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A | POST: Has anyone ever reported their academic advisor/supervisor and things actually improved after that? Has anyone ever reported their academic advisor/supervisor and things actually improved after that? From what I've read, it is not uncommon for supervisors to retaliate after they get reported.
RESPONSE A: I did report my PI, but after the drama in the lab hit a crescendo and I had already quit his lab due to him canceling my PhD project after I submitted IACUC and grant apps. In retrospect I would have: 1. Made and executed an escape plan to another lab. 2. Departed the original lab and informed my new supervisor what was about to happen. 3. Went to the Title IX officer and made an official report. They persuaded me into an "unofficial" report which went directly into the waste basket so they could avoid disclosing the existence of a Title IX complaint. It took a couple years after my initial report for the PI to fully decompensate and lose his R-01 and attempt to nuke the lab's data, but he was eventually fired.
RESPONSE B: More often than not, no. Some of my peers complained about certain professors, all perfectly good reasons to, and only one or two got a talking to by administration. I, luckily, only ever had good experiences, except for one Gen-Ed nutrition class that was a nightmare. No reason to report, though. My school was pretty good about hiring good professors, for the most part. One got fired for sleeping with a student, I believe.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Can you just hire academics for research contracts and such? Is that considered reasonable or rude? I work as an assistant for a wealthy tech guy who often goes on weird tangents. He spends a lot of money satisfying his curiosity on various things, whether it be books (or shelves for the books), courses, or consultants for the things you can get consultants in. He recently saw a video on food fraud, read a label on a box in a restaurant for a fish he couldn't find on the menu, and now wants to go find someone at the local university to go run DNA tests on one of each dish from that restaurant as he wants to see if he is right. He has a slate of other things he is curious about but I have convinced him to hold off on those for now. I know that the news people did it, but are professors and academics ok with random citizens trying to hire them for these kinds of tests? He isn't a cheapskate or anything and is willing to spend thousands on this question, I am just not sure if they want to be distracted from their research with these kinds of proposals.
RESPONSE A: This is hilarious.
RESPONSE B: At my university, one of our bio profs had his gen Ed science class do that exact experiment at a local restaurant. As long as he’ll fund it, someone is probably willing to do it. He’ll just have to ask around.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Can you just hire academics for research contracts and such? Is that considered reasonable or rude? I work as an assistant for a wealthy tech guy who often goes on weird tangents. He spends a lot of money satisfying his curiosity on various things, whether it be books (or shelves for the books), courses, or consultants for the things you can get consultants in. He recently saw a video on food fraud, read a label on a box in a restaurant for a fish he couldn't find on the menu, and now wants to go find someone at the local university to go run DNA tests on one of each dish from that restaurant as he wants to see if he is right. He has a slate of other things he is curious about but I have convinced him to hold off on those for now. I know that the news people did it, but are professors and academics ok with random citizens trying to hire them for these kinds of tests? He isn't a cheapskate or anything and is willing to spend thousands on this question, I am just not sure if they want to be distracted from their research with these kinds of proposals.
RESPONSE A: This is hilarious.
RESPONSE B: I’m just commenting to say I used to work in a similar position as you are and your question makes me miss it. Hope you are enjoying the never ending puzzles to piece together!
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: Can you just hire academics for research contracts and such? Is that considered reasonable or rude? I work as an assistant for a wealthy tech guy who often goes on weird tangents. He spends a lot of money satisfying his curiosity on various things, whether it be books (or shelves for the books), courses, or consultants for the things you can get consultants in. He recently saw a video on food fraud, read a label on a box in a restaurant for a fish he couldn't find on the menu, and now wants to go find someone at the local university to go run DNA tests on one of each dish from that restaurant as he wants to see if he is right. He has a slate of other things he is curious about but I have convinced him to hold off on those for now. I know that the news people did it, but are professors and academics ok with random citizens trying to hire them for these kinds of tests? He isn't a cheapskate or anything and is willing to spend thousands on this question, I am just not sure if they want to be distracted from their research with these kinds of proposals.
RESPONSE A: Very unlikely. It doesn't help us achieve the things we need to for our jobs (research, teaching, service), and frankly running the DNA on a fish from a restaurant is just downright strange. This isn't something he, or you, should waste anyone's time with. Some faculty do take on contract or consulting work, but that's generally for prestigious or public service type things (testifying in Congress, working with a foundation to review grants, giving public lectures to your community, etc). It would be very strange for an individual to contact a professor and ask to pay them for research, and most faculty would probably have an internal chuckle -- especially at the fish email -- and delete it.
RESPONSE B: This is hilarious.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Can you just hire academics for research contracts and such? Is that considered reasonable or rude? I work as an assistant for a wealthy tech guy who often goes on weird tangents. He spends a lot of money satisfying his curiosity on various things, whether it be books (or shelves for the books), courses, or consultants for the things you can get consultants in. He recently saw a video on food fraud, read a label on a box in a restaurant for a fish he couldn't find on the menu, and now wants to go find someone at the local university to go run DNA tests on one of each dish from that restaurant as he wants to see if he is right. He has a slate of other things he is curious about but I have convinced him to hold off on those for now. I know that the news people did it, but are professors and academics ok with random citizens trying to hire them for these kinds of tests? He isn't a cheapskate or anything and is willing to spend thousands on this question, I am just not sure if they want to be distracted from their research with these kinds of proposals.
RESPONSE A: This is hilarious.
RESPONSE B: I'd argue that yes, you can hire academics to do this kind of work. Obviously it depends a lot on the university set-up etc but plenty carry out contract work, it's not uncommon for academics to have side businesses ran within the university for this kind of thing or to chase their own ventures. It might not fund a PhD student or a year with a post doc but I reckon you could easily have an undergraduate carry out the work (supervised) on a summer placement for that amount of money. Absolute worst case is you get referred to a friend or associate who can & will carry out the work in a non-academic institution. The hard part is getting someone to actually read/respond to an email like this.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: just hire academics for research contracts and such? Is that considered reasonable or rude? I work as an assistant for a wealthy tech guy who often goes on weird tangents. He spends a lot of money satisfying his curiosity on various things, whether it be books (or shelves for the books), courses, or consultants for the things you can get consultants in. He recently saw a video on food fraud, read a label on a box in a restaurant for a fish he couldn't find on the menu, and now wants to go find someone at the local university to go run DNA tests on one of each dish from that restaurant as he wants to see if he is right. He has a slate of other things he is curious about but I have convinced him to hold off on those for now. I know that the news people did it, but are professors and academics ok with random citizens trying to hire them for these kinds of tests? He isn't a cheapskate or anything and is willing to spend thousands on this question, I am just not sure if they want to be distracted from their research with these kinds of proposals.
RESPONSE A: Very unlikely. It doesn't help us achieve the things we need to for our jobs (research, teaching, service), and frankly running the DNA on a fish from a restaurant is just downright strange. This isn't something he, or you, should waste anyone's time with. Some faculty do take on contract or consulting work, but that's generally for prestigious or public service type things (testifying in Congress, working with a foundation to review grants, giving public lectures to your community, etc). It would be very strange for an individual to contact a professor and ask to pay them for research, and most faculty would probably have an internal chuckle -- especially at the fish email -- and delete it.
RESPONSE B: I think you could do this--this is consulting work. There might be problems with using the university lab for it (or maybe not?) but in my discipline (economics) it is common for professors to do consulting expert work, which is what this sounds like. Expect it to be expensive ($500+ per hour, plus expenses), but I think it would be doable.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Is it normal to feel nervous sharing research? I guess a branch of imposter syndrome? I'm expecting to have my first journal paper from my PhD accepted soon. Is it normal to feel like I don't want to tell anyone once it's confirmed in case they read it and find a lot of mistakes? I'm scared I'm accidentally a fraud, rather like when you go through airport security and are scared that you accidentally packed 3kg of cocaine and an AK47. I guess feeling this way is like imposter syndrome?
RESPONSE A: Look at this guy, he just assumes someone is going to read his paper. But for real, don’t worry about it.
RESPONSE B: Yes, it's normal. Don't worry about it too much if you can and congratulations on getting your research published!
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Is it normal to feel nervous sharing research? I guess a branch of imposter syndrome? I'm expecting to have my first journal paper from my PhD accepted soon. Is it normal to feel like I don't want to tell anyone once it's confirmed in case they read it and find a lot of mistakes? I'm scared I'm accidentally a fraud, rather like when you go through airport security and are scared that you accidentally packed 3kg of cocaine and an AK47. I guess feeling this way is like imposter syndrome?
RESPONSE A: Look at this guy, he just assumes someone is going to read his paper. But for real, don’t worry about it.
RESPONSE B: Oh my goodness yes, this is totally normal (unfortunately). I still tend to hold my breath rereading my work, even if it’s accepted and published and everything! Worry not, I think everyone feels this way.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: Is it normal to feel nervous sharing research? I guess a branch of imposter syndrome? I'm expecting to have my first journal paper from my PhD accepted soon. Is it normal to feel like I don't want to tell anyone once it's confirmed in case they read it and find a lot of mistakes? I'm scared I'm accidentally a fraud, rather like when you go through airport security and are scared that you accidentally packed 3kg of cocaine and an AK47. I guess feeling this way is like imposter syndrome?
RESPONSE A: Yes, it's normal. Don't worry about it too much if you can and congratulations on getting your research published!
RESPONSE B: If you aren't sure if you are senior enough to be suffering from real imposter sydrome... that's a pretty good sign of imposter syndrome!
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Is it normal to feel nervous sharing research? I guess a branch of imposter syndrome? I'm expecting to have my first journal paper from my PhD accepted soon. Is it normal to feel like I don't want to tell anyone once it's confirmed in case they read it and find a lot of mistakes? I'm scared I'm accidentally a fraud, rather like when you go through airport security and are scared that you accidentally packed 3kg of cocaine and an AK47. I guess feeling this way is like imposter syndrome?
RESPONSE A: don't worry, the paper was reviewed by peers. And you have a few editors from the journal check it out as well. Not to mention co-authors. It is impossible that there are a lot of mistakes. congrats on getting published. You are now "one of us". one of us one of us
RESPONSE B: Post your pub here! I'd love to read it -- I'm sure it is fantastic!
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: What are some must reads for scientists in the STEM fields? Here is a list of books and resources that have greatly helped me in terms of research as well as personal development. Please add any material or resources to the list so we can curate this content in either the form of a post here or a wiki for the benefit of everyone reading this. Resources can be in the form of a TED talk, blog post, book or podcast. Cheers! ​ Blogs - http://phdcomics.com/ https://advicetoascientist.com/ https://robotics.mit.edu/ Books - Ego is the Enemy - Ryan Holiday How Not to Be Wrong - Jordan Ellenberg Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach The Craft of Research - Wayne C. Booth
RESPONSE A: THE POPULATION DENSITY OF MONSTERS IN LOCH NESS 1 RW Sheldon, Stephen R Kerr Limnology and Oceanography 17 (5), 796-798, 1972
RESPONSE B: The immortal life of Henrietta lacks
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: What are some must reads for scientists in the STEM fields? Here is a list of books and resources that have greatly helped me in terms of research as well as personal development. Please add any material or resources to the list so we can curate this content in either the form of a post here or a wiki for the benefit of everyone reading this. Resources can be in the form of a TED talk, blog post, book or podcast. Cheers! ​ Blogs - http://phdcomics.com/ https://advicetoascientist.com/ https://robotics.mit.edu/ Books - Ego is the Enemy - Ryan Holiday How Not to Be Wrong - Jordan Ellenberg Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach The Craft of Research - Wayne C. Booth
RESPONSE A: The immortal life of Henrietta lacks
RESPONSE B: A PhD is not enough - Feibelman
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: What are some must reads for scientists in the STEM fields? Here is a list of books and resources that have greatly helped me in terms of research as well as personal development. Please add any material or resources to the list so we can curate this content in either the form of a post here or a wiki for the benefit of everyone reading this. Resources can be in the form of a TED talk, blog post, book or podcast. Cheers! ​ Blogs - http://phdcomics.com/ https://advicetoascientist.com/ https://robotics.mit.edu/ Books - Ego is the Enemy - Ryan Holiday How Not to Be Wrong - Jordan Ellenberg Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach The Craft of Research - Wayne C. Booth
RESPONSE A: The immortal life of Henrietta lacks
RESPONSE B: Letters to a young scientist - E. O. Wilson Dazzle 'em with Style : The Art of Oral Scientific Presentation - Robert Anholt Visual Display of Quantitative Information - Edward Tufte How to win friends and influence people - Dale Carnegie The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship - Stephen Potter On Bullshit - Harry G. Frankfurt
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: What are some must reads for scientists in the STEM fields? Here is a list of books and resources that have greatly helped me in terms of research as well as personal development. Please add any material or resources to the list so we can curate this content in either the form of a post here or a wiki for the benefit of everyone reading this. Resources can be in the form of a TED talk, blog post, book or podcast. Cheers! ​ Blogs - http://phdcomics.com/ https://advicetoascientist.com/ https://robotics.mit.edu/ Books - Ego is the Enemy - Ryan Holiday How Not to Be Wrong - Jordan Ellenberg Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach The Craft of Research - Wayne C. Booth
RESPONSE A: Ever tool is a hammer by Adam Savage. Good memoir about his job as a creator and finding his own methods as well as important Lance of organization and collaboration
RESPONSE B: The immortal life of Henrietta lacks
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: What are some must reads for scientists in the STEM fields? Here is a list of books and resources that have greatly helped me in terms of research as well as personal development. Please add any material or resources to the list so we can curate this content in either the form of a post here or a wiki for the benefit of everyone reading this. Resources can be in the form of a TED talk, blog post, book or podcast. Cheers! ​ Blogs - http://phdcomics.com/ https://advicetoascientist.com/ https://robotics.mit.edu/ Books - Ego is the Enemy - Ryan Holiday How Not to Be Wrong - Jordan Ellenberg Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach The Craft of Research - Wayne C. Booth
RESPONSE A: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn. The book is the one that coined the phrase "paradigm shift," but it's not a book about corporate speak (as that term has come to be utilized), but the nature of and diminution of past forms of scientific knowledge.
RESPONSE B: THE POPULATION DENSITY OF MONSTERS IN LOCH NESS 1 RW Sheldon, Stephen R Kerr Limnology and Oceanography 17 (5), 796-798, 1972
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: How often does research work go down the drain just because of a silly human error? Something as silly as testing the baseline on wrong data, performing wide variety of highly diverse amd incomparable tests. How often does that happen in the field and what were the consequences? I haven't had a lot of experience in research, but was curious.
RESPONSE A: Mistakes happen all the time in research. This is part of the reason everything is repeated and controls are included in your design.
RESPONSE B: In my undergraduate research, I accidentally led a few grad students down a rabbit hole of what seemed to be incredible interesting results... Turns out I had just mislabeled the sample and nothing interesting had actually happened. The result was a week of wasted efforts and my PI asked I give a short presentation during group meeting on the importance of labeling samples correctly and good organization. I imagine situations like that probably happen everyday.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: How often does research work go down the drain just because of a silly human error? Something as silly as testing the baseline on wrong data, performing wide variety of highly diverse amd incomparable tests. How often does that happen in the field and what were the consequences? I haven't had a lot of experience in research, but was curious.
RESPONSE A: In my undergraduate research, I accidentally led a few grad students down a rabbit hole of what seemed to be incredible interesting results... Turns out I had just mislabeled the sample and nothing interesting had actually happened. The result was a week of wasted efforts and my PI asked I give a short presentation during group meeting on the importance of labeling samples correctly and good organization. I imagine situations like that probably happen everyday.
RESPONSE B: It’s very common. In my lab we routinely set up new behavioral assays for our animals, and we never totally know how to measure what we want - or what will affect the animals in unpredictable ways - until we’ve done the experiment a few different ways at least. I’ve spent a good portion of my PhD just working through stuff like that. Stupid things like, “Why are my animals climbing the walls, omg.” The consequences of things like that are usually just that we keep trying until we come up with a reliable protocol that makes sense from a biological and statistical standpoint.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: How often does research work go down the drain just because of a silly human error? Something as silly as testing the baseline on wrong data, performing wide variety of highly diverse amd incomparable tests. How often does that happen in the field and what were the consequences? I haven't had a lot of experience in research, but was curious.
RESPONSE A: I would say it is quite common. The really sad thing is when people don't catch it or catch it too late that their graduation/paper/defense depends on pretending they don't see it.
RESPONSE B: A friend of mine wasted almost 2 years of lab time as a doctoral student because an undergrad fucked up labeling some reagents and forged some documents to cover it up instead of just fessing up to it. Does that count?
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: How often does research work go down the drain just because of a silly human error? Something as silly as testing the baseline on wrong data, performing wide variety of highly diverse amd incomparable tests. How often does that happen in the field and what were the consequences? I haven't had a lot of experience in research, but was curious.
RESPONSE A: I worked in the lab for many years we used to say you could tell the quality of the research by the size of the eraser on the researchers pencil. If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance baffle them with bullshit.
RESPONSE B: A friend of mine wasted almost 2 years of lab time as a doctoral student because an undergrad fucked up labeling some reagents and forged some documents to cover it up instead of just fessing up to it. Does that count?
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: How often does research work go down the drain just because of a silly human error? Something as silly as testing the baseline on wrong data, performing wide variety of highly diverse amd incomparable tests. How often does that happen in the field and what were the consequences? I haven't had a lot of experience in research, but was curious.
RESPONSE A: I had an undergrad who made a bunch of data collection packets and didn't copy the second side of some pencil-and-paper test we were giving. We had to toss the test for enough participants that there wasn't adequate power to use it at all in the experiment. Ugh.
RESPONSE B: A friend of mine wasted almost 2 years of lab time as a doctoral student because an undergrad fucked up labeling some reagents and forged some documents to cover it up instead of just fessing up to it. Does that count?
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: How did the 2008 economic crisis affect academia? Since we might very soon enter an economic crisis due to corona virus, I’m curious about how academia would change.
RESPONSE A: Lots of people who had grants for years did not get grants.
RESPONSE B: We got totally wiped out. It was the fucking apocalypse. Hiring dropped to zero. Everywhere. Overnight. The market was fucking flooded as people permanently on the margins got downsized out. Postdocs were cancelled outright. Teaching only options dried up. A large spike in PhDs were just being awarded between 2002-2012 and essentially none of them got jobs anywhere. Check that scissor deviation after 2008. It was a fucking bloodbath and we really haven't recovered.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: How did the 2008 economic crisis affect academia? Since we might very soon enter an economic crisis due to corona virus, I’m curious about how academia would change.
RESPONSE A: We got totally wiped out. It was the fucking apocalypse. Hiring dropped to zero. Everywhere. Overnight. The market was fucking flooded as people permanently on the margins got downsized out. Postdocs were cancelled outright. Teaching only options dried up. A large spike in PhDs were just being awarded between 2002-2012 and essentially none of them got jobs anywhere. Check that scissor deviation after 2008. It was a fucking bloodbath and we really haven't recovered.
RESPONSE B: We’ve seen the effects of the overall downturn already. With the associated drop in the birth rate, high school graduate count has been roughly flat over the last few years, and is projected to decrease steadily over the next few years. Fewer high school graduates = fewer college freshmen.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Those who got their PhD in hopes of becoming professors, but couldn't find a job, what are you doing now? I know this is a broad question as certain fields have better opportunities than others do. Still the academic job market is tough and not everybody will succeed in landing the coveted tenure-track position.
RESPONSE A: Joined the Army. Seriously. Ph.D biochemists are a thing in AMEDD.
RESPONSE B: Rotting on the vine at a miserable and worthless postdoc!
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Those who got their PhD in hopes of becoming professors, but couldn't find a job, what are you doing now? I know this is a broad question as certain fields have better opportunities than others do. Still the academic job market is tough and not everybody will succeed in landing the coveted tenure-track position.
RESPONSE A: Joined the Army. Seriously. Ph.D biochemists are a thing in AMEDD.
RESPONSE B: Librarian in charge of developing something at my new institution. This thing was strictly a side interest while I was doing my Ph.D.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Those who got their PhD in hopes of becoming professors, but couldn't find a job, what are you doing now? I know this is a broad question as certain fields have better opportunities than others do. Still the academic job market is tough and not everybody will succeed in landing the coveted tenure-track position.
RESPONSE A: Joined the Army. Seriously. Ph.D biochemists are a thing in AMEDD.
RESPONSE B: Studying law, hoping for an IP job with a good salary.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: "Nobody reads dissertations after the defense" - is this still broadly true? I remember hearing that dissertations are rarely read after the defense even before going to graduate school and, baring some field specific exceptions (e.g., mathematics), continued to hear the same thing. However, since finishing my dissertation I've noticed that the metrics from the library and sites like Research Gate seem to demonstrate the opposite - people are reading the dissertation as well as others that I know. Hundreds to thousands of views and downloads doesn't seem to be that uncommon. Is it time to retire the presumption that nobody will read the dissertation after the defense, or is something else going on that's tricking the stats? Off hand I would presume that digital archiving has actually make it easier to retrieve a dissertation so we might be in an era were people actually read the things.
RESPONSE A: My research area is fairly fast-paced and quickly-changing so dissertations tend to be some of the most current research on it. So I do read a lot of dissertations and have cited quite a few in my work but I don't know that that's the norm.
RESPONSE B: Given the state of what I submitted, I sincerely hope so!
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: "Nobody reads dissertations after the defense" - is this still broadly true? I remember hearing that dissertations are rarely read after the defense even before going to graduate school and, baring some field specific exceptions (e.g., mathematics), continued to hear the same thing. However, since finishing my dissertation I've noticed that the metrics from the library and sites like Research Gate seem to demonstrate the opposite - people are reading the dissertation as well as others that I know. Hundreds to thousands of views and downloads doesn't seem to be that uncommon. Is it time to retire the presumption that nobody will read the dissertation after the defense, or is something else going on that's tricking the stats? Off hand I would presume that digital archiving has actually make it easier to retrieve a dissertation so we might be in an era were people actually read the things.
RESPONSE A: It's pretty rare to read them in my field, though I did recently get an alert that someone cited my 8 year old dissertation.
RESPONSE B: My research area is fairly fast-paced and quickly-changing so dissertations tend to be some of the most current research on it. So I do read a lot of dissertations and have cited quite a few in my work but I don't know that that's the norm.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: "Nobody reads dissertations after the defense" - is this still broadly true? I remember hearing that dissertations are rarely read after the defense even before going to graduate school and, baring some field specific exceptions (e.g., mathematics), continued to hear the same thing. However, since finishing my dissertation I've noticed that the metrics from the library and sites like Research Gate seem to demonstrate the opposite - people are reading the dissertation as well as others that I know. Hundreds to thousands of views and downloads doesn't seem to be that uncommon. Is it time to retire the presumption that nobody will read the dissertation after the defense, or is something else going on that's tricking the stats? Off hand I would presume that digital archiving has actually make it easier to retrieve a dissertation so we might be in an era were people actually read the things.
RESPONSE A: I have only read 70% of 1 dissertation and 50% of another in my time as a phd student. ​ Reading sections might not be that uncommon if it's on google scholar. An entire dissertation I think would be. Just because people have limited time and lots of papers to read and it is unlikely an entire dissertation is relevant to their research.
RESPONSE B: It's pretty rare to read them in my field, though I did recently get an alert that someone cited my 8 year old dissertation.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: "Nobody reads dissertations after the defense" - is this still broadly true? I remember hearing that dissertations are rarely read after the defense even before going to graduate school and, baring some field specific exceptions (e.g., mathematics), continued to hear the same thing. However, since finishing my dissertation I've noticed that the metrics from the library and sites like Research Gate seem to demonstrate the opposite - people are reading the dissertation as well as others that I know. Hundreds to thousands of views and downloads doesn't seem to be that uncommon. Is it time to retire the presumption that nobody will read the dissertation after the defense, or is something else going on that's tricking the stats? Off hand I would presume that digital archiving has actually make it easier to retrieve a dissertation so we might be in an era were people actually read the things.
RESPONSE A: It's pretty rare to read them in my field, though I did recently get an alert that someone cited my 8 year old dissertation.
RESPONSE B: I have not published my dissertation as a book--my research has moved mostly in different directions since I defended, and while I'm still working on some of the artists who I wrote about in it, my approach has changed. Anyway, I've had 4-5 direct requests for a copy in the four years since I've defended, which isn't a ton but also isn't nothing. If a scholar hasn't (yet) published their dissertation as a book but it still makes a useful or interesting contribution to the field I will absolutely cite it in my own work. This is especially prevalent with relatively minor artists, for whom there is not a lot of published material.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: "Nobody reads dissertations after the defense" - is this still broadly true? I remember hearing that dissertations are rarely read after the defense even before going to graduate school and, baring some field specific exceptions (e.g., mathematics), continued to hear the same thing. However, since finishing my dissertation I've noticed that the metrics from the library and sites like Research Gate seem to demonstrate the opposite - people are reading the dissertation as well as others that I know. Hundreds to thousands of views and downloads doesn't seem to be that uncommon. Is it time to retire the presumption that nobody will read the dissertation after the defense, or is something else going on that's tricking the stats? Off hand I would presume that digital archiving has actually make it easier to retrieve a dissertation so we might be in an era were people actually read the things.
RESPONSE A: I'm in applied math. It is probably true that nobody reads them. My master's thesis is getting alot of reads on Research Gate, but as far as I can tell it is most likely just some kind of bots. You can't really trust read metrics, you need to look at citations instead.
RESPONSE B: It's pretty rare to read them in my field, though I did recently get an alert that someone cited my 8 year old dissertation.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: Bad teaching evaluations :( I am a first-time grad TA and just got some pretty bad teaching evaluations (3.2/5, a whole point lower than average) from a group of 8 students. A couple of the students said I was a nice person but it seemed that I didn't understand the material I was teaching, which really surprised me as I understand the course material very thoroughly and checked in with them often during class asking questions such as "does everyone understand?". One of the students commented that I had told them I didn't understand the material myself, which is false. However, at some point I said something along the lines of "don't worry, I also didn't understand this right away the first time I learned it" in an attempt to be encouraging to them. Based on these reviews, I think I need to work on my teaching and explanation skills and projecting more confidence/stuttering less going forward, and will definitely take this feedback to heart to improve! I am worried my new advisor (who was the prof on the course) will think worse of my intelligence or doubt me if he reads these and believes I don't understand the basic material from the class I TAd for him. Do you think I should bring it up to him during our next meeting, or just not mention it and address it if it comes up? For professors: if you were the advisor of your TA, how concerned would you be over this kind of thing?
RESPONSE A: I started out at 3.9 / 5 and now average 4.7 / 5 so it just takes some time yo.
RESPONSE B: A suggestion is to never ask the question, "does everyone understand?" Those that do might nod their heads. Those that don't and don't know that they don't might nod their heads. And those that don't and know they don't might still nod their heads. Anyway, student evals don't mean much and are known to be highly biased. So don't worry about it, especially with such a small sample size. But like most first timers at anything, you probably do need to work on your skills. You'll get better over time.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Bad teaching evaluations :( I am a first-time grad TA and just got some pretty bad teaching evaluations (3.2/5, a whole point lower than average) from a group of 8 students. A couple of the students said I was a nice person but it seemed that I didn't understand the material I was teaching, which really surprised me as I understand the course material very thoroughly and checked in with them often during class asking questions such as "does everyone understand?". One of the students commented that I had told them I didn't understand the material myself, which is false. However, at some point I said something along the lines of "don't worry, I also didn't understand this right away the first time I learned it" in an attempt to be encouraging to them. Based on these reviews, I think I need to work on my teaching and explanation skills and projecting more confidence/stuttering less going forward, and will definitely take this feedback to heart to improve! I am worried my new advisor (who was the prof on the course) will think worse of my intelligence or doubt me if he reads these and believes I don't understand the basic material from the class I TAd for him. Do you think I should bring it up to him during our next meeting, or just not mention it and address it if it comes up? For professors: if you were the advisor of your TA, how concerned would you be over this kind of thing?
RESPONSE A: A suggestion is to never ask the question, "does everyone understand?" Those that do might nod their heads. Those that don't and don't know that they don't might nod their heads. And those that don't and know they don't might still nod their heads. Anyway, student evals don't mean much and are known to be highly biased. So don't worry about it, especially with such a small sample size. But like most first timers at anything, you probably do need to work on your skills. You'll get better over time.
RESPONSE B: How many out of 8 filled it out though? If there’re just 3 or 4 I wouldn’t worry about it. Too small sample size.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Based on these reviews, I think I need to work on my teaching and explanation skills and projecting more confidence/stuttering less going forward, and will definitely take this feedback to heart to improve! I am worried my new advisor (who was the prof on the course) will think worse of my intelligence or doubt me if he reads these and believes I don't understand the basic material from the class I TAd for him. Do you think I should bring it up to him during our next meeting, or just not mention it and address it if it comes up? For professors: if you were the advisor of your TA, how concerned would you be over this kind of thing?
RESPONSE A: Is there any chance you are: \- a woman \- young (looking) \- not white \- uncomfortable being authoritarian? These things can all impact evals apparently. The only one that I now think isn't quite unfair, is the last one. When I started teaching, my institution told me that 'you're like a peer instructor almost except that you know much more - you only need to guide your students on their own path through the literature' etcetera. Well that was a really cool thought, but I've since learned that students are far more comfortable and trusting when you sometimes present like you are the authority and know better. It's easier for everyone. If they are professional and kind enough, you could easily talk about this with the course coordinator. This happens all the time, and you can ask these same questions of them. How can it happen that students think I don't know, when I do know? Evaluations are weird though, and everybody knows this. How are undergrads supposed to gauge your expertise in a topic that is new to them? Don't worry too much. Your teaching may not come across as you want it yet, that is pretty normal. But maybe you just got a weird set of evaluations. N = 8 so it's hard to tell, right?
RESPONSE B: depends on your field, but in mine nobody cares about teaching evals (especially for small classes early on), so try to improve but don’t worry too much, everybody knows it’s tough the first time
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: intelligence or doubt me if he reads these and believes I don't understand the basic material from the class I TAd for him. Do you think I should bring it up to him during our next meeting, or just not mention it and address it if it comes up? For professors: if you were the advisor of your TA, how concerned would you be over this kind of thing?
RESPONSE A: The first time I TAd for a class, the class had many tests and the bookwork was extensive so I made study guides for the tests. I barely conversed with the students. I put my energy into the study guides. Overall, this lead to a higher class average and I feel less stress on the students. I learned that if I gave the students a path to success they would learn the material and perform better on the tests, my professor would be happy and the class would be better overall.
RESPONSE B: Is there any chance you are: \- a woman \- young (looking) \- not white \- uncomfortable being authoritarian? These things can all impact evals apparently. The only one that I now think isn't quite unfair, is the last one. When I started teaching, my institution told me that 'you're like a peer instructor almost except that you know much more - you only need to guide your students on their own path through the literature' etcetera. Well that was a really cool thought, but I've since learned that students are far more comfortable and trusting when you sometimes present like you are the authority and know better. It's easier for everyone. If they are professional and kind enough, you could easily talk about this with the course coordinator. This happens all the time, and you can ask these same questions of them. How can it happen that students think I don't know, when I do know? Evaluations are weird though, and everybody knows this. How are undergrads supposed to gauge your expertise in a topic that is new to them? Don't worry too much. Your teaching may not come across as you want it yet, that is pretty normal. But maybe you just got a weird set of evaluations. N = 8 so it's hard to tell, right?
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: What's an extremely important term for your field that even people in your field still struggle to confidently define? "Infrastructure" is definitely one for me.
RESPONSE A: We're still debating the field itself (communications)
RESPONSE B: In vivo and in vitro. Does in vitro mean in a test tube and in vivo means in cell Culture? Is it only in vivo if it's in an animal model?? Is cell culture a weird gray area between in vitro and in vivo??? Why do we even use these words anyway
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: What's an extremely important term for your field that even people in your field still struggle to confidently define? "Infrastructure" is definitely one for me.
RESPONSE A: In vivo and in vitro. Does in vitro mean in a test tube and in vivo means in cell Culture? Is it only in vivo if it's in an animal model?? Is cell culture a weird gray area between in vitro and in vivo??? Why do we even use these words anyway
RESPONSE B: Wanna cause a fight in a faculty meeting? Ask which music qualifies as “art.”
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: What's an extremely important term for your field that even people in your field still struggle to confidently define? "Infrastructure" is definitely one for me.
RESPONSE A: Entropy. Such a huge and important concept in physics, thermodynamics, and engineering, to the degree that it has it's own conservation law, but nobody can ever seem to define it, and so we always resort of metaphor and allegory. We use all sorts of esoteric and sorcerous terminology like "chaos" and "disorder" to get the layman to stop asking questions about it, because trying to pin down what it *precisely* is makes our brains do a big sad. Hilariously, it's also quite straightforward to use in actual classical thermodynamic modeling to get things that are actually totally understandable (e.g. temperature). In contrast, the polar opposite is momentum; trivially easy to understand, to the degree that every single toddler develops an understanding of how momentum works in the process of learning how to walk, but modeling it is a colossal pain in the ass unless you're the kind of person who gets *really* turned on by material derivatives.
RESPONSE B: Constitution and republic (early modern history)
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: What's an extremely important term for your field that even people in your field still struggle to confidently define? "Infrastructure" is definitely one for me.
RESPONSE A: "Brand" in marketing. Or anything having to do with it, like brand equity.
RESPONSE B: Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science. I don't think I've ever seen a definition that satisfies all aspects of what AI is today.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: What's an extremely important term for your field that even people in your field still struggle to confidently define? "Infrastructure" is definitely one for me.
RESPONSE A: "Brand" in marketing. Or anything having to do with it, like brand equity.
RESPONSE B: Macroeconomics. (Source: I am a macroeconomist.)
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Harassment from student - avenues for reporting? Hope this is the right forum to ask this in--but was wondering if anyone has experience reporting an undergraduate for harassment? I am a teaching assistant (a grad student) and have experienced fairly serious sexual harassment from an undergrad in one of my classes. Someone in my department told me that undergrads cannot be reported for sexual harassment because instructors have the power in the relationship. Anyone done this before, or know if things go differently when the accused party is an undergrad re Title IX?
RESPONSE A: 100000% false that undergrads cannot be reported for sexual harassment. Sexual harassment does not go away because of power imbalances. If you are being sexually harassed you need to report it immediately to Title IX sand to your department chair. You should ask that this student be immediately removed from your class. If your university has a behavioral intervention team, report there, too. I would also reach out to the Dean of Students and ask for their assistance in helping you achieve a harassment-free workplace.
RESPONSE B: Yes, a student can still be reported for sexual harassment. The power dynamic doesn't negate their culpability for their actions.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: Harassment from student - avenues for reporting? Hope this is the right forum to ask this in--but was wondering if anyone has experience reporting an undergraduate for harassment? I am a teaching assistant (a grad student) and have experienced fairly serious sexual harassment from an undergrad in one of my classes. Someone in my department told me that undergrads cannot be reported for sexual harassment because instructors have the power in the relationship. Anyone done this before, or know if things go differently when the accused party is an undergrad re Title IX?
RESPONSE A: Don't listen to them. You need to contact student affairs (Title X is sometimes housed there), chair, and course instructor at the same time to report this. Do not let people talk you into not reporting.
RESPONSE B: I am an Associate Professor who had something sort of like this occur to me. I stepped in REALLY quick and reported it, first to our Center for Academic Success and then our Title IX person. I was really impressed at how they handled it, with good outcomes all around. Point being, YES students can sexually harass instructors and YES report report report! Consider reporting to your department chair as well. You do NOT need to be subject to this!
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Harassment from student - avenues for reporting? Hope this is the right forum to ask this in--but was wondering if anyone has experience reporting an undergraduate for harassment? I am a teaching assistant (a grad student) and have experienced fairly serious sexual harassment from an undergrad in one of my classes. Someone in my department told me that undergrads cannot be reported for sexual harassment because instructors have the power in the relationship. Anyone done this before, or know if things go differently when the accused party is an undergrad re Title IX?
RESPONSE A: I am an Associate Professor who had something sort of like this occur to me. I stepped in REALLY quick and reported it, first to our Center for Academic Success and then our Title IX person. I was really impressed at how they handled it, with good outcomes all around. Point being, YES students can sexually harass instructors and YES report report report! Consider reporting to your department chair as well. You do NOT need to be subject to this!
RESPONSE B: Sexual harassment is sexual harassment regardless of who does it - student, TA, professor, staff etc. This is surely a tough thing to process but you can start by speaking with the professor for whom you’re TAing if you’re comfortable letting them know - be aware they are mandatory Title IX reporters. If you have any other trusted peers or professors you could also speak with them to get more information about steps to take or just get the support you need. Alternatively, go to the Title IX Coordinator and make a complaint immediately - often times this can be done online and anonymously depending on how you want to proceed. Another, possibility is to also contact local law enforcement and file a criminal complaint - especially if you feel threatened or physically unsafe. On a side note, I’d start making a list of anyone who was present and/or notes about what happened.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Harassment from student - avenues for reporting? Hope this is the right forum to ask this in--but was wondering if anyone has experience reporting an undergraduate for harassment? I am a teaching assistant (a grad student) and have experienced fairly serious sexual harassment from an undergrad in one of my classes. Someone in my department told me that undergrads cannot be reported for sexual harassment because instructors have the power in the relationship. Anyone done this before, or know if things go differently when the accused party is an undergrad re Title IX?
RESPONSE A: To understand how fatally flawed that logic is…If that were true then I could sexual harass people in upper administration without concern for being charged with sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is sexual harassment and should be reported to the Title IX office.
RESPONSE B: Don't listen to them. You need to contact student affairs (Title X is sometimes housed there), chair, and course instructor at the same time to report this. Do not let people talk you into not reporting.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: Harassment from student - avenues for reporting? Hope this is the right forum to ask this in--but was wondering if anyone has experience reporting an undergraduate for harassment? I am a teaching assistant (a grad student) and have experienced fairly serious sexual harassment from an undergrad in one of my classes. Someone in my department told me that undergrads cannot be reported for sexual harassment because instructors have the power in the relationship. Anyone done this before, or know if things go differently when the accused party is an undergrad re Title IX?
RESPONSE A: Sexual harassment is sexual harassment regardless of who does it - student, TA, professor, staff etc. This is surely a tough thing to process but you can start by speaking with the professor for whom you’re TAing if you’re comfortable letting them know - be aware they are mandatory Title IX reporters. If you have any other trusted peers or professors you could also speak with them to get more information about steps to take or just get the support you need. Alternatively, go to the Title IX Coordinator and make a complaint immediately - often times this can be done online and anonymously depending on how you want to proceed. Another, possibility is to also contact local law enforcement and file a criminal complaint - especially if you feel threatened or physically unsafe. On a side note, I’d start making a list of anyone who was present and/or notes about what happened.
RESPONSE B: To understand how fatally flawed that logic is…If that were true then I could sexual harass people in upper administration without concern for being charged with sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is sexual harassment and should be reported to the Title IX office.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: pivot and is saying that from his assessment of me, it seems I just want a technical, stable career but not a PhD-level career. He highlighted that we’re not burning bridges, and that he’s going to connect to his alums and try to network me some opportunities but I really just feel terrible. It’s like getting laid off or being told “you don’t have what it takes”. What routes do I have? It may seem childish but I really would like to do a stint in industry, come back around and get a PhD, and have a killer academic career (perhaps out of spite), but that’s just one avenue. What possible careers do you know is looking for entry-level MS Pharm-Tox? Most job searching sites seem to highlight PhD employment or many years of experience. At this point I’m a bit sad, and not too picky. I was originally hoping to be part of the pipeline for DMPK or regulatory tox, but now I’m just looking for a job because mastering out would be done in about a month. I just want to be somewhere in science doing good work :( I’d like to return to academia eventually, but my PI highlighted some real poignant truths. I’m interested in PhD level work, but just am not *as* passionate as my peers, and I don’t have some of the hands-on research go-getter attitudes. I’d like to find a way to get experience and circle back.
RESPONSE A: Your pi is being very honest with you, sounds like they like you as a person, but might only be interested in training academia oriented PhDs. No, I don't think your PI is being 'toxic'. Talk to other people in the department. A third party perspective on career counseling really can help. Also, if you need a bridge position until you can get a job, your PI might be willing to hire you as a research assistant for several months. Obviously, I have no idea of the financials of the lab.
RESPONSE B: Lololol omg so much shaming at people who master out. Sometimes better things happen when you search for new doors ;)
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: pivot and is saying that from his assessment of me, it seems I just want a technical, stable career but not a PhD-level career. He highlighted that we’re not burning bridges, and that he’s going to connect to his alums and try to network me some opportunities but I really just feel terrible. It’s like getting laid off or being told “you don’t have what it takes”. What routes do I have? It may seem childish but I really would like to do a stint in industry, come back around and get a PhD, and have a killer academic career (perhaps out of spite), but that’s just one avenue. What possible careers do you know is looking for entry-level MS Pharm-Tox? Most job searching sites seem to highlight PhD employment or many years of experience. At this point I’m a bit sad, and not too picky. I was originally hoping to be part of the pipeline for DMPK or regulatory tox, but now I’m just looking for a job because mastering out would be done in about a month. I just want to be somewhere in science doing good work :( I’d like to return to academia eventually, but my PI highlighted some real poignant truths. I’m interested in PhD level work, but just am not *as* passionate as my peers, and I don’t have some of the hands-on research go-getter attitudes. I’d like to find a way to get experience and circle back.
RESPONSE A: If you want to get into regulatory toxicology, expect the EPA to be hiring to accommodate all the planned spending of this administration. I suspect industry will expand as well.
RESPONSE B: Your pi is being very honest with you, sounds like they like you as a person, but might only be interested in training academia oriented PhDs. No, I don't think your PI is being 'toxic'. Talk to other people in the department. A third party perspective on career counseling really can help. Also, if you need a bridge position until you can get a job, your PI might be willing to hire you as a research assistant for several months. Obviously, I have no idea of the financials of the lab.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: a number of complications. I joined the lab in Jan 2020 and then COVID, and then a family member passed away. Ultimately a lot of rough stuff. Thankfully, the PI in question was very understanding around all that. But in spite of that, I haven’t produced the research that demonstrates the “passion” that’s required in academia. He wants me to pivot and is saying that from his assessment of me, it seems I just want a technical, stable career but not a PhD-level career. He highlighted that we’re not burning bridges, and that he’s going to connect to his alums and try to network me some opportunities but I really just feel terrible. It’s like getting laid off or being told “you don’t have what it takes”. What routes do I have? It may seem childish but I really would like to do a stint in industry, come back around and get a PhD, and have a killer academic career (perhaps out of spite), but that’s just one avenue. What possible careers do you know is looking for entry-level MS Pharm-Tox? Most job searching sites seem to highlight PhD employment or many years of experience. At this point I’m a bit sad, and not too picky. I was originally hoping to be part of the pipeline for DMPK or regulatory tox, but now I’m just looking for a job because mastering out would be done in about a month. I just want to be somewhere in science doing good work :( I’d like to return to academia eventually, but my PI highlighted some real poignant truths. I’m interested in PhD level work, but just am not *as* passionate as my peers, and I don’t have some of the hands-on research go-getter attitudes. I’d like to find a way to get experience and circle back.
RESPONSE A: If you want to get into regulatory toxicology, expect the EPA to be hiring to accommodate all the planned spending of this administration. I suspect industry will expand as well.
RESPONSE B: Lololol omg so much shaming at people who master out. Sometimes better things happen when you search for new doors ;)
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: that from his assessment of me, it seems I just want a technical, stable career but not a PhD-level career. He highlighted that we’re not burning bridges, and that he’s going to connect to his alums and try to network me some opportunities but I really just feel terrible. It’s like getting laid off or being told “you don’t have what it takes”. What routes do I have? It may seem childish but I really would like to do a stint in industry, come back around and get a PhD, and have a killer academic career (perhaps out of spite), but that’s just one avenue. What possible careers do you know is looking for entry-level MS Pharm-Tox? Most job searching sites seem to highlight PhD employment or many years of experience. At this point I’m a bit sad, and not too picky. I was originally hoping to be part of the pipeline for DMPK or regulatory tox, but now I’m just looking for a job because mastering out would be done in about a month. I just want to be somewhere in science doing good work :( I’d like to return to academia eventually, but my PI highlighted some real poignant truths. I’m interested in PhD level work, but just am not *as* passionate as my peers, and I don’t have some of the hands-on research go-getter attitudes. I’d like to find a way to get experience and circle back.
RESPONSE A: Your PI seems like a good person who is looking out for you. Most PIs would rather have an average, even below average PhD student than no PhD student at all. I did a good PhD in a medical science field but due to a combination of factors, mostly that my academic pedigree isn't blowing anyone away, I'm not really in research anymore. I'm lucky to have found a good professional scientist job but probably didn't need a PhD for it and the opportunity cost of getting it may have been better spent elsewhere.
RESPONSE B: If you want to get into regulatory toxicology, expect the EPA to be hiring to accommodate all the planned spending of this administration. I suspect industry will expand as well.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: know is looking for entry-level MS Pharm-Tox? Most job searching sites seem to highlight PhD employment or many years of experience. At this point I’m a bit sad, and not too picky. I was originally hoping to be part of the pipeline for DMPK or regulatory tox, but now I’m just looking for a job because mastering out would be done in about a month. I just want to be somewhere in science doing good work :( I’d like to return to academia eventually, but my PI highlighted some real poignant truths. I’m interested in PhD level work, but just am not *as* passionate as my peers, and I don’t have some of the hands-on research go-getter attitudes. I’d like to find a way to get experience and circle back.
RESPONSE A: As others have said, ask yourself what you want. If you feel you didn’t get a fair shake due to the extraordinary circumstances of the past year, then consider discussing how things could be improved I’m the next 6-12 months. This might include changing how often you meet, setting more realistic deadlines, etc. Alternatively, you could try change labs either in your school/department or master-out in your current position and apply to a PhD position elsewhere. Note that an LoR from your PI would be difficult in this scenario. Also worth considering is the PI’s record with students. Are they junior faculty? Or have they supervised many MS and PhD students over one or two decades? If the former, frankly I’d weight their opinion less. If the latter, then it’s likely we’ll-informed advice.
RESPONSE B: Your PI seems like a good person who is looking out for you. Most PIs would rather have an average, even below average PhD student than no PhD student at all. I did a good PhD in a medical science field but due to a combination of factors, mostly that my academic pedigree isn't blowing anyone away, I'm not really in research anymore. I'm lucky to have found a good professional scientist job but probably didn't need a PhD for it and the opportunity cost of getting it may have been better spent elsewhere.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: I agreed to discuss research with a student but after a few meetings I want him to go away This student has adopted the strange strategy of using technical words that he doesn't understand, and as a result most of his statements are nonsense. Normally I'm quite patient but I can't stand this guy. He was already rejected by one research group (slowly and painfully, with funding as an excuse). Please help me with some phrasings or general advice for saying no to students (keeping in mind it is a small department with 10 incoming students per year, I am a new professor with funding and not many students, etc so I can't just tell white lies).
RESPONSE A: Maybe just be honest? Just say “based on our interactions and what we’ve discussed, it doesn’t seem like you are too familiar with the topic. If you can discuss the research clearly and without any errors, I could take you on. But as of now, you are using a lot of these terms incorrectly which is a concern for me. I would like people in my lab to have a solid understanding of the material first. Come back in a semester or two after reading through the relevant literature and we can talk about it” Cause honesty, if someone is just spouting nonsense using jargon that’s completely wrong (which may fly with their non ~~neuroscience~~ research friends), then someone more educated needs to call them out on their bullshit or they’ll keep believing they’re right. My issue is that I’m not 100% certain the technical words I think is right is actually right, so I do the opposite and say “thingy” or describe it poorly and say I forget the term. Then when I hear someone say the actual term and it was the same one I had in my head earlier, I just feel like an idiot cause I should have just been more confident and now look stupid in front of my peers. Edit: for some reason I thought this was under /r/neuroscience
RESPONSE B: Sorry I don’t have any advice but out of curiosity could you give an example of what he says, I picture it being hilarious and very cringey
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: I agreed to discuss research with a student but after a few meetings I want him to go away This student has adopted the strange strategy of using technical words that he doesn't understand, and as a result most of his statements are nonsense. Normally I'm quite patient but I can't stand this guy. He was already rejected by one research group (slowly and painfully, with funding as an excuse). Please help me with some phrasings or general advice for saying no to students (keeping in mind it is a small department with 10 incoming students per year, I am a new professor with funding and not many students, etc so I can't just tell white lies).
RESPONSE A: Here's what my very helpful early mentors did with me: they had me do a lit review. They gave me papers relevant to their research to get me started, asked me to find at least the same number of related papers, and had me write summaries. Then they had me come in and talk to them about what I'd read, and summarized. If he can't hold a reasonably competent conversation with you after that, which he may well not if he's as insufferable as he sounds, I suggest telling him that he's not ready because he just doesn't have the background understanding yet.
RESPONSE B: Sorry I don’t have any advice but out of curiosity could you give an example of what he says, I picture it being hilarious and very cringey
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: I agreed to discuss research with a student but after a few meetings I want him to go away This student has adopted the strange strategy of using technical words that he doesn't understand, and as a result most of his statements are nonsense. Normally I'm quite patient but I can't stand this guy. He was already rejected by one research group (slowly and painfully, with funding as an excuse). Please help me with some phrasings or general advice for saying no to students (keeping in mind it is a small department with 10 incoming students per year, I am a new professor with funding and not many students, etc so I can't just tell white lies).
RESPONSE A: Just tell the student that you don't see him as making a suitable addition to your research team based on his understanding of the topic at hand and that you have decided to begin assessing other candidates' aptitude for the position. Of course, you can be as frank or as tactful as you desire with the exact phrasing because you really don't owe him a damn thing other than the decency of being truthful with him. It is far better in my experience to risk his initial--and quite temporary--disappointment than to have the timeline of your research or your group's interactions affected by someone you perceive as a potential liability.
RESPONSE B: Here's what my very helpful early mentors did with me: they had me do a lit review. They gave me papers relevant to their research to get me started, asked me to find at least the same number of related papers, and had me write summaries. Then they had me come in and talk to them about what I'd read, and summarized. If he can't hold a reasonably competent conversation with you after that, which he may well not if he's as insufferable as he sounds, I suggest telling him that he's not ready because he just doesn't have the background understanding yet.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: I agreed to discuss research with a student but after a few meetings I want him to go away This student has adopted the strange strategy of using technical words that he doesn't understand, and as a result most of his statements are nonsense. Normally I'm quite patient but I can't stand this guy. He was already rejected by one research group (slowly and painfully, with funding as an excuse). Please help me with some phrasings or general advice for saying no to students (keeping in mind it is a small department with 10 incoming students per year, I am a new professor with funding and not many students, etc so I can't just tell white lies).
RESPONSE A: “It’s a shame this didn’t work out, but sometimes you’ve just got to regress the standard errors of a Bonferonni comparison into a validated jackknife logit amirite? Well anyway good luck to ya.”
RESPONSE B: Just tell the student that you don't see him as making a suitable addition to your research team based on his understanding of the topic at hand and that you have decided to begin assessing other candidates' aptitude for the position. Of course, you can be as frank or as tactful as you desire with the exact phrasing because you really don't owe him a damn thing other than the decency of being truthful with him. It is far better in my experience to risk his initial--and quite temporary--disappointment than to have the timeline of your research or your group's interactions affected by someone you perceive as a potential liability.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: How many pages was your PhD dissertation? Please comment on your specific discipline, below!
RESPONSE A: Fuck. Why did I sign up for a PhD.
RESPONSE B: 302, from cover to cover (Chemistry). As my advisor once said "A dissertation is as long as it needs to be. No more, no less." ​ Edit: added field
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: How many pages was your PhD dissertation? Please comment on your specific discipline, below!
RESPONSE A: 302, from cover to cover (Chemistry). As my advisor once said "A dissertation is as long as it needs to be. No more, no less." ​ Edit: added field
RESPONSE B: 285 pages, including the bibliography. English / Humanities.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: How many pages was your PhD dissertation? Please comment on your specific discipline, below!
RESPONSE A: 302, from cover to cover (Chemistry). As my advisor once said "A dissertation is as long as it needs to be. No more, no less." ​ Edit: added field
RESPONSE B: 113, psychology.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: How many pages was your PhD dissertation? Please comment on your specific discipline, below!
RESPONSE A: 176 pages. Chemistry. Edit: My advisor prefers brief and to the point theses.
RESPONSE B: 302, from cover to cover (Chemistry). As my advisor once said "A dissertation is as long as it needs to be. No more, no less." ​ Edit: added field
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: How many pages was your PhD dissertation? Please comment on your specific discipline, below!
RESPONSE A: 302, from cover to cover (Chemistry). As my advisor once said "A dissertation is as long as it needs to be. No more, no less." ​ Edit: added field
RESPONSE B: I can’t recall at the moment but I think around 130-160 cover to cover; discipline is linguistics.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: How to clean up messy dissertation after depression? I wasn't able to work properly on it due to depression. I was prescribed some emergency medication yesterday that will at least help me sleep okay which makes a lot of difference. I have 7k words and need 13k. What I have isn't great work - it's often incoherent passages with poor syntax as I didn't manage to work on it for a long time, sadly. Please don't judge me. I don't want to defer it, I'd rather get it done with and then focus on my healing. Can I fix this? I only have 13 days until I have to hand it in. If I need to prioritise parts of it, should it be on coherence / conclusion?
RESPONSE A: Gently, don't compound one mistake with another. You're in the middle of dealing with a mental health issue that has derailed the progress of your dissertation, which is less than half written. You should ask for an extension to the deadline. That shouldn't mean delaying for a significant period or missing this graduation window, but giving yourself another 2 or 3 weeks would be sensible. Pushing yourself for a highly unrealistic deadline, simply because you don't want to ask for more help is just negating the help you've already received. I disagree that 14 days to write the bulk of your thesis when you're unwell is enough time. The university gave you a longer period because it didn't believe the work could be done in less time. Plus you'll make yourself more unwell. Your career, including your degree is a marathon not a sprint and you need to be able to pace yourself for the duration, not burn out in a blaze of semi-glory which takes months to come back from.
RESPONSE B: If you can take a sick leave that would be better for your health and for the dissertation. Speak with your supervisor.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: How to clean up messy dissertation after depression? I wasn't able to work properly on it due to depression. I was prescribed some emergency medication yesterday that will at least help me sleep okay which makes a lot of difference. I have 7k words and need 13k. What I have isn't great work - it's often incoherent passages with poor syntax as I didn't manage to work on it for a long time, sadly. Please don't judge me. I don't want to defer it, I'd rather get it done with and then focus on my healing. Can I fix this? I only have 13 days until I have to hand it in. If I need to prioritise parts of it, should it be on coherence / conclusion?
RESPONSE A: Coherence is definitely a priority to focus on. If this is really important, you may want to hire an editor to help you out.
RESPONSE B: It doesn’t have to be good. It has to be good enough. Only 4 people will ever read it. The best dissertation is a completed one, and it sounds like you just need some quality editing. If you have $100 get an editor who can turn it around quickly.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Is it possible to have a kid with someone who is only just about to start his PhD? My partner (27M) and I (28F) have talked about having children every so often, and yesterday he broke down when I said we may not be able to have a kid given I'll be the only one providing the income. He'll be starting his PhD late this year, and he won't be well funded. Given his response though, I'm willing to reconsider my thoughts on this. I guess this is more a question to PhDs and those who came before us - is it financially/mentally viable to have a child given I'll have to bear a child and also provide the income for it? Im only willing to have one in the next 5 years (before I hit 33). I suspect having a child will take me out of work for at least a year as well. I'm not sure how much pressure this would put on my partner's PhD as well but I'd love to get different perspectives on the struggles and whether it was worth doing from others. Thanks!
RESPONSE A: There were several married couples with kids in grad school. They were not able to pull 14 hour days in the lab, like I was, but they wasted a lot less time than I did. If you're serious and mature, you can make it work.
RESPONSE B: I think it really depends on where you live and the specifics of your partner’s program. I decided to do a Phd because in my case it offered a much better work/life balance compared to an industry job, so I could have more time with my kid. I am almost 3 years in, and, so far, it hasn’t been stressful at all. I have a very understanding supervisor, and I am making decent money teaching in addition to my PhD scholarship. However, I’ve heard that PhDs are way more stressful in US.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: Is it possible to have a kid with someone who is only just about to start his PhD? My partner (27M) and I (28F) have talked about having children every so often, and yesterday he broke down when I said we may not be able to have a kid given I'll be the only one providing the income. He'll be starting his PhD late this year, and he won't be well funded. Given his response though, I'm willing to reconsider my thoughts on this. I guess this is more a question to PhDs and those who came before us - is it financially/mentally viable to have a child given I'll have to bear a child and also provide the income for it? Im only willing to have one in the next 5 years (before I hit 33). I suspect having a child will take me out of work for at least a year as well. I'm not sure how much pressure this would put on my partner's PhD as well but I'd love to get different perspectives on the struggles and whether it was worth doing from others. Thanks!
RESPONSE A: PhDs require huge sacrifices, both monetary aand otherwise. One of those sacrifices is often starting a family. If the finances aren't viable... you either drop the phd or drop the kid. Sometimes you can't do both. It's a hard pill to swallow for many.
RESPONSE B: There were several married couples with kids in grad school. They were not able to pull 14 hour days in the lab, like I was, but they wasted a lot less time than I did. If you're serious and mature, you can make it work.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Is it possible to have a kid with someone who is only just about to start his PhD? My partner (27M) and I (28F) have talked about having children every so often, and yesterday he broke down when I said we may not be able to have a kid given I'll be the only one providing the income. He'll be starting his PhD late this year, and he won't be well funded. Given his response though, I'm willing to reconsider my thoughts on this. I guess this is more a question to PhDs and those who came before us - is it financially/mentally viable to have a child given I'll have to bear a child and also provide the income for it? Im only willing to have one in the next 5 years (before I hit 33). I suspect having a child will take me out of work for at least a year as well. I'm not sure how much pressure this would put on my partner's PhD as well but I'd love to get different perspectives on the struggles and whether it was worth doing from others. Thanks!
RESPONSE A: There were several married couples with kids in grad school. They were not able to pull 14 hour days in the lab, like I was, but they wasted a lot less time than I did. If you're serious and mature, you can make it work.
RESPONSE B: I had two kids when I started my PhD and four by the time I finished. Combination of PhD stipend, loans, and government assistance got us through. Tough but definitely worth it.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: Is it possible to have a kid with someone who is only just about to start his PhD? My partner (27M) and I (28F) have talked about having children every so often, and yesterday he broke down when I said we may not be able to have a kid given I'll be the only one providing the income. He'll be starting his PhD late this year, and he won't be well funded. Given his response though, I'm willing to reconsider my thoughts on this. I guess this is more a question to PhDs and those who came before us - is it financially/mentally viable to have a child given I'll have to bear a child and also provide the income for it? Im only willing to have one in the next 5 years (before I hit 33). I suspect having a child will take me out of work for at least a year as well. I'm not sure how much pressure this would put on my partner's PhD as well but I'd love to get different perspectives on the struggles and whether it was worth doing from others. Thanks!
RESPONSE A: I have a PhD (39F) and I would not recommend having a kid when one of you is getting a PhD and the person who has the capacity to make money may want to take extensive time off of work. There is so much mental and emotional energy goes into it a PhD — same with a small child. I worry that you both may end up feeling alienated and resentful that the other partner doesn’t have enough time to give. I had our daughter when I was early tenure track and it was the hardest time of my life by far, both in what was required of me to handle on all fronts, as well as the emotional and hormonal craziness of pregnancy and postpartum. I would say to your husband— forget the PhD and find a nice two year program to go to school for a steady job.
RESPONSE B: There were several married couples with kids in grad school. They were not able to pull 14 hour days in the lab, like I was, but they wasted a lot less time than I did. If you're serious and mature, you can make it work.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: other grad/PhD students in his department 3. Is currently in a relationship with a PhD student What would happen if I maybe sent the ethics committee an email? Obviously #1 is public record but I’m not sure they ever put the pieces together. Hypothetically this person has been at the same university the whole time. I’m not really worried about what happens to the male professor but I also don’t want anything to happen to the hypothetical imaginary women involved or have their degrees impacted. It's all been consensual to my knowledge but still.
RESPONSE A: Likely the institution would open an investigation. If in the US, this will be handled by the Title 9 office who will issue sanctions if they find evidence
RESPONSE B: I disagree with the above posters—if you file a report, even leaving out some names or without direct evidence, many Title IX offices will feel compelled to open an investigation. They have legal obligations to protect employees and students from harm, including quid pro quo sexual harassment. Depending on the details, this may all be legal and not a violation of university policy; it could be fully consensual on both sides, with the students outside of his chain of supervision and disclosed to his supervisors. But if not, this could easily be a policy violation that would lead to discipline for him. Whether that is good or bad for the current/former students might vary—but if this is ongoing conduct where he is abusing his power, the university must think about the interests of his future victims as well as about the need to deter similar actions by other faculty. With all that said, Title IX offices vary widely in terms of their professionalism and seriousness, and it isn’t impossible that this would get blown off at some schools. Just know that that isn’t necessarily the norm anymore, and schools do face legal pressures to take these kind of reports quite seriously. Source: I’m a law prof, and my wife used to do Title IX investigations. She was involved in cases very similar to this, and recommended discipline against tenured profs who engaged in relations with students, when those students subsequently maintained that their consent wasn’t fully voluntary, but was in fact at least a partial result of the power imbalance.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: two other grad/PhD students in his department 3. Is currently in a relationship with a PhD student What would happen if I maybe sent the ethics committee an email? Obviously #1 is public record but I’m not sure they ever put the pieces together. Hypothetically this person has been at the same university the whole time. I’m not really worried about what happens to the male professor but I also don’t want anything to happen to the hypothetical imaginary women involved or have their degrees impacted. It's all been consensual to my knowledge but still.
RESPONSE A: I disagree with the above posters—if you file a report, even leaving out some names or without direct evidence, many Title IX offices will feel compelled to open an investigation. They have legal obligations to protect employees and students from harm, including quid pro quo sexual harassment. Depending on the details, this may all be legal and not a violation of university policy; it could be fully consensual on both sides, with the students outside of his chain of supervision and disclosed to his supervisors. But if not, this could easily be a policy violation that would lead to discipline for him. Whether that is good or bad for the current/former students might vary—but if this is ongoing conduct where he is abusing his power, the university must think about the interests of his future victims as well as about the need to deter similar actions by other faculty. With all that said, Title IX offices vary widely in terms of their professionalism and seriousness, and it isn’t impossible that this would get blown off at some schools. Just know that that isn’t necessarily the norm anymore, and schools do face legal pressures to take these kind of reports quite seriously. Source: I’m a law prof, and my wife used to do Title IX investigations. She was involved in cases very similar to this, and recommended discipline against tenured profs who engaged in relations with students, when those students subsequently maintained that their consent wasn’t fully voluntary, but was in fact at least a partial result of the power imbalance.
RESPONSE B: Nothing will happen. I literally know of a person with a similiar history. I mean, they might become chair of some other department?
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: grad student under his supervision 2. Had affairs with at least two other grad/PhD students in his department 3. Is currently in a relationship with a PhD student What would happen if I maybe sent the ethics committee an email? Obviously #1 is public record but I’m not sure they ever put the pieces together. Hypothetically this person has been at the same university the whole time. I’m not really worried about what happens to the male professor but I also don’t want anything to happen to the hypothetical imaginary women involved or have their degrees impacted. It's all been consensual to my knowledge but still.
RESPONSE A: Likely the institution would open an investigation. If in the US, this will be handled by the Title 9 office who will issue sanctions if they find evidence
RESPONSE B: Why would you want to be involved in this? I highly doubt the marriage is an issue at all. This happens all the time in academia. Different academic institutions have different policies regarding relationships between faculty, staff, and students. If this professor has a direct supervisory role over the student, then that is probably an issue. If not, then its likely not something the University will want to get involved in. Moreover, if you do it anonymously, then it will really seem like it was an aggrieved party, and might cause some blowback from the professor onto the student. Maybe this seems unlikely to you, but what if you are wrong? Regarding the affairs, is it causing issues that would make it your business? Are these students getting preferential treatment in their classes? Are you being threatened for knowing? Or are you just wanting to call out a bad actor? Not everyone has the same notion about what a relationship should look like, and who knows what these people are up to. You could really really mess up the students', professor's, and his wife's lives by getting involved, even if no policy was actually broken. This really seems like not your business with a low chance of reward, and a high chance of things going sideways for people other than yourself. Anyway, if the cheating is as bad as you think, and its known widely enough such that uninvolved people know, then it seems extremely unlikely to not blow up in this persons face naturally.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: grad student under his supervision 2. Had affairs with at least two other grad/PhD students in his department 3. Is currently in a relationship with a PhD student What would happen if I maybe sent the ethics committee an email? Obviously #1 is public record but I’m not sure they ever put the pieces together. Hypothetically this person has been at the same university the whole time. I’m not really worried about what happens to the male professor but I also don’t want anything to happen to the hypothetical imaginary women involved or have their degrees impacted. It's all been consensual to my knowledge but still.
RESPONSE A: Why would you want to be involved in this? I highly doubt the marriage is an issue at all. This happens all the time in academia. Different academic institutions have different policies regarding relationships between faculty, staff, and students. If this professor has a direct supervisory role over the student, then that is probably an issue. If not, then its likely not something the University will want to get involved in. Moreover, if you do it anonymously, then it will really seem like it was an aggrieved party, and might cause some blowback from the professor onto the student. Maybe this seems unlikely to you, but what if you are wrong? Regarding the affairs, is it causing issues that would make it your business? Are these students getting preferential treatment in their classes? Are you being threatened for knowing? Or are you just wanting to call out a bad actor? Not everyone has the same notion about what a relationship should look like, and who knows what these people are up to. You could really really mess up the students', professor's, and his wife's lives by getting involved, even if no policy was actually broken. This really seems like not your business with a low chance of reward, and a high chance of things going sideways for people other than yourself. Anyway, if the cheating is as bad as you think, and its known widely enough such that uninvolved people know, then it seems extremely unlikely to not blow up in this persons face naturally.
RESPONSE B: Nothing will happen. I literally know of a person with a similiar history. I mean, they might become chair of some other department?
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Why is an European PhD considered shorter than an American PhD when an American PhD is really a Masters + PhD? Most European PhD programs require a Master's degree, which takes 1-3 years, whereas an American PhD can be started after a Bachelor's degree. So even if an American PhD is typically 5 years, shouldn't it be regarded as 2+3 years, thus essentially being the same in length as a 3-year European PhD? But why do so many people perceive European programs as shorter?
RESPONSE A: Because in the US if you do a Masters' and a PhD you are still expected to take 4+ years to do your PhD. And the "MSc+PhD" is often 6+ years long. So any way you cut it it tends to be longer than in europe.
RESPONSE B: A few reasons that I can think of: \- In many European countries, a PhD had a deadline. It's 3, sometimes 4 years. But the date is set from the beginning. In the US, your supervisor decides when they want to let you graduate. That usually doesn't happen in Europe in my experience. \- Depending on if you count the UK as 'European', they can also go straight from undergrad to PhD, and still only have a 3 years PhD. \- If you do a 1-year Masters, followed by a 3-year PhD, that is still much shorter than the average US PhD. \*edit: I should point out that my experience is with scientific PhDs. I don't know if other fields are different.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: Why is an European PhD considered shorter than an American PhD when an American PhD is really a Masters + PhD? Most European PhD programs require a Master's degree, which takes 1-3 years, whereas an American PhD can be started after a Bachelor's degree. So even if an American PhD is typically 5 years, shouldn't it be regarded as 2+3 years, thus essentially being the same in length as a 3-year European PhD? But why do so many people perceive European programs as shorter?
RESPONSE A: Probably because many Americans are used to their system and don’t know how European universities work. The only people I have seen claiming European PhDs are shorter were either from USA or Canada.
RESPONSE B: Because in the US if you do a Masters' and a PhD you are still expected to take 4+ years to do your PhD. And the "MSc+PhD" is often 6+ years long. So any way you cut it it tends to be longer than in europe.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Why is an European PhD considered shorter than an American PhD when an American PhD is really a Masters + PhD? Most European PhD programs require a Master's degree, which takes 1-3 years, whereas an American PhD can be started after a Bachelor's degree. So even if an American PhD is typically 5 years, shouldn't it be regarded as 2+3 years, thus essentially being the same in length as a 3-year European PhD? But why do so many people perceive European programs as shorter?
RESPONSE A: Because in the US if you do a Masters' and a PhD you are still expected to take 4+ years to do your PhD. And the "MSc+PhD" is often 6+ years long. So any way you cut it it tends to be longer than in europe.
RESPONSE B: I think it's because 2+3>3.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: Why is an European PhD considered shorter than an American PhD when an American PhD is really a Masters + PhD? Most European PhD programs require a Master's degree, which takes 1-3 years, whereas an American PhD can be started after a Bachelor's degree. So even if an American PhD is typically 5 years, shouldn't it be regarded as 2+3 years, thus essentially being the same in length as a 3-year European PhD? But why do so many people perceive European programs as shorter?
RESPONSE A: Probably because many Americans are used to their system and don’t know how European universities work. The only people I have seen claiming European PhDs are shorter were either from USA or Canada.
RESPONSE B: A few reasons that I can think of: \- In many European countries, a PhD had a deadline. It's 3, sometimes 4 years. But the date is set from the beginning. In the US, your supervisor decides when they want to let you graduate. That usually doesn't happen in Europe in my experience. \- Depending on if you count the UK as 'European', they can also go straight from undergrad to PhD, and still only have a 3 years PhD. \- If you do a 1-year Masters, followed by a 3-year PhD, that is still much shorter than the average US PhD. \*edit: I should point out that my experience is with scientific PhDs. I don't know if other fields are different.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: How do I study and retain information from papers and books that I read on my computer? Sorry for the wordy question, but I'm at my wit's end. My go-to method while studying is reading a book, and underlining the important stuff with a pencil. Since I am a Math student, I practice all of the formulae and proofs on a separate rough page that I discard once I understand it. If there is anything that I need to add, I do so in the margins of the book with a pencil. Or in a separate notebook, if the book is a borrowed one. My question is, given the sheer necessity of reading so many papers for a single topic, I download them and read them on my computer via Foxit reader. However, for some reason, I find this extremely difficult. I have trouble even going through two pages at a time, and it's even more difficult to retain information as I'm not that comfortable with underlining stuff using those pdf highlighters. Could anyone just please please suggest some alternative? Distraction is not a problem, it's just the reading and remembering stuff that is. It'll really be helpful since it's undoubtedly more economical to read papers online (like reading 5-6 papers only to prove a single topic) Thank you genuinely in advance!
RESPONSE A: 100% get an ipad/tablet/whatever with a bluetooth pen and use something like goodnotes. It's changed studying for me forever. And you can organise everything into folders for easy access, which is so helpful.
RESPONSE B: I read papers with an iPad Pro and annotate with the Apple Pencil in GoodNotes. Works well for me, particularly since everything is nicely searchable and it’s easy to create citations.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: How do I study and retain information from papers and books that I read on my computer? Sorry for the wordy question, but I'm at my wit's end. My go-to method while studying is reading a book, and underlining the important stuff with a pencil. Since I am a Math student, I practice all of the formulae and proofs on a separate rough page that I discard once I understand it. If there is anything that I need to add, I do so in the margins of the book with a pencil. Or in a separate notebook, if the book is a borrowed one. My question is, given the sheer necessity of reading so many papers for a single topic, I download them and read them on my computer via Foxit reader. However, for some reason, I find this extremely difficult. I have trouble even going through two pages at a time, and it's even more difficult to retain information as I'm not that comfortable with underlining stuff using those pdf highlighters. Could anyone just please please suggest some alternative? Distraction is not a problem, it's just the reading and remembering stuff that is. It'll really be helpful since it's undoubtedly more economical to read papers online (like reading 5-6 papers only to prove a single topic) Thank you genuinely in advance!
RESPONSE A: 100% get an ipad/tablet/whatever with a bluetooth pen and use something like goodnotes. It's changed studying for me forever. And you can organise everything into folders for easy access, which is so helpful.
RESPONSE B: There are e ink monitors that kind of look like a kindle (they're a bit expensive but might be worth it). You could try this to see if it helps with eye strain/comprehension: https://justgetflux.com/
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: How do I study and retain information from papers and books that I read on my computer? Sorry for the wordy question, but I'm at my wit's end. My go-to method while studying is reading a book, and underlining the important stuff with a pencil. Since I am a Math student, I practice all of the formulae and proofs on a separate rough page that I discard once I understand it. If there is anything that I need to add, I do so in the margins of the book with a pencil. Or in a separate notebook, if the book is a borrowed one. My question is, given the sheer necessity of reading so many papers for a single topic, I download them and read them on my computer via Foxit reader. However, for some reason, I find this extremely difficult. I have trouble even going through two pages at a time, and it's even more difficult to retain information as I'm not that comfortable with underlining stuff using those pdf highlighters. Could anyone just please please suggest some alternative? Distraction is not a problem, it's just the reading and remembering stuff that is. It'll really be helpful since it's undoubtedly more economical to read papers online (like reading 5-6 papers only to prove a single topic) Thank you genuinely in advance!
RESPONSE A: Try MaxQDA or NVivo. They really do their job well
RESPONSE B: My go-to method for research papers is just taking a print. For books I use Acrobat Pro and use the highlight and comment feature.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: How do I study and retain information from papers and books that I read on my computer? Sorry for the wordy question, but I'm at my wit's end. My go-to method while studying is reading a book, and underlining the important stuff with a pencil. Since I am a Math student, I practice all of the formulae and proofs on a separate rough page that I discard once I understand it. If there is anything that I need to add, I do so in the margins of the book with a pencil. Or in a separate notebook, if the book is a borrowed one. My question is, given the sheer necessity of reading so many papers for a single topic, I download them and read them on my computer via Foxit reader. However, for some reason, I find this extremely difficult. I have trouble even going through two pages at a time, and it's even more difficult to retain information as I'm not that comfortable with underlining stuff using those pdf highlighters. Could anyone just please please suggest some alternative? Distraction is not a problem, it's just the reading and remembering stuff that is. It'll really be helpful since it's undoubtedly more economical to read papers online (like reading 5-6 papers only to prove a single topic) Thank you genuinely in advance!
RESPONSE A: I use OneNote to highlight portions that I find important, write in the margins of the document, and if I have to combine information from multiple documents for an outline I will open another tab and type the notes there.
RESPONSE B: I've been using /r/obsidianmd for a couple of months and I'm pretty happy with it.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: How do I study and retain information from papers and books that I read on my computer? Sorry for the wordy question, but I'm at my wit's end. My go-to method while studying is reading a book, and underlining the important stuff with a pencil. Since I am a Math student, I practice all of the formulae and proofs on a separate rough page that I discard once I understand it. If there is anything that I need to add, I do so in the margins of the book with a pencil. Or in a separate notebook, if the book is a borrowed one. My question is, given the sheer necessity of reading so many papers for a single topic, I download them and read them on my computer via Foxit reader. However, for some reason, I find this extremely difficult. I have trouble even going through two pages at a time, and it's even more difficult to retain information as I'm not that comfortable with underlining stuff using those pdf highlighters. Could anyone just please please suggest some alternative? Distraction is not a problem, it's just the reading and remembering stuff that is. It'll really be helpful since it's undoubtedly more economical to read papers online (like reading 5-6 papers only to prove a single topic) Thank you genuinely in advance!
RESPONSE A: Try MaxQDA or NVivo. They really do their job well
RESPONSE B: I've been using /r/obsidianmd for a couple of months and I'm pretty happy with it.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: I've just submitted my PhD thesis. I really don't know what to feel. Is that it? I spent four years working towards this document, and now it's completely out of my hands. Where do I go from here? Should I turn up at the office on Monday and start writing papers? How did you all feel when you submitted?
RESPONSE A: Congrats! What a great accomplishment! I don’t remember how I felt when I turned mine in honestly. Just wanted to say make sure you take some time for yourself this weekend!
RESPONSE B: Congratulations! I felt exactly as you describe. It’s extremely common to feel that way when you reach a milestone you have been working toward so single-mindedly for so long. I encourage you to take a break, if you can, and reconnect with yourself and the things that bring you joy. Go sit in a park. Go for a bicycle ride or a hike. Watch a movie. Go on a trip. Hang out with a friend. Do anything except work on the next paper, at least for a little while.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: I've just submitted my PhD thesis. I really don't know what to feel. Is that it? I spent four years working towards this document, and now it's completely out of my hands. Where do I go from here? Should I turn up at the office on Monday and start writing papers? How did you all feel when you submitted?
RESPONSE A: Congrats! What a great accomplishment! I don’t remember how I felt when I turned mine in honestly. Just wanted to say make sure you take some time for yourself this weekend!
RESPONSE B: Congrats! I think when I submitted mine, I went for a drink with my SO. The anxiety took probably a day or two to go away since I had been so focused, it took awhile for the brain to realize it was done. I didn't do much in the lab after that cause my paper had been submitted and I wasn't going to start a new project. Other than helping out some lab mates, I just cleaned my area up in preparation of leaving. But enjoy this time and take the time to relax and have some fun! Congrats again!
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: I've just submitted my PhD thesis. I really don't know what to feel. Is that it? I spent four years working towards this document, and now it's completely out of my hands. Where do I go from here? Should I turn up at the office on Monday and start writing papers? How did you all feel when you submitted?
RESPONSE A: congrats! and here is a little tidbit you might not know. They wouldn't have let you submit the thesis if you were not going to pass the defense of it.
RESPONSE B: I submitted mine to my committee today too. I have to go in for data collection tomorrow :/
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: . I want to pursue it in library science (technically communications and information science with a focus on library and information science) not to work as an academic. I want to go for it because I love this field and I want to learn more about it and share what I've learned through publishing. I'm not doing it because I think I will make more money. I want to hone my research skills - I work with researchers, and I would enjoy knowing more about the high-level research they do that leads to publishing, which I hope I would get in my grad classes. Am I being realistic or am I looking at a doctoral degree and the years of crazy work through rose-colored glasses?
RESPONSE A: `not doing it because I think I will make more money.` You will take a huge pay cut entering grad school from the position you currently have. `I want to hone my research skills - I work with researchers, and I would enjoy knowing more about the high-level research they do that leads to publishing` Do you have colleagues with PhDs in this field? You can easily develop those skills without leaving your job, taking a paycut, and potentially shelling money for your PhD. ​ I see you're passionate about your profession, and PhDs are huge accomplishments to achieve. At the same time, not everyone should pursue a PhD because of a multitude of personal, financial, extenuating factors. Its up to you to determine the pros and cons and whether its right for you. I always encourage everyone to pursue their dreams, but don't forget to grasp the reality of pursuing those dreams. Best suggestion is working/talking with someone who has a PhD in the area you wish to pursue and get their input.
RESPONSE B: The advice I have always given is this: If you can see yourself being happy without getting a PhD, you should just go that route. If you can only see yourself being happy after getting a PhD, well, it doesn't really matter what I think, does it? Even though I also left academia, I don't at all regret my mathematics PhD. Still, part of me wishes I could've been happy without it. It would've been a much easier path to take.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: m not doing it because I think I will make more money. I want to hone my research skills - I work with researchers, and I would enjoy knowing more about the high-level research they do that leads to publishing, which I hope I would get in my grad classes. Am I being realistic or am I looking at a doctoral degree and the years of crazy work through rose-colored glasses?
RESPONSE A: The advice I have always given is this: If you can see yourself being happy without getting a PhD, you should just go that route. If you can only see yourself being happy after getting a PhD, well, it doesn't really matter what I think, does it? Even though I also left academia, I don't at all regret my mathematics PhD. Still, part of me wishes I could've been happy without it. It would've been a much easier path to take.
RESPONSE B: I don't think this is a good reason to go for a Ph.D. You can do everything you want on your own, technically. Do you already work at an academic institution with a grad program? You can grab syllabi of interesting classes, and then just work your way though the reading lists. You can do this without the pressure of assignments, comprehensive exams, writing a dissertation, etc. If you have broad interests within Lib & Info Sci, then a Ph.D. makes less sense because you'll be forced to narrow your idea down to that one small topic you are to become an "expert" in and write your dissertation on. Unless you are in a job that needs a Ph.D., or unless you want to be an "academic" and either teach and do research full time, I think based on what you've said here a Ph.D. might not be for you. Again, you can gain the knowledge you see by sending out some friendly emails to the right people, and doing the reading, without all the loneliness and stress that comes with a Ph.D. This is, of course, my $.02 and YMMV. Oh yeah, ANYONE thinking about graduate school really should read this excellent book. It will help you think about why and where to go (if that is your path).
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Am I Being Realistic in My Reasons for Pursing a PhD? I am a librarian in the U.S. with a Masters of Library and Info Science. I love everything about librarianship, and with ten years of experience in the field, I am thinking seriously about pursuing my PhD. I want to pursue it in library science (technically communications and information science with a focus on library and information science) not to work as an academic. I want to go for it because I love this field and I want to learn more about it and share what I've learned through publishing. I'm not doing it because I think I will make more money. I want to hone my research skills - I work with researchers, and I would enjoy knowing more about the high-level research they do that leads to publishing, which I hope I would get in my grad classes. Am I being realistic or am I looking at a doctoral degree and the years of crazy work through rose-colored glasses?
RESPONSE A: The advice I have always given is this: If you can see yourself being happy without getting a PhD, you should just go that route. If you can only see yourself being happy after getting a PhD, well, it doesn't really matter what I think, does it? Even though I also left academia, I don't at all regret my mathematics PhD. Still, part of me wishes I could've been happy without it. It would've been a much easier path to take.
RESPONSE B: Could you do it without going into debt, and while being able to support yourself in some way? If so, then I say sure, go for it.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Am I Being Realistic in My Reasons for Pursing a PhD? I am a librarian in the U.S. with a Masters of Library and Info Science. I love everything about librarianship, and with ten years of experience in the field, I am thinking seriously about pursuing my PhD. I want to pursue it in library science (technically communications and information science with a focus on library and information science) not to work as an academic. I want to go for it because I love this field and I want to learn more about it and share what I've learned through publishing. I'm not doing it because I think I will make more money. I want to hone my research skills - I work with researchers, and I would enjoy knowing more about the high-level research they do that leads to publishing, which I hope I would get in my grad classes. Am I being realistic or am I looking at a doctoral degree and the years of crazy work through rose-colored glasses?
RESPONSE A: I know at least one person (librarian in a University library, in Europe -not the US, so there may be differences-) who did exactly the same and was very happy with her choice (though it was incredibly hard work). She decided to do a PhD because she really wanted a certain research to be done (it concerned the books and documents of an important scholar, donated to the library); nobody else would do it, so she did. Her dissertation is not only brilliant, but very useful to the library.
RESPONSE B: A bit of both, but you never do it for the money. Do it because you love it and don’t expect it to be fun because it isn’t and it shouldn’t be. The most valuable lessons and the best times of our lives aren’t the happy party times, they’re the struggles. So go forth and learn.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: Does sitting for long hours on an academic job have made negative impacts on your health? Today more than ever people are doing desk jobs. I think academic jobs require a lot of desk work. Even as an undergraduate student of physics I have to sit for long hours. And I know there are several health concerns with that. However, I want to know in this thread if you have any personal experience of health issue due to sitting for too long? And what have you done to remedy those problems?
RESPONSE A: Uhm, I'm not sure if I already have long term problems (I guess not). For sure, I feel my arms or my back sore sometimes, especially if I stay for weeks in the office without field work.
RESPONSE B: PhD student here (on my way out). Teaching from home was hard on my body. Working for 9+ hours caused referred migraines from my neck. It was quite debilitating, but I was able to get on top of it with more frequent breaks, stretching exercises, and appointments with a physiotherapist. If you’re concerned, I’d speak to a physiotherapist about preventative exercise and ergonomic practice. EDIT: I should probably flag that I’ve got an old injury in my back that may have aggravated the situation, so perhaps this outcome was unique to me. Nothing wrong with seeing a physio though.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Does sitting for long hours on an academic job have made negative impacts on your health? Today more than ever people are doing desk jobs. I think academic jobs require a lot of desk work. Even as an undergraduate student of physics I have to sit for long hours. And I know there are several health concerns with that. However, I want to know in this thread if you have any personal experience of health issue due to sitting for too long? And what have you done to remedy those problems?
RESPONSE A: As a student in my early twenties, I ALWAYS regretted the times when I was "too busy" for exercise as it lead to back aches, fatigue, increased stress, etc. Over time, I found that regular exercise was beneficial for my physical and mental health so I highly suggest finding a good routine and sticking to it. Sometimes I go as far as prioritizing that over work because of the long-term benefits! Stay fit
RESPONSE B: I'd say the experimental components of my work, like working under on lab bench or using a microscope kept me more physically active (good thing) than my later roles as a software engineer.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: Does sitting for long hours on an academic job have made negative impacts on your health? Today more than ever people are doing desk jobs. I think academic jobs require a lot of desk work. Even as an undergraduate student of physics I have to sit for long hours. And I know there are several health concerns with that. However, I want to know in this thread if you have any personal experience of health issue due to sitting for too long? And what have you done to remedy those problems?
RESPONSE A: This last year has been rough because of all the digital teaching, but my general experience is that I have more time for fitness and exercise as an academic than in many other jobs. It helps to have my own office and decide my own hours.
RESPONSE B: As a student in my early twenties, I ALWAYS regretted the times when I was "too busy" for exercise as it lead to back aches, fatigue, increased stress, etc. Over time, I found that regular exercise was beneficial for my physical and mental health so I highly suggest finding a good routine and sticking to it. Sometimes I go as far as prioritizing that over work because of the long-term benefits! Stay fit
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: Does sitting for long hours on an academic job have made negative impacts on your health? Today more than ever people are doing desk jobs. I think academic jobs require a lot of desk work. Even as an undergraduate student of physics I have to sit for long hours. And I know there are several health concerns with that. However, I want to know in this thread if you have any personal experience of health issue due to sitting for too long? And what have you done to remedy those problems?
RESPONSE A: Uhm, I'm not sure if I already have long term problems (I guess not). For sure, I feel my arms or my back sore sometimes, especially if I stay for weeks in the office without field work.
RESPONSE B: As a student in my early twenties, I ALWAYS regretted the times when I was "too busy" for exercise as it lead to back aches, fatigue, increased stress, etc. Over time, I found that regular exercise was beneficial for my physical and mental health so I highly suggest finding a good routine and sticking to it. Sometimes I go as far as prioritizing that over work because of the long-term benefits! Stay fit
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Does sitting for long hours on an academic job have made negative impacts on your health? Today more than ever people are doing desk jobs. I think academic jobs require a lot of desk work. Even as an undergraduate student of physics I have to sit for long hours. And I know there are several health concerns with that. However, I want to know in this thread if you have any personal experience of health issue due to sitting for too long? And what have you done to remedy those problems?
RESPONSE A: As a student in my early twenties, I ALWAYS regretted the times when I was "too busy" for exercise as it lead to back aches, fatigue, increased stress, etc. Over time, I found that regular exercise was beneficial for my physical and mental health so I highly suggest finding a good routine and sticking to it. Sometimes I go as far as prioritizing that over work because of the long-term benefits! Stay fit
RESPONSE B: I used to have back pain from time to time. That got better when I did dedicated back exercises (there are great yoga instruction videos on youtube). Of course, the quality of the chair matters a lot. In the first days of the lockdown, I worked from a regular kitchen chair, which I regretted immediately.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: of showing off, but because I hate this argument that my parents threw at me countless times. I don't care how many people would like to be wheere I am. I just feel out of place. My parents have been really pressing especially in my first couple of years, but luckily they appear a little more supporting now. I don't know what to do with my life. I am seriously afraid of ending up in a job that i don't enjoy. I quite like infectious diseases, and I am doing an internship there, because it's quite close to basic sciences like microbiology and immunology, because it is broad as you can see diseases of any organ, and because it can open the way to epidemiology for me, where I might be able to jump into mathematical modelling. I'd like to use maths in my everyday job to solve problems, but I don't know how much doctors do and how much they leave to mathematicians to do, and I don't know how much I'll be able to study in order to do that kind of job. I don't know if maybe I am idealizing maths careers too much either. I'm sorry for the long post, it really was off my chest. Thanks to everyone even only for reading this. Have a great day :)
RESPONSE A: There are medical fields with possibility of serious applied mathematics such as physiology, radiology, medical informatics, etc. Also, I know people who have become professional mathematician after MD.
RESPONSE B: Switching into a more math-heavy branch of medicine seems smart, like what you described with continuing infectious disease leading to mathematical modeling. Sounds like you also need to get in touch with people in those specific areas so they can explain how much math they do daily. I don't know how to do this in medicine, but in my STEM field I'd do this by looking up relevant faculty on university webpages and emailing them my questions or asking for an hour-long coffee chat. You might also try posting the "how much math do you do?" question in a medicine-specific subreddit. I discovered this week that the subreddits for medical professionals are very active, so they might have answers for you!
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: you get there. I am in a good university after a very selective national test and I am doing pretty well because I am good at studying, so I am aware that many people would like to be in the position I am. I'm saying this not because I have any intention of showing off, but because I hate this argument that my parents threw at me countless times. I don't care how many people would like to be wheere I am. I just feel out of place. My parents have been really pressing especially in my first couple of years, but luckily they appear a little more supporting now. I don't know what to do with my life. I am seriously afraid of ending up in a job that i don't enjoy. I quite like infectious diseases, and I am doing an internship there, because it's quite close to basic sciences like microbiology and immunology, because it is broad as you can see diseases of any organ, and because it can open the way to epidemiology for me, where I might be able to jump into mathematical modelling. I'd like to use maths in my everyday job to solve problems, but I don't know how much doctors do and how much they leave to mathematicians to do, and I don't know how much I'll be able to study in order to do that kind of job. I don't know if maybe I am idealizing maths careers too much either. I'm sorry for the long post, it really was off my chest. Thanks to everyone even only for reading this. Have a great day :)
RESPONSE A: There are medical fields with possibility of serious applied mathematics such as physiology, radiology, medical informatics, etc. Also, I know people who have become professional mathematician after MD.
RESPONSE B: You are associating what you have been to exposed to in maths with an actual career in maths. Those are two very different things. If you want plug and play (this is all math till grad school) you can swap to a math-reliant specialty of medicine. If you want to contribute you will need to take it seriously and spend a couple years away from medicine just to catch up (epidemiology).
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: wheere I am. I just feel out of place. My parents have been really pressing especially in my first couple of years, but luckily they appear a little more supporting now. I don't know what to do with my life. I am seriously afraid of ending up in a job that i don't enjoy. I quite like infectious diseases, and I am doing an internship there, because it's quite close to basic sciences like microbiology and immunology, because it is broad as you can see diseases of any organ, and because it can open the way to epidemiology for me, where I might be able to jump into mathematical modelling. I'd like to use maths in my everyday job to solve problems, but I don't know how much doctors do and how much they leave to mathematicians to do, and I don't know how much I'll be able to study in order to do that kind of job. I don't know if maybe I am idealizing maths careers too much either. I'm sorry for the long post, it really was off my chest. Thanks to everyone even only for reading this. Have a great day :)
RESPONSE A: You are associating what you have been to exposed to in maths with an actual career in maths. Those are two very different things. If you want plug and play (this is all math till grad school) you can swap to a math-reliant specialty of medicine. If you want to contribute you will need to take it seriously and spend a couple years away from medicine just to catch up (epidemiology).
RESPONSE B: Seems like you have the chance to have an amazing career in an interdisciplinary field in medicinal research or academia! You can look into systems biology or modelling of diseases or cells or whatever you like. There is a huge demand for this kind of researchers and there are so many interesting thing you can do. You can also look at scientists like for example Uri Alon who went from physics to biology and is doing very fun research . Would suggest you to finish your Medicine degree and then venture to academia, industry or bio-tec and the whole world is open for you. Don't worry, trust yourself and your feelings and you will be fine.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: the frustration of not being able to come up with a solution that suddelny vanishes when you get there. I am in a good university after a very selective national test and I am doing pretty well because I am good at studying, so I am aware that many people would like to be in the position I am. I'm saying this not because I have any intention of showing off, but because I hate this argument that my parents threw at me countless times. I don't care how many people would like to be wheere I am. I just feel out of place. My parents have been really pressing especially in my first couple of years, but luckily they appear a little more supporting now. I don't know what to do with my life. I am seriously afraid of ending up in a job that i don't enjoy. I quite like infectious diseases, and I am doing an internship there, because it's quite close to basic sciences like microbiology and immunology, because it is broad as you can see diseases of any organ, and because it can open the way to epidemiology for me, where I might be able to jump into mathematical modelling. I'd like to use maths in my everyday job to solve problems, but I don't know how much doctors do and how much they leave to mathematicians to do, and I don't know how much I'll be able to study in order to do that kind of job. I don't know if maybe I am idealizing maths careers too much either. I'm sorry for the long post, it really was off my chest. Thanks to everyone even only for reading this. Have a great day :)
RESPONSE A: As a social science student (PhD) I miss maths like crazy.
RESPONSE B: You are associating what you have been to exposed to in maths with an actual career in maths. Those are two very different things. If you want plug and play (this is all math till grad school) you can swap to a math-reliant specialty of medicine. If you want to contribute you will need to take it seriously and spend a couple years away from medicine just to catch up (epidemiology).
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: delny vanishes when you get there. I am in a good university after a very selective national test and I am doing pretty well because I am good at studying, so I am aware that many people would like to be in the position I am. I'm saying this not because I have any intention of showing off, but because I hate this argument that my parents threw at me countless times. I don't care how many people would like to be wheere I am. I just feel out of place. My parents have been really pressing especially in my first couple of years, but luckily they appear a little more supporting now. I don't know what to do with my life. I am seriously afraid of ending up in a job that i don't enjoy. I quite like infectious diseases, and I am doing an internship there, because it's quite close to basic sciences like microbiology and immunology, because it is broad as you can see diseases of any organ, and because it can open the way to epidemiology for me, where I might be able to jump into mathematical modelling. I'd like to use maths in my everyday job to solve problems, but I don't know how much doctors do and how much they leave to mathematicians to do, and I don't know how much I'll be able to study in order to do that kind of job. I don't know if maybe I am idealizing maths careers too much either. I'm sorry for the long post, it really was off my chest. Thanks to everyone even only for reading this. Have a great day :)
RESPONSE A: You could also look at clinical studies - running one from the point of a sponsor offers a lot of opportunity to interact with statisticians in study design etc.
RESPONSE B: You are associating what you have been to exposed to in maths with an actual career in maths. Those are two very different things. If you want plug and play (this is all math till grad school) you can swap to a math-reliant specialty of medicine. If you want to contribute you will need to take it seriously and spend a couple years away from medicine just to catch up (epidemiology).
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
B | POST: have a great life. My boyfriend is the best, I am in a fantastic program while getting paid to do it. It's just that I've started to feel like a wind-up toy where I wake up in my apartment, do work on my computer all day, and repeat. As if being inside, doing work feels like my purpose for that day. I am starting to wonder if all of grad school is like this. I am even starting to wonder if I made the right decision. **So, after all that, to the experienced grad students of this subreddit,** ***does it get better?*** I assume (and hope) that it does. Because if it doesn't, I am not sure how much longer I would be able to handle it. This is the closest I've ever felt to misery in my short 23 years on earth. Some days I actually accept feeling miserable, though I really try to keep a positive mindset. **I cannot continue through the rest of my program feeling like this.** And to other students who feel the same way as me, you are not alone. And neither am I. Feel free to comment if you are in a similar situation, for that already helps me a little bit. 3 Good luck to everyone else who has an online semester. We can do this! Now, time to get back to reading *Don Quijote*...
RESPONSE A: Hey, don't feel like you are alone in this. I just graduated out of grad school this year too and my sister is still in grad school in another country and is going through depression. This is a very difficult time for us, it is almost the end of life as we know it, and it's normal to feel anxious about these things. I would suggest that you focus on yourself and just make yourself feel better, maybe put yourself on a routine? That usually helps me.
RESPONSE B: Just FYI, one can have a great life and still suffer from clinical depression. I am not a therapist, but you described some classic symptoms here. Since you're a student, you probably have access to free Counseling Services. I recommend that you book just one appointment with a counselor and see if that helps.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Why is it called a faculty retreat? The image'retreat' brings to mind is withdrawing to seclusion and privacy in order to recuperate and rest. This is stressful. It's sitting in a room listening to administrators lecture about'success types in educated' using crappy debunked personality tests, getting updates from departments I don't interact with, and meandering stories from people who I'm not sure why they're allowed to have a microphone. Shouldn't it be called something else? Faculty retreat from reality to maintain a grasp on sanity?
RESPONSE A: I was voluntold to go take notes (as a grad student) at the faculty retreat, and it. was. the worst. Not only was everything exactly as miserable as you described, but the new, young faculty members weren't very nice to me. Because grad student. ​ ETA: and the food wasn't even that good! Rude.
RESPONSE B: We call them “away days” in my department! Often we just go “away” to another building in the university though so we don’t go very far away :(
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Why is it called a faculty retreat? The image'retreat' brings to mind is withdrawing to seclusion and privacy in order to recuperate and rest. This is stressful. It's sitting in a room listening to administrators lecture about'success types in educated' using crappy debunked personality tests, getting updates from departments I don't interact with, and meandering stories from people who I'm not sure why they're allowed to have a microphone. Shouldn't it be called something else? Faculty retreat from reality to maintain a grasp on sanity?
RESPONSE A: I was voluntold to go take notes (as a grad student) at the faculty retreat, and it. was. the worst. Not only was everything exactly as miserable as you described, but the new, young faculty members weren't very nice to me. Because grad student. ​ ETA: and the food wasn't even that good! Rude.
RESPONSE B: It puzzled me too when I first encountered the term. I'm not faculty, but I had to attend "leadership retreats" annually at an organization I worked in the past. It was also pretty much what you describe.\*eyeroll\* Couldn't stand it but enjoyed the food! I think it's just a common business term for spending a day away from workplace for whatever purpose.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Why is it called a faculty retreat? The image'retreat' brings to mind is withdrawing to seclusion and privacy in order to recuperate and rest. This is stressful. It's sitting in a room listening to administrators lecture about'success types in educated' using crappy debunked personality tests, getting updates from departments I don't interact with, and meandering stories from people who I'm not sure why they're allowed to have a microphone. Shouldn't it be called something else? Faculty retreat from reality to maintain a grasp on sanity?
RESPONSE A: We call them “away days” in my department! Often we just go “away” to another building in the university though so we don’t go very far away :(
RESPONSE B: It puzzled me too when I first encountered the term. I'm not faculty, but I had to attend "leadership retreats" annually at an organization I worked in the past. It was also pretty much what you describe.\*eyeroll\* Couldn't stand it but enjoyed the food! I think it's just a common business term for spending a day away from workplace for whatever purpose.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Why is it called a faculty retreat? The image'retreat' brings to mind is withdrawing to seclusion and privacy in order to recuperate and rest. This is stressful. It's sitting in a room listening to administrators lecture about'success types in educated' using crappy debunked personality tests, getting updates from departments I don't interact with, and meandering stories from people who I'm not sure why they're allowed to have a microphone. Shouldn't it be called something else? Faculty retreat from reality to maintain a grasp on sanity?
RESPONSE A: no, there was just a typo. it should have read > faculty: retreat!
RESPONSE B: Think this is all about who and how it is done. One college I was at, the college had these kind of bed and breakfast type houses and the department would get one for the day. We all liked each other so it was fun in a way. My current department does a "retreat." We go to someone's house and have a pot-luck. For the most part, we get along and these are actually our most productive meeting all year because we actually have time to discuss big issues. The first school I was at, the faculty hated each other so no one even pretended you could get them together for a retreat. Another school I was at, people got along fine at faculty meetings, but there was no way they were going to take a day away from research for a full day meeting. Now my current dean does a "kick-off" each year that sounds exactly like OP's meeting. God I hate those.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
A | POST: Why is it called a faculty retreat? The image'retreat' brings to mind is withdrawing to seclusion and privacy in order to recuperate and rest. This is stressful. It's sitting in a room listening to administrators lecture about'success types in educated' using crappy debunked personality tests, getting updates from departments I don't interact with, and meandering stories from people who I'm not sure why they're allowed to have a microphone. Shouldn't it be called something else? Faculty retreat from reality to maintain a grasp on sanity?
RESPONSE A: no, there was just a typo. it should have read > faculty: retreat!
RESPONSE B: We have off campus retreats for our grad student fellowship program. Its doubly insulting because many many grad students don't own cars and have no reliable way to get there.
Which response is better? RESPONSE |
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