto itself. In a recent opinion piece, they state that researchers should not be disappointed or frustrated by negative results but strive to reach unbiased conclusions driven solely by the data. Thoughts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I have plenty of failed theories and failed designs. I want to publish them, but journals don't accept research that results in the failure of a theory. You have to bring forth a successful and a failed theory to get a journal to give your failed theory some representation, only because it's being compared to positive results. I hate this shit. It leads to researchers tweaking results and corrupting data. More than that, given that most theories fail and coming towards a successful solution that works requires an understanding of what doesn't work and why, this attitude has bastardized the academic record. This is damaging to the collective knowledge base of humanity.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I think I've just failed my PhD This is kind of my open letter to academia... My PhD was tough. It started really well, full UK scholarship, amazing project, and enthusiasm to do amazing research and follow the dream career. Then something happened. Can't pinpoint where or when, but my mental health deteriorated rapidly. I started to be afraid of going to the lab, and everything crumbled from there. Two intermissions to try to sort my health, a referral at the first Viva and major corrections on my second and I have just submitted corrections.. I tried so hard to juggle the corrections with work, and I really doubt it was enough. I'm away from academia now, and even though I'm starting again I'm doing well in my new career. Still disappointed in myself though. On the other hand, I've now done the final mic-drop on the (very personal) hell that became academia. To those who managed to survive, you are in a wonderful industry where you get to be creative and use your unique view on the world to enhance the knowledge of the human population. I wish you all the best of success and all of the grants and papers your hearts desire. I'm not bitter of any of you, just a bit disappointed in myself. But hey that's life. Thanks academia, I've learned lots not only about my subject matter, but also about myself.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "There is so much I want to say to you. But I'm gonna start with the most important. You did NOT fail. You took control of your mental health, and frankly, that's so much more important than a degree. I need you to understand how utterly brave and strong that choice was. There are many of us didn't make that choice. I remember having a nervous breakdown 6 months before I defended, like on the brink of committing myself to a psych ward. If it hadn't been for a bit of luck and a kind committee member, I wouldn't have finished either. The other thing I need you to understand is that Academia isn't the great answer. You can save the world without ever taking another foot on a campus. I wish you the best of all the world in your new career. And I don't know you at all, but I'm very proud of you.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "I think I've just failed my PhD This is kind of my open letter to academia... My PhD was tough. It started really well, full UK scholarship, amazing project, and enthusiasm to do amazing research and follow the dream career. Then something happened. Can't pinpoint where or when, but my mental health deteriorated rapidly. I started to be afraid of going to the lab, and everything crumbled from there. Two intermissions to try to sort my health, a referral at the first Viva and major corrections on my second and I have just submitted corrections.. I tried so hard to juggle the corrections with work, and I really doubt it was enough. I'm away from academia now, and even though I'm starting again I'm doing well in my new career. Still disappointed in myself though. On the other hand, I've now done the final mic-drop on the (very personal) hell that became academia. To those who managed to survive, you are in a wonderful industry where you get to be creative and use your unique view on the world to enhance the knowledge of the human population. I wish you all the best of success and all of the grants and papers your hearts desire. I'm not bitter of any of you, just a bit disappointed in myself. But hey that's life. Thanks academia, I've learned lots not only about my subject matter, but also about myself.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Congrats on finding your footing on a path that appears to work for you. Having worked in industry and academia, I know first-hand that neither one is \"better,\" they are just different career paths, with different advantages and disadvantages. I know brilliant, successful people that never tried to earn a Ph.D., that tried and chose not to finish, that finished and chose to go into industry, and that finished and stayed in academia. Leaving academia and going into something that works for you is absolutely not a failure, it is a success. I'm not disappointed in you--nor in any of my students who chose a different path than I did (in fact, I have counseled some of them not to follow my path)--and you absolutely need not be disappointed in yourself. If you are happy with where you are now, that's all that matters.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "different systems in different countries... in the UK I saw someone fail when they submitted against their supervisor's advice as the regulations allowed. They got a Master's instead.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Yeah, but I've seen more people with crapy data that did nothing for 5 years graduate", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I knew one woman who failed, but apparently she ignored every piece of advice her advisor gave her and just ... wouldn't listen. Even when they failed her she was like 'So you're saying I just need to fix this and this?'", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Yeah, but I've seen more people with crapy data that did nothing for 5 years graduate", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I have failed a student once, but the reasons were not related to the results. The reasons were (a) the manuscript was very badly written and (b) the work was blatantly unfinished. The reason why the supervisor let this student defend were related to the rules of the university (you had to defend after N years) rather than being an official \"green light\". The student failed that time, but we gave them a second chance after one year of extra work, which ended up in a successful attempt and graduation. None of this applies to you. You'll pass!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Yeah, but I've seen more people with crapy data that did nothing for 5 years graduate", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I have failed a student once, but the reasons were not related to the results. The reasons were (a) the manuscript was very badly written and (b) the work was blatantly unfinished. The reason why the supervisor let this student defend were related to the rules of the university (you had to defend after N years) rather than being an official \"green light\". The student failed that time, but we gave them a second chance after one year of extra work, which ended up in a successful attempt and graduation. None of this applies to you. You'll pass!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "A friend of mine “failed”. His talk was 15 minutes because he claimed his advisor didn’t allow him to show a lot of the work since it wasn’t published. After he was done his committee told everyone they wouldn’t be holding the private session since he also hadn’t submitted his written dissertation to the committee. Was so cringey. Even after all that he still ended up finishing soon after because he submitted the document. If you’re actually invested in it and want it to go well you won’t fail.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I have failed a student once, but the reasons were not related to the results. The reasons were (a) the manuscript was very badly written and (b) the work was blatantly unfinished. The reason why the supervisor let this student defend were related to the rules of the university (you had to defend after N years) rather than being an official \"green light\". The student failed that time, but we gave them a second chance after one year of extra work, which ended up in a successful attempt and graduation. None of this applies to you. You'll pass!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "No. If they don't want to give you the degree they won't let you schedule it. It would be as much an embarrassment for your advisor as for you. People are usually screened out at candidacy, or sometimes asked to leave after. In practice this just doesn't happen (at least in the US/Canada).", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I have failed a student once, but the reasons were not related to the results. The reasons were (a) the manuscript was very badly written and (b) the work was blatantly unfinished. The reason why the supervisor let this student defend were related to the rules of the university (you had to defend after N years) rather than being an official \"green light\". The student failed that time, but we gave them a second chance after one year of extra work, which ended up in a successful attempt and graduation. None of this applies to you. You'll pass!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "In every program I know of, it's the responsibility of the chair/adviser to have a private sit-down talk with the candidate if they're not ready. Most committees have read most (or all) of the dissertation prior to the defense, and they pretty much know if it's going to pass. Candidates get varying levels of revisions, but the pass/fail is decided before you enter the room.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I have failed a student once, but the reasons were not related to the results. The reasons were (a) the manuscript was very badly written and (b) the work was blatantly unfinished. The reason why the supervisor let this student defend were related to the rules of the university (you had to defend after N years) rather than being an official \"green light\". The student failed that time, but we gave them a second chance after one year of extra work, which ended up in a successful attempt and graduation. None of this applies to you. You'll pass!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "You're stressed— it's natural, but it's going to be fine. Are you going in person or are you doing it via Zoom? If going in person, focus more on where you want to get lunch/dinner after (if safe to do so) and not the event itself. The day after, you'll be asking yourself what you were so stressed about, I promise :)", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "A friend of mine “failed”. His talk was 15 minutes because he claimed his advisor didn’t allow him to show a lot of the work since it wasn’t published. After he was done his committee told everyone they wouldn’t be holding the private session since he also hadn’t submitted his written dissertation to the committee. Was so cringey. Even after all that he still ended up finishing soon after because he submitted the document. If you’re actually invested in it and want it to go well you won’t fail.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "No. If they don't want to give you the degree they won't let you schedule it. It would be as much an embarrassment for your advisor as for you. People are usually screened out at candidacy, or sometimes asked to leave after. In practice this just doesn't happen (at least in the US/Canada).", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "At my school you have to collect the 5 signatures like a quest in an RPG. They wouldnt let you do that part if you wernt ready. The quals is where they beat you senseless. The defense is more of a formality. If you did your work, if your adviser thinks it's sufficient, it is. Think of it more like your first time being a colleague and not a student. You did some research. It's original. They've never seen it before. They arnt quizzing you on info they know and you might. They're questioning you about a topic they dont know and you do. You are the instructor and they are your very very curious and demanding students. You are the worlds leading expert on whatever. Bring them up to speed.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "No. If they don't want to give you the degree they won't let you schedule it. It would be as much an embarrassment for your advisor as for you. People are usually screened out at candidacy, or sometimes asked to leave after. In practice this just doesn't happen (at least in the US/Canada).", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "At my school you have to collect the 5 signatures like a quest in an RPG. They wouldnt let you do that part if you wernt ready. The quals is where they beat you senseless. The defense is more of a formality. If you did your work, if your adviser thinks it's sufficient, it is. Think of it more like your first time being a colleague and not a student. You did some research. It's original. They've never seen it before. They arnt quizzing you on info they know and you might. They're questioning you about a topic they dont know and you do. You are the instructor and they are your very very curious and demanding students. You are the worlds leading expert on whatever. Bring them up to speed.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "In every program I know of, it's the responsibility of the chair/adviser to have a private sit-down talk with the candidate if they're not ready. Most committees have read most (or all) of the dissertation prior to the defense, and they pretty much know if it's going to pass. Candidates get varying levels of revisions, but the pass/fail is decided before you enter the room.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "At my school you have to collect the 5 signatures like a quest in an RPG. They wouldnt let you do that part if you wernt ready. The quals is where they beat you senseless. The defense is more of a formality. If you did your work, if your adviser thinks it's sufficient, it is. Think of it more like your first time being a colleague and not a student. You did some research. It's original. They've never seen it before. They arnt quizzing you on info they know and you might. They're questioning you about a topic they dont know and you do. You are the instructor and they are your very very curious and demanding students. You are the worlds leading expert on whatever. Bring them up to speed.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "You're stressed— it's natural, but it's going to be fine. Are you going in person or are you doing it via Zoom? If going in person, focus more on where you want to get lunch/dinner after (if safe to do so) and not the event itself. The day after, you'll be asking yourself what you were so stressed about, I promise :)", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "At my school you have to collect the 5 signatures like a quest in an RPG. They wouldnt let you do that part if you wernt ready. The quals is where they beat you senseless. The defense is more of a formality. If you did your work, if your adviser thinks it's sufficient, it is. Think of it more like your first time being a colleague and not a student. You did some research. It's original. They've never seen it before. They arnt quizzing you on info they know and you might. They're questioning you about a topic they dont know and you do. You are the instructor and they are your very very curious and demanding students. You are the worlds leading expert on whatever. Bring them up to speed.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Mine is on Friday 🤢", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "My department required us to have an outside chair for our dissertation defense. After my defense, my outside chair mentioned that he once failed someone *as* the outside person. This was because their dissertation purported to be somewhat interdisciplinary with respect to his field, and he felt that it wasn’t strong enough in that area. I was also once on a committee where we deliberated for about an hour about whether or not to pass a student. Eventually we decided to do so because (a) he already has a job offer and (b) his history made us skeptical as to whether he’d actually listen to any comments. But these are exceptions. *Usually* your committee is unlikely to allow you to defend if you aren’t likely to pass.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "In every program I know of, it's the responsibility of the chair/adviser to have a private sit-down talk with the candidate if they're not ready. Most committees have read most (or all) of the dissertation prior to the defense, and they pretty much know if it's going to pass. Candidates get varying levels of revisions, but the pass/fail is decided before you enter the room.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "My department required us to have an outside chair for our dissertation defense. After my defense, my outside chair mentioned that he once failed someone *as* the outside person. This was because their dissertation purported to be somewhat interdisciplinary with respect to his field, and he felt that it wasn’t strong enough in that area. I was also once on a committee where we deliberated for about an hour about whether or not to pass a student. Eventually we decided to do so because (a) he already has a job offer and (b) his history made us skeptical as to whether he’d actually listen to any comments. But these are exceptions. *Usually* your committee is unlikely to allow you to defend if you aren’t likely to pass.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "You're stressed— it's natural, but it's going to be fine. Are you going in person or are you doing it via Zoom? If going in person, focus more on where you want to get lunch/dinner after (if safe to do so) and not the event itself. The day after, you'll be asking yourself what you were so stressed about, I promise :)", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "In my department, apparently, a woman failed a few years back because someone asked a question that stumped her, whereupon she froze up and couldn't answer any more questions - she just blanked. According to my advisor, her dissertation was absolutely good enough to pass. She did some revisions to address the point that was asked about, they tried again, and she got her degree. It's the only story of a failed defense that my advisor knows of in our department.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "My department required us to have an outside chair for our dissertation defense. After my defense, my outside chair mentioned that he once failed someone *as* the outside person. This was because their dissertation purported to be somewhat interdisciplinary with respect to his field, and he felt that it wasn’t strong enough in that area. I was also once on a committee where we deliberated for about an hour about whether or not to pass a student. Eventually we decided to do so because (a) he already has a job offer and (b) his history made us skeptical as to whether he’d actually listen to any comments. But these are exceptions. *Usually* your committee is unlikely to allow you to defend if you aren’t likely to pass.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "In my department, apparently, a woman failed a few years back because someone asked a question that stumped her, whereupon she froze up and couldn't answer any more questions - she just blanked. According to my advisor, her dissertation was absolutely good enough to pass. She did some revisions to address the point that was asked about, they tried again, and she got her degree. It's the only story of a failed defense that my advisor knows of in our department.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "In every program I know of, it's the responsibility of the chair/adviser to have a private sit-down talk with the candidate if they're not ready. Most committees have read most (or all) of the dissertation prior to the defense, and they pretty much know if it's going to pass. Candidates get varying levels of revisions, but the pass/fail is decided before you enter the room.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "NZ here. I know an oral defence is used to determine and ensure the work was written by the student. So if you were really struggling to answer questions about the content then you could fail... But generally speaking everyone I've ever heard of doing it has passed", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "In every program I know of, it's the responsibility of the chair/adviser to have a private sit-down talk with the candidate if they're not ready. Most committees have read most (or all) of the dissertation prior to the defense, and they pretty much know if it's going to pass. Candidates get varying levels of revisions, but the pass/fail is decided before you enter the room.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Mine is on Friday 🤢", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "In every program I know of, it's the responsibility of the chair/adviser to have a private sit-down talk with the candidate if they're not ready. Most committees have read most (or all) of the dissertation prior to the defense, and they pretty much know if it's going to pass. Candidates get varying levels of revisions, but the pass/fail is decided before you enter the room.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Once. Candidate hadn’t met with the statistician on their committee for years. The candidate had simply made fundamental mistakes. The results were meaningless", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "In every program I know of, it's the responsibility of the chair/adviser to have a private sit-down talk with the candidate if they're not ready. Most committees have read most (or all) of the dissertation prior to the defense, and they pretty much know if it's going to pass. Candidates get varying levels of revisions, but the pass/fail is decided before you enter the room.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "In my department, apparently, a woman failed a few years back because someone asked a question that stumped her, whereupon she froze up and couldn't answer any more questions - she just blanked. According to my advisor, her dissertation was absolutely good enough to pass. She did some revisions to address the point that was asked about, they tried again, and she got her degree. It's the only story of a failed defense that my advisor knows of in our department.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "You're stressed— it's natural, but it's going to be fine. Are you going in person or are you doing it via Zoom? If going in person, focus more on where you want to get lunch/dinner after (if safe to do so) and not the event itself. The day after, you'll be asking yourself what you were so stressed about, I promise :)", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "NZ here. I know an oral defence is used to determine and ensure the work was written by the student. So if you were really struggling to answer questions about the content then you could fail... But generally speaking everyone I've ever heard of doing it has passed", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "You're stressed— it's natural, but it's going to be fine. Are you going in person or are you doing it via Zoom? If going in person, focus more on where you want to get lunch/dinner after (if safe to do so) and not the event itself. The day after, you'll be asking yourself what you were so stressed about, I promise :)", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Mine is on Friday 🤢", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "You're stressed— it's natural, but it's going to be fine. Are you going in person or are you doing it via Zoom? If going in person, focus more on where you want to get lunch/dinner after (if safe to do so) and not the event itself. The day after, you'll be asking yourself what you were so stressed about, I promise :)", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Once. Candidate hadn’t met with the statistician on their committee for years. The candidate had simply made fundamental mistakes. The results were meaningless", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "You're stressed— it's natural, but it's going to be fine. Are you going in person or are you doing it via Zoom? If going in person, focus more on where you want to get lunch/dinner after (if safe to do so) and not the event itself. The day after, you'll be asking yourself what you were so stressed about, I promise :)", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I turned into an alcoholic in graduate school. When they realize you’re not cutting it, they bribe you to leave with a consolation degree. I was supposed to leave with an MFA. But I got out early with an MA. You wouldn’t be as far along if you weren’t earning it. It’s like showing you can take on the responsibility of the next rung, then being given the title.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "You're stressed— it's natural, but it's going to be fine. Are you going in person or are you doing it via Zoom? If going in person, focus more on where you want to get lunch/dinner after (if safe to do so) and not the event itself. The day after, you'll be asking yourself what you were so stressed about, I promise :)", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "In my department, apparently, a woman failed a few years back because someone asked a question that stumped her, whereupon she froze up and couldn't answer any more questions - she just blanked. According to my advisor, her dissertation was absolutely good enough to pass. She did some revisions to address the point that was asked about, they tried again, and she got her degree. It's the only story of a failed defense that my advisor knows of in our department.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Mine is on Friday 🤢", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "In my department, apparently, a woman failed a few years back because someone asked a question that stumped her, whereupon she froze up and couldn't answer any more questions - she just blanked. According to my advisor, her dissertation was absolutely good enough to pass. She did some revisions to address the point that was asked about, they tried again, and she got her degree. It's the only story of a failed defense that my advisor knows of in our department.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Once. Candidate hadn’t met with the statistician on their committee for years. The candidate had simply made fundamental mistakes. The results were meaningless", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "NZ here. I know an oral defence is used to determine and ensure the work was written by the student. So if you were really struggling to answer questions about the content then you could fail... But generally speaking everyone I've ever heard of doing it has passed", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "A colleague of mine failed his defense. This was because his advisor did not even peek at his work prior to sending him into the lions' den. You cannot expect anyone to pass at the PhD level with zero guidance. He was a good student, extremely competent, but the thesis was poorly written and did not communicate what needed to be communicated. He spent a year fixing his work with the help of another professor and passed the second time. Super successful now with a pharma company.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "NZ here. I know an oral defence is used to determine and ensure the work was written by the student. So if you were really struggling to answer questions about the content then you could fail... But generally speaking everyone I've ever heard of doing it has passed", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Yes, colleague and office-mate failed first defense and was given 6 months to do a complete re-write, after which they passed and now hold a tenure-track position.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I turned into an alcoholic in graduate school. When they realize you’re not cutting it, they bribe you to leave with a consolation degree. I was supposed to leave with an MFA. But I got out early with an MA. You wouldn’t be as far along if you weren’t earning it. It’s like showing you can take on the responsibility of the next rung, then being given the title.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "A colleague of mine failed his defense. This was because his advisor did not even peek at his work prior to sending him into the lions' den. You cannot expect anyone to pass at the PhD level with zero guidance. He was a good student, extremely competent, but the thesis was poorly written and did not communicate what needed to be communicated. He spent a year fixing his work with the help of another professor and passed the second time. Super successful now with a pharma company.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I turned into an alcoholic in graduate school. When they realize you’re not cutting it, they bribe you to leave with a consolation degree. I was supposed to leave with an MFA. But I got out early with an MA. You wouldn’t be as far along if you weren’t earning it. It’s like showing you can take on the responsibility of the next rung, then being given the title.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Yes, colleague and office-mate failed first defense and was given 6 months to do a complete re-write, after which they passed and now hold a tenure-track position.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I turned into an alcoholic in graduate school. When they realize you’re not cutting it, they bribe you to leave with a consolation degree. I was supposed to leave with an MFA. But I got out early with an MA. You wouldn’t be as far along if you weren’t earning it. It’s like showing you can take on the responsibility of the next rung, then being given the title.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "Have you ever seen anyone fail a PhD Defense? Per the title. I defend my dissertation in a few days, and I feel like my defense is shaping up to be very... Unimpressive for a variety of reasons. My committee gave me the green light to look for jobs and write a dissertation. I turned in the document a few days ago, and I have a job lined up, but I'm growing nervous about my defense because, well, it feels like it's garbage. I'm largely asking because I want to know just how bad I need to do in order to actually fail.", "role": "user" }, { "content": "To let you defend means to let you passed. The decision is largely made before the defense, based on the progress of your work, quality of your research/publications over all those Ph.D. years, and your thesis. If they green-lighted you, just relax and prepare a good presentation. You’re gonna pass. Relax!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "1. Start therapy. Mental health is the most important thing and imo the best determinant of success in grad school and in life. Also student insurance is sweet. 2. Network network network. Don't assume you will stay in academia. And don't look at the PhD as an end in itself. Think about what you want once you are done and prepare for it. You might change your views along the way but better start the process early than in the last 1 year. 3. Stick to a 9-5 routine if possible and actually socialize on days off. Don't let anyone push your boundaries. People will try to make you feel bad for not slaving away. Recognize it for the dysfunctional way of life it is. Work smart and work consistent. This is your degree, don't follow anyone blindly if you don't agree.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "A different supervisor. A second supervisor on the same continent. A series of progressive steps from start to finish rather than a disorganised mess. An actual understanding of the progression from start to finish. You know. The little things.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "1. Start therapy. Mental health is the most important thing and imo the best determinant of success in grad school and in life. Also student insurance is sweet. 2. Network network network. Don't assume you will stay in academia. And don't look at the PhD as an end in itself. Think about what you want once you are done and prepare for it. You might change your views along the way but better start the process early than in the last 1 year. 3. Stick to a 9-5 routine if possible and actually socialize on days off. Don't let anyone push your boundaries. People will try to make you feel bad for not slaving away. Recognize it for the dysfunctional way of life it is. Work smart and work consistent. This is your degree, don't follow anyone blindly if you don't agree.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I would have a clearer focus - the PhD is the time to learn one subject well and not get too distracted by shiny side-track ideas.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "1. Start therapy. Mental health is the most important thing and imo the best determinant of success in grad school and in life. Also student insurance is sweet. 2. Network network network. Don't assume you will stay in academia. And don't look at the PhD as an end in itself. Think about what you want once you are done and prepare for it. You might change your views along the way but better start the process early than in the last 1 year. 3. Stick to a 9-5 routine if possible and actually socialize on days off. Don't let anyone push your boundaries. People will try to make you feel bad for not slaving away. Recognize it for the dysfunctional way of life it is. Work smart and work consistent. This is your degree, don't follow anyone blindly if you don't agree.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "When I thought about forming my dissertation committee, I thought exclusively about whose scholarship matches up with my topic and methods. I did not think enough about my personal relationship with these scholars and importantly their relationships with each other. Faculty in departments can have personal feuds and epistemological differences that may play out during the defense hearing. Expertise is important, but so is the social dynamic of the committee. If at all possible, you want faculty on your committee who care about your success and get along with each other.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "1. Start therapy. Mental health is the most important thing and imo the best determinant of success in grad school and in life. Also student insurance is sweet. 2. Network network network. Don't assume you will stay in academia. And don't look at the PhD as an end in itself. Think about what you want once you are done and prepare for it. You might change your views along the way but better start the process early than in the last 1 year. 3. Stick to a 9-5 routine if possible and actually socialize on days off. Don't let anyone push your boundaries. People will try to make you feel bad for not slaving away. Recognize it for the dysfunctional way of life it is. Work smart and work consistent. This is your degree, don't follow anyone blindly if you don't agree.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Hire a personal trainer before I started and learned how to work out and build muscle. Then add the gym to a daily habit alongside my studies. I started to develop back problems from sitting reading all day and it really put me out. Also, I’d force myself to socialise more without using my phd as an excuse not to. I really kept to myself and got lonely toward the end. Two easy things!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "1. Start therapy. Mental health is the most important thing and imo the best determinant of success in grad school and in life. Also student insurance is sweet. 2. Network network network. Don't assume you will stay in academia. And don't look at the PhD as an end in itself. Think about what you want once you are done and prepare for it. You might change your views along the way but better start the process early than in the last 1 year. 3. Stick to a 9-5 routine if possible and actually socialize on days off. Don't let anyone push your boundaries. People will try to make you feel bad for not slaving away. Recognize it for the dysfunctional way of life it is. Work smart and work consistent. This is your degree, don't follow anyone blindly if you don't agree.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Not choose research topics based on perceived difficulty as a personal challenge. Is there a dissertation proposal version of 'post-nut clarity'? Because I have that.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "1. Start therapy. Mental health is the most important thing and imo the best determinant of success in grad school and in life. Also student insurance is sweet. 2. Network network network. Don't assume you will stay in academia. And don't look at the PhD as an end in itself. Think about what you want once you are done and prepare for it. You might change your views along the way but better start the process early than in the last 1 year. 3. Stick to a 9-5 routine if possible and actually socialize on days off. Don't let anyone push your boundaries. People will try to make you feel bad for not slaving away. Recognize it for the dysfunctional way of life it is. Work smart and work consistent. This is your degree, don't follow anyone blindly if you don't agree.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Probably try harder for grants, maybe look for less competitive ones and work to focus the impact of my research. I took loans to cover research costs and it’s biting me in the ass now. Also I’d work harder to network. It’s something I’m still terrible at and connections can make a big difference on the job market.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "1. Start therapy. Mental health is the most important thing and imo the best determinant of success in grad school and in life. Also student insurance is sweet. 2. Network network network. Don't assume you will stay in academia. And don't look at the PhD as an end in itself. Think about what you want once you are done and prepare for it. You might change your views along the way but better start the process early than in the last 1 year. 3. Stick to a 9-5 routine if possible and actually socialize on days off. Don't let anyone push your boundaries. People will try to make you feel bad for not slaving away. Recognize it for the dysfunctional way of life it is. Work smart and work consistent. This is your degree, don't follow anyone blindly if you don't agree.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Digital engagement. Like starting academic engagement with Twitter, and posting in-progress work to places like academia.edu and researchgate.net earlier. Most of my networking has come from digital engagement because my field is quite small and scholars in the field are so widely dispersed across the globe. I now include this as a small project for my students at the Masters level.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "1. Start therapy. Mental health is the most important thing and imo the best determinant of success in grad school and in life. Also student insurance is sweet. 2. Network network network. Don't assume you will stay in academia. And don't look at the PhD as an end in itself. Think about what you want once you are done and prepare for it. You might change your views along the way but better start the process early than in the last 1 year. 3. Stick to a 9-5 routine if possible and actually socialize on days off. Don't let anyone push your boundaries. People will try to make you feel bad for not slaving away. Recognize it for the dysfunctional way of life it is. Work smart and work consistent. This is your degree, don't follow anyone blindly if you don't agree.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Not apply to so many fellowships. I started grad school with enough fellowship money to never rely on my boss. The downside: he literally never gave a shit when the project I was put on completely failed (out of our control, literature was not reproducible) which had me running in circles for a few years because he wanted me to “just figure it out”. He really only cares about progress and writing papers when there’s funding on the line.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "1. Start therapy. Mental health is the most important thing and imo the best determinant of success in grad school and in life. Also student insurance is sweet. 2. Network network network. Don't assume you will stay in academia. And don't look at the PhD as an end in itself. Think about what you want once you are done and prepare for it. You might change your views along the way but better start the process early than in the last 1 year. 3. Stick to a 9-5 routine if possible and actually socialize on days off. Don't let anyone push your boundaries. People will try to make you feel bad for not slaving away. Recognize it for the dysfunctional way of life it is. Work smart and work consistent. This is your degree, don't follow anyone blindly if you don't agree.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Have a better balance. Prioritize regular time away from research and work out regularly. Mental illness is incredibly common among doctoral students.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "1. Start therapy. Mental health is the most important thing and imo the best determinant of success in grad school and in life. Also student insurance is sweet. 2. Network network network. Don't assume you will stay in academia. And don't look at the PhD as an end in itself. Think about what you want once you are done and prepare for it. You might change your views along the way but better start the process early than in the last 1 year. 3. Stick to a 9-5 routine if possible and actually socialize on days off. Don't let anyone push your boundaries. People will try to make you feel bad for not slaving away. Recognize it for the dysfunctional way of life it is. Work smart and work consistent. This is your degree, don't follow anyone blindly if you don't agree.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I would try not to date as much. And definitely agree with having dissertation committee members who agree with each other. I do think I had a pretty good time otherwise", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "1. Start therapy. Mental health is the most important thing and imo the best determinant of success in grad school and in life. Also student insurance is sweet. 2. Network network network. Don't assume you will stay in academia. And don't look at the PhD as an end in itself. Think about what you want once you are done and prepare for it. You might change your views along the way but better start the process early than in the last 1 year. 3. Stick to a 9-5 routine if possible and actually socialize on days off. Don't let anyone push your boundaries. People will try to make you feel bad for not slaving away. Recognize it for the dysfunctional way of life it is. Work smart and work consistent. This is your degree, don't follow anyone blindly if you don't agree.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I would have left. After harassment and negligence of the department and university, the abuse of graduate students, I wish I had walked away.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "A different supervisor. A second supervisor on the same continent. A series of progressive steps from start to finish rather than a disorganised mess. An actual understanding of the progression from start to finish. You know. The little things.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I would have a clearer focus - the PhD is the time to learn one subject well and not get too distracted by shiny side-track ideas.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "A different supervisor. A second supervisor on the same continent. A series of progressive steps from start to finish rather than a disorganised mess. An actual understanding of the progression from start to finish. You know. The little things.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Probably try harder for grants, maybe look for less competitive ones and work to focus the impact of my research. I took loans to cover research costs and it’s biting me in the ass now. Also I’d work harder to network. It’s something I’m still terrible at and connections can make a big difference on the job market.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "When I thought about forming my dissertation committee, I thought exclusively about whose scholarship matches up with my topic and methods. I did not think enough about my personal relationship with these scholars and importantly their relationships with each other. Faculty in departments can have personal feuds and epistemological differences that may play out during the defense hearing. Expertise is important, but so is the social dynamic of the committee. If at all possible, you want faculty on your committee who care about your success and get along with each other.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Probably try harder for grants, maybe look for less competitive ones and work to focus the impact of my research. I took loans to cover research costs and it’s biting me in the ass now. Also I’d work harder to network. It’s something I’m still terrible at and connections can make a big difference on the job market.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "When I thought about forming my dissertation committee, I thought exclusively about whose scholarship matches up with my topic and methods. I did not think enough about my personal relationship with these scholars and importantly their relationships with each other. Faculty in departments can have personal feuds and epistemological differences that may play out during the defense hearing. Expertise is important, but so is the social dynamic of the committee. If at all possible, you want faculty on your committee who care about your success and get along with each other.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Digital engagement. Like starting academic engagement with Twitter, and posting in-progress work to places like academia.edu and researchgate.net earlier. Most of my networking has come from digital engagement because my field is quite small and scholars in the field are so widely dispersed across the globe. I now include this as a small project for my students at the Masters level.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Hire a personal trainer before I started and learned how to work out and build muscle. Then add the gym to a daily habit alongside my studies. I started to develop back problems from sitting reading all day and it really put me out. Also, I’d force myself to socialise more without using my phd as an excuse not to. I really kept to myself and got lonely toward the end. Two easy things!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Probably try harder for grants, maybe look for less competitive ones and work to focus the impact of my research. I took loans to cover research costs and it’s biting me in the ass now. Also I’d work harder to network. It’s something I’m still terrible at and connections can make a big difference on the job market.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Not choose research topics based on perceived difficulty as a personal challenge. Is there a dissertation proposal version of 'post-nut clarity'? Because I have that.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Probably try harder for grants, maybe look for less competitive ones and work to focus the impact of my research. I took loans to cover research costs and it’s biting me in the ass now. Also I’d work harder to network. It’s something I’m still terrible at and connections can make a big difference on the job market.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Not choose research topics based on perceived difficulty as a personal challenge. Is there a dissertation proposal version of 'post-nut clarity'? Because I have that.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Digital engagement. Like starting academic engagement with Twitter, and posting in-progress work to places like academia.edu and researchgate.net earlier. Most of my networking has come from digital engagement because my field is quite small and scholars in the field are so widely dispersed across the globe. I now include this as a small project for my students at the Masters level.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Save money. Go to lab everyday from 10-6. Stop procrastinating about experiments. Ignore your labmates. Your experiments are equally important, don’t be like “yeah I can wait” Go to gym.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Digital engagement. Like starting academic engagement with Twitter, and posting in-progress work to places like academia.edu and researchgate.net earlier. Most of my networking has come from digital engagement because my field is quite small and scholars in the field are so widely dispersed across the globe. I now include this as a small project for my students at the Masters level.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Save money. Go to lab everyday from 10-6. Stop procrastinating about experiments. Ignore your labmates. Your experiments are equally important, don’t be like “yeah I can wait” Go to gym.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Not apply to so many fellowships. I started grad school with enough fellowship money to never rely on my boss. The downside: he literally never gave a shit when the project I was put on completely failed (out of our control, literature was not reproducible) which had me running in circles for a few years because he wanted me to “just figure it out”. He really only cares about progress and writing papers when there’s funding on the line.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Save money. Go to lab everyday from 10-6. Stop procrastinating about experiments. Ignore your labmates. Your experiments are equally important, don’t be like “yeah I can wait” Go to gym.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Have a better balance. Prioritize regular time away from research and work out regularly. Mental illness is incredibly common among doctoral students.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Save money. Go to lab everyday from 10-6. Stop procrastinating about experiments. Ignore your labmates. Your experiments are equally important, don’t be like “yeah I can wait” Go to gym.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I would try not to date as much. And definitely agree with having dissertation committee members who agree with each other. I do think I had a pretty good time otherwise", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Save money. Go to lab everyday from 10-6. Stop procrastinating about experiments. Ignore your labmates. Your experiments are equally important, don’t be like “yeah I can wait” Go to gym.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "I would have left. After harassment and negligence of the department and university, the abuse of graduate students, I wish I had walked away.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Save money. Go to lab everyday from 10-6. Stop procrastinating about experiments. Ignore your labmates. Your experiments are equally important, don’t be like “yeah I can wait” Go to gym.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "If you could start your PhD life from scratch, what one thing would you do differently? Hindsight hour!", "role": "user" }, { "content": "Ask people to collaborate! I had a wonderful PhD experience, but I could have put more effort into taking advantage of the amazing kindness and knowledge in my department and related departments.", "role": "assistant" } ]