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POST: ll be a coauthor on. I need held deciding *where* to submit, and putting some finishing touches on it. As far as I can tell, all he needs to do is read the paper and say, "This is good, submit to the Journal of Really Cool Findings", or say "If you do XX and YY, you'll be able to submit to the Journal of Really Cool Findings." It's frustrating because this paper is just about done, but I'm awaiting his final approval. I really want to submit before I forget the details of the work I did. I think this is taking so long because he's unusually busy this semester. He's normally very busy, but this semesters he's developing a class from scratch in addition to his standard research load. I do not want to keep asking my advisor to help me push out this paper; he is always respectful of my schedule and never forces me to work at a pace I feel uncomfortable with. I would like to extend the same courtesy to him. At the same time, I want to get this done, and I think relatively little work is required from him to do that. What is the best way to handle this? Should I wait until my advisor helps me through the submission processor on his own time (maybe with occasional gentle reminders), or should I be more forceful with my requests? I lean towards the former, but I wanted more input.
RESPONSE A: Is it safe to assume you have already gently reminded him a few times? Sent an email saying "I hate to pester you when I know you are having such a busy semester, but is there any chance you've gotten around to taking a look at that paper I sent you? I'm really eager to submit it."
RESPONSE B: My advisor never read anything, I realized this after a while and started submitting things on my own I would let him know that I have submitted to this or that journal and he would just say okay, I even submitted a paper even though he was against it however he was very pleased once the paper was accepted, my rationale was that I have worked two years on this research so I am going to submit otherwise those years will feel like a waste .
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: on this funding from my advisor. I think it is completely ludicrous that the department is telling my advisor he cannot fund me using the grant money which was set aside for me. Can you think of anything I can do to fight this? It seems both immoral and illegal to me. Should I contact the graduate school or the dean of students? Do I have any legal recourse for this? It just feels they are stealing the grant money from me because they won't allow my advisor to give me the grant money meaning I am forced to teach if I want to get paid. If anyone has any ideas, I am open to hear them. I can also clarify things if anything is unclear. Thank you.
RESPONSE A: One thing to consider if you are forced to teach… just do the minimum. I was forced to teach a 200 person class during my final semester while I was trying to finish my diss and graduate. My advisor flat out told me to do the minimum. Spend no more than 1 hour creating each week’s material, do only multiple choice assessments that can be auto graded with canvas and scantrons, tell students that office hours are by appointment only, and don’t worry if half the class gets an A (it’s easier for you to deal with if grades are a little inflated so no one complains). And don’t be afraid to cancel one or two classes (not too many) if that dissertation or a job interview needs to be done at that time. Your evaluations may be low (or maybe not if grades are inflated) and maybe the department doesn’t like the inflated grades… but what are they going to do at that point? You’re graduating, you’ll have a job, this teaching evaluation will never matter… so phone it in. Attend class and try your best but don’t spend 20-30 hours per week on it. Just don’t. One hour of prep, 3 hours in class, and one hour of grading and meeting with students and whatever. And then that’s it. No more.
RESPONSE B: What are your career plans? If they include teaching, you should teach the course. If you plan to go to industry or a lab, you should use that as a reason they should look elsewhere.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: not have time to teach and have been counting on this funding from my advisor. I think it is completely ludicrous that the department is telling my advisor he cannot fund me using the grant money which was set aside for me. Can you think of anything I can do to fight this? It seems both immoral and illegal to me. Should I contact the graduate school or the dean of students? Do I have any legal recourse for this? It just feels they are stealing the grant money from me because they won't allow my advisor to give me the grant money meaning I am forced to teach if I want to get paid. If anyone has any ideas, I am open to hear them. I can also clarify things if anything is unclear. Thank you.
RESPONSE A: Are you getting paid anything to teach? And what, exactly, does your advisor's funding cover? just your salary? or does it cover benefits and tuition?
RESPONSE B: One thing to consider if you are forced to teach… just do the minimum. I was forced to teach a 200 person class during my final semester while I was trying to finish my diss and graduate. My advisor flat out told me to do the minimum. Spend no more than 1 hour creating each week’s material, do only multiple choice assessments that can be auto graded with canvas and scantrons, tell students that office hours are by appointment only, and don’t worry if half the class gets an A (it’s easier for you to deal with if grades are a little inflated so no one complains). And don’t be afraid to cancel one or two classes (not too many) if that dissertation or a job interview needs to be done at that time. Your evaluations may be low (or maybe not if grades are inflated) and maybe the department doesn’t like the inflated grades… but what are they going to do at that point? You’re graduating, you’ll have a job, this teaching evaluation will never matter… so phone it in. Attend class and try your best but don’t spend 20-30 hours per week on it. Just don’t. One hour of prep, 3 hours in class, and one hour of grading and meeting with students and whatever. And then that’s it. No more.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: , find a job, and everything else that comes with graduating. I simply do not have time to teach and have been counting on this funding from my advisor. I think it is completely ludicrous that the department is telling my advisor he cannot fund me using the grant money which was set aside for me. Can you think of anything I can do to fight this? It seems both immoral and illegal to me. Should I contact the graduate school or the dean of students? Do I have any legal recourse for this? It just feels they are stealing the grant money from me because they won't allow my advisor to give me the grant money meaning I am forced to teach if I want to get paid. If anyone has any ideas, I am open to hear them. I can also clarify things if anything is unclear. Thank you.
RESPONSE A: I'd suggest to teach this course but do the bare minimum.
RESPONSE B: One thing to consider if you are forced to teach… just do the minimum. I was forced to teach a 200 person class during my final semester while I was trying to finish my diss and graduate. My advisor flat out told me to do the minimum. Spend no more than 1 hour creating each week’s material, do only multiple choice assessments that can be auto graded with canvas and scantrons, tell students that office hours are by appointment only, and don’t worry if half the class gets an A (it’s easier for you to deal with if grades are a little inflated so no one complains). And don’t be afraid to cancel one or two classes (not too many) if that dissertation or a job interview needs to be done at that time. Your evaluations may be low (or maybe not if grades are inflated) and maybe the department doesn’t like the inflated grades… but what are they going to do at that point? You’re graduating, you’ll have a job, this teaching evaluation will never matter… so phone it in. Attend class and try your best but don’t spend 20-30 hours per week on it. Just don’t. One hour of prep, 3 hours in class, and one hour of grading and meeting with students and whatever. And then that’s it. No more.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: request and forcing me to teach a course to be funded since they are low on teachers. 75% of other students are being allowed to use research funding in my department, and I am one of the 5 who is not being allowed. The reasoning is because of timing and a change of policy that once the department determined they were running low on instructors they started denying requests for research funding. I have exhausted avenues within my department and have still been denied. I do have a lot of savings and could afford not to be funded at all. Honestly, I am tempted to deny teaching altogether. Of course I would not earn my 10-15K + health insurance + tuition benefit that I would get for research funding or teaching or being on the grant for research, but it is doable and honestly tempting to me right now. I am really upset about this. Teaching takes 20-30 hours a week of my time. I am going into my last semester and need time to finish my thesis, find a job, and everything else that comes with graduating. I simply do not have time to teach and have been counting on this funding from my advisor. I think it is completely ludicrous that the department is telling my advisor he cannot fund me using the grant money which was set aside for me. Can you think of anything I can do to fight this? It seems both immoral and illegal to me. Should I contact the graduate school or the dean of students? Do I have any legal recourse for this? It just feels they are stealing the grant money from me because they won't allow my advisor to give me the grant money meaning I am forced to teach if I want to get paid. If anyone has any ideas, I am open to hear them. I can also clarify things if anything is unclear. Thank you.
RESPONSE A: I was asked to teach in my penultimate semester - like your school, mine was struggling to fill teaching roles. My school recognized that this was a huge request of someone writing a dissertation, and gave me about $5k extra for it. I hope you can argue for something similar!
RESPONSE B: What are your career plans? If they include teaching, you should teach the course. If you plan to go to industry or a lab, you should use that as a reason they should look elsewhere.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: use for research from his grant so that I don't have to teach in my final semester. Unfortunately my department is denying the request and forcing me to teach a course to be funded since they are low on teachers. 75% of other students are being allowed to use research funding in my department, and I am one of the 5 who is not being allowed. The reasoning is because of timing and a change of policy that once the department determined they were running low on instructors they started denying requests for research funding. I have exhausted avenues within my department and have still been denied. I do have a lot of savings and could afford not to be funded at all. Honestly, I am tempted to deny teaching altogether. Of course I would not earn my 10-15K + health insurance + tuition benefit that I would get for research funding or teaching or being on the grant for research, but it is doable and honestly tempting to me right now. I am really upset about this. Teaching takes 20-30 hours a week of my time. I am going into my last semester and need time to finish my thesis, find a job, and everything else that comes with graduating. I simply do not have time to teach and have been counting on this funding from my advisor. I think it is completely ludicrous that the department is telling my advisor he cannot fund me using the grant money which was set aside for me. Can you think of anything I can do to fight this? It seems both immoral and illegal to me. Should I contact the graduate school or the dean of students? Do I have any legal recourse for this? It just feels they are stealing the grant money from me because they won't allow my advisor to give me the grant money meaning I am forced to teach if I want to get paid. If anyone has any ideas, I am open to hear them. I can also clarify things if anything is unclear. Thank you.
RESPONSE A: I was asked to teach in my penultimate semester - like your school, mine was struggling to fill teaching roles. My school recognized that this was a huge request of someone writing a dissertation, and gave me about $5k extra for it. I hope you can argue for something similar!
RESPONSE B: I'd suggest to teach this course but do the bare minimum.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: What systems does your university have in place to prevent issues such as advisors not letting students graduate for years on end? Basically, what systems does your university have to mediate conflicts between advisors and students? For example, many advisors in a country I studied in previously retain students for years on end, when they stop getting their salaries. I know for a fact that most of them could graduate earlier, but the advisors keep piling on more work on them. Unfortunately due to the friendship between some faculty in the department, you cannot go to someone else if they’re a friend of your PI. What systems does your university have to help graduate students give power to negotiate with the department/faculty?
RESPONSE A: In my school/program, when you start your 6th year, they add an "ex-officio" member to your committee. This person is either a program director or another established faculty member whose job is to help you try to wrap stuff up and get out. As a person who is about to enter their 8th year and my PI is still adding experiments with several friends who are in the same year/situation, I'm not sure it's working
RESPONSE B: In my department (US) each student has a thesis committee, and progress is monitored by that committee, the director of graduate studies, the chair, and the Deans. If the student is really being held back by the advisor, the department has the ability to step in and transfer that student to another advisor. Most of the time students not finishing are in that state because of some combination of mental health issues, writing blocks, leading to failure to produce work of high enough quality.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: What systems does your university have in place to prevent issues such as advisors not letting students graduate for years on end? Basically, what systems does your university have to mediate conflicts between advisors and students? For example, many advisors in a country I studied in previously retain students for years on end, when they stop getting their salaries. I know for a fact that most of them could graduate earlier, but the advisors keep piling on more work on them. Unfortunately due to the friendship between some faculty in the department, you cannot go to someone else if they’re a friend of your PI. What systems does your university have to help graduate students give power to negotiate with the department/faculty?
RESPONSE A: I know for a fact. Ok We have a thesis committee . next is the chair, to whom the student can appeal directly to intercede. A grad ed committee. The entire dept takes it seriously and keeps track of time to graduation and spend a a long time on a regular basis trying to figure out why some people take longer to graduate and standardizing and clarifying what the requirements are and should be. There also is an ad hoc body, on which I sit, that hears students complaints on all such matters. Most of the time, it is a 2 way street to TBF. The student is not really up to snuff as far as graduating, but the PI really should and could do more to focus them and get them on track. Some of the time it is the PI trying to get out one more paper, or whatever. Of these times, the PI often is genuinely shocked that their view that the student wouldn’t want to spend X more time to get a high impact paper is not also the choice of the student. Some of the time the PI is recalcitrant and the ad hoc folks mobilize the correct resources for that department and college to intervene.
RESPONSE B: We have a seven-year limit. It a student has not defended their PhD by then, they are out with nothing. We also provide full funding for students. After five years, the major advisor is completely responsible for providing that money.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: What systems does your university have in place to prevent issues such as advisors not letting students graduate for years on end? Basically, what systems does your university have to mediate conflicts between advisors and students? For example, many advisors in a country I studied in previously retain students for years on end, when they stop getting their salaries. I know for a fact that most of them could graduate earlier, but the advisors keep piling on more work on them. Unfortunately due to the friendship between some faculty in the department, you cannot go to someone else if they’re a friend of your PI. What systems does your university have to help graduate students give power to negotiate with the department/faculty?
RESPONSE A: I know for a fact. Ok We have a thesis committee . next is the chair, to whom the student can appeal directly to intercede. A grad ed committee. The entire dept takes it seriously and keeps track of time to graduation and spend a a long time on a regular basis trying to figure out why some people take longer to graduate and standardizing and clarifying what the requirements are and should be. There also is an ad hoc body, on which I sit, that hears students complaints on all such matters. Most of the time, it is a 2 way street to TBF. The student is not really up to snuff as far as graduating, but the PI really should and could do more to focus them and get them on track. Some of the time it is the PI trying to get out one more paper, or whatever. Of these times, the PI often is genuinely shocked that their view that the student wouldn’t want to spend X more time to get a high impact paper is not also the choice of the student. Some of the time the PI is recalcitrant and the ad hoc folks mobilize the correct resources for that department and college to intervene.
RESPONSE B: At the university where I got my PhD, your advisor did not sit on your thesis committee. Since your committee members are the ones that give you permission to graduate, it didn't matter what your PI thought.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: What systems does your university have in place to prevent issues such as advisors not letting students graduate for years on end? Basically, what systems does your university have to mediate conflicts between advisors and students? For example, many advisors in a country I studied in previously retain students for years on end, when they stop getting their salaries. I know for a fact that most of them could graduate earlier, but the advisors keep piling on more work on them. Unfortunately due to the friendship between some faculty in the department, you cannot go to someone else if they’re a friend of your PI. What systems does your university have to help graduate students give power to negotiate with the department/faculty?
RESPONSE A: At the university where I got my PhD, your advisor did not sit on your thesis committee. Since your committee members are the ones that give you permission to graduate, it didn't matter what your PI thought.
RESPONSE B: At my institution, the PI is no longer the Dissertation Committee chair. That role goes to a third party (a different professor on the committee), who's job is to fairly assess whether or not the student is ready to graduate, and can grant permission to do so without the need for PI approval.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: What systems does your university have in place to prevent issues such as advisors not letting students graduate for years on end? Basically, what systems does your university have to mediate conflicts between advisors and students? For example, many advisors in a country I studied in previously retain students for years on end, when they stop getting their salaries. I know for a fact that most of them could graduate earlier, but the advisors keep piling on more work on them. Unfortunately due to the friendship between some faculty in the department, you cannot go to someone else if they’re a friend of your PI. What systems does your university have to help graduate students give power to negotiate with the department/faculty?
RESPONSE A: At the university where I got my PhD, your advisor did not sit on your thesis committee. Since your committee members are the ones that give you permission to graduate, it didn't matter what your PI thought.
RESPONSE B: In the UK (or at least my uni) you need to submit a project approval with the timeline (normally no more than 3/4) years which evaluates the theory and goals you're working with. They (your viva panel) then approve that and for the next 2 years you have to submit an annual review that proves both parties are doing their job. Your supervisor is also under close (but non-intrusive) observation. They'll even chat with you (off the record) and ask how things are going.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: What do you think of the concept of a continuously changing publication in the form of a website page? How it would work is this: - You have a website page that explains a concept with the goal of providing the newest most accurate version of the information. - Since science sometimes discovers new things or feedback is provided for clarification, this could be continuously changed to the page. - People can mark a line in the text and add a comment suggesting an improvement or add sources that might disprove or align with the idea. - Every time the page is updated with information, it becomes a new "version". - A button on the page exist called "download document and citation" and the citation will include the name of the latest version that was downloaded. - You will also have access to previous versions, where the text that has been changed is marked in a colour. Questions: - Do you think this is a good way of holding updated information and managing the citation? - Do you think this could be applied to academic publications as well? Where the feedback or new discoverings could be data added to a model inside the publication, and the publication would then automatically be updated and uploaded with this extra data using a coding programme. Next gen automated science? - When would this be a good use and when would it be a bad use?
RESPONSE A: isn't this Wikipedia?
RESPONSE B: You are describing more or less how arXiv works. The main problem, however, is that peer review is not so easy to "update." That's why arXiv preprints are rarely updated after publication in a journal.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: What do you think of the concept of a continuously changing publication in the form of a website page? How it would work is this: - You have a website page that explains a concept with the goal of providing the newest most accurate version of the information. - Since science sometimes discovers new things or feedback is provided for clarification, this could be continuously changed to the page. - People can mark a line in the text and add a comment suggesting an improvement or add sources that might disprove or align with the idea. - Every time the page is updated with information, it becomes a new "version". - A button on the page exist called "download document and citation" and the citation will include the name of the latest version that was downloaded. - You will also have access to previous versions, where the text that has been changed is marked in a colour. Questions: - Do you think this is a good way of holding updated information and managing the citation? - Do you think this could be applied to academic publications as well? Where the feedback or new discoverings could be data added to a model inside the publication, and the publication would then automatically be updated and uploaded with this extra data using a coding programme. Next gen automated science? - When would this be a good use and when would it be a bad use?
RESPONSE A: It sounds like my idea of hell, both as a user and as a creator! Everything moves and changes fast enough as it is, without having to go back and maintain finished work, or keeping up a changing knowledge base where Smith et al now says the opposite of what you remember. I think I’d end up crazier than I am already.
RESPONSE B: Isn't this basically every f1000 platform and eLife?
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: Since science sometimes discovers new things or feedback is provided for clarification, this could be continuously changed to the page. - People can mark a line in the text and add a comment suggesting an improvement or add sources that might disprove or align with the idea. - Every time the page is updated with information, it becomes a new "version". - A button on the page exist called "download document and citation" and the citation will include the name of the latest version that was downloaded. - You will also have access to previous versions, where the text that has been changed is marked in a colour. Questions: - Do you think this is a good way of holding updated information and managing the citation? - Do you think this could be applied to academic publications as well? Where the feedback or new discoverings could be data added to a model inside the publication, and the publication would then automatically be updated and uploaded with this extra data using a coding programme. Next gen automated science? - When would this be a good use and when would it be a bad use?
RESPONSE A: I think this would be extremely helpful for certain cases like publishing an experiential method, adding to databases, or making analysis code - in these cases authors want to be able to keep their creation up to date and readers want to ensure they are seeing the best currently available method/data/software. However I see 2 issues: first, do you resubmit the paper for peer review when you make changes? If not, how to ensure later versions meet the standards of the field? Secondly, how do you award credit to the author? A huge problem with software publishing is that authors have very little incentive to maintain code unless it's being heavily cited, so we do need to reward them for keeping their works up to date, but it probably shouldn't count as an entirely separate publication right?
RESPONSE B: It sounds like my idea of hell, both as a user and as a creator! Everything moves and changes fast enough as it is, without having to go back and maintain finished work, or keeping up a changing knowledge base where Smith et al now says the opposite of what you remember. I think I’d end up crazier than I am already.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: you think of the concept of a continuously changing publication in the form of a website page? How it would work is this: - You have a website page that explains a concept with the goal of providing the newest most accurate version of the information. - Since science sometimes discovers new things or feedback is provided for clarification, this could be continuously changed to the page. - People can mark a line in the text and add a comment suggesting an improvement or add sources that might disprove or align with the idea. - Every time the page is updated with information, it becomes a new "version". - A button on the page exist called "download document and citation" and the citation will include the name of the latest version that was downloaded. - You will also have access to previous versions, where the text that has been changed is marked in a colour. Questions: - Do you think this is a good way of holding updated information and managing the citation? - Do you think this could be applied to academic publications as well? Where the feedback or new discoverings could be data added to a model inside the publication, and the publication would then automatically be updated and uploaded with this extra data using a coding programme. Next gen automated science? - When would this be a good use and when would it be a bad use?
RESPONSE A: Isn't this basically every f1000 platform and eLife?
RESPONSE B: I think this would be extremely helpful for certain cases like publishing an experiential method, adding to databases, or making analysis code - in these cases authors want to be able to keep their creation up to date and readers want to ensure they are seeing the best currently available method/data/software. However I see 2 issues: first, do you resubmit the paper for peer review when you make changes? If not, how to ensure later versions meet the standards of the field? Secondly, how do you award credit to the author? A huge problem with software publishing is that authors have very little incentive to maintain code unless it's being heavily cited, so we do need to reward them for keeping their works up to date, but it probably shouldn't count as an entirely separate publication right?
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Should a person get a PhD or EdD if they have to pay for it themselves? Same as the title, I’ve been mulling the idea recently to go beyond a masters but I’ve been in the work force of academia for almost 20 years without a doctorate. I had always heard the adage, “don’t get a doctorate if they aren’t paying you to get it”. Is this still a true statement? Was it ever? I’m not sure I’m willing to spend another 50k to 100k in loans a doctorate if it would not be taken seriously because I paid for it. I am in social sciences, I know that makes a difference.
RESPONSE A: This is a true statement and you should never pay for a degree to work in academia. There’s some slight nuance here where special circumstances make sense but in general, default to assuming this as a blanket true statement. To be clear though it’s not that it’s taken less seriously. Nobody knows in the end if you self funded your degree or not. It’s that you’re taking on debt and additional stress during your program to enter into a poor job market.
RESPONSE B: No
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Should a person get a PhD or EdD if they have to pay for it themselves? Same as the title, I’ve been mulling the idea recently to go beyond a masters but I’ve been in the work force of academia for almost 20 years without a doctorate. I had always heard the adage, “don’t get a doctorate if they aren’t paying you to get it”. Is this still a true statement? Was it ever? I’m not sure I’m willing to spend another 50k to 100k in loans a doctorate if it would not be taken seriously because I paid for it. I am in social sciences, I know that makes a difference.
RESPONSE A: No. It's still a true statement and it always was. You should absolutely not take on debt to pursue a doctoral degree - not really in any field, but definitely not in the social sciences.
RESPONSE B: No
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Should a person get a PhD or EdD if they have to pay for it themselves? Same as the title, I’ve been mulling the idea recently to go beyond a masters but I’ve been in the work force of academia for almost 20 years without a doctorate. I had always heard the adage, “don’t get a doctorate if they aren’t paying you to get it”. Is this still a true statement? Was it ever? I’m not sure I’m willing to spend another 50k to 100k in loans a doctorate if it would not be taken seriously because I paid for it. I am in social sciences, I know that makes a difference.
RESPONSE A: The advice I was given when applying for PhD positions was that if the university isn't willing to pay you a livable stipend (broadly interpreted), that you shouldn't even consider it. Edit to add that I'm also in the social sciences in Canada specifically. Also, $50-100k is a shit tonne of debt. I would personally advise against doing an unpaid PhD if you will have to take out this much, especially if you have other major debts
RESPONSE B: No
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: Should a person get a PhD or EdD if they have to pay for it themselves? Same as the title, I’ve been mulling the idea recently to go beyond a masters but I’ve been in the work force of academia for almost 20 years without a doctorate. I had always heard the adage, “don’t get a doctorate if they aren’t paying you to get it”. Is this still a true statement? Was it ever? I’m not sure I’m willing to spend another 50k to 100k in loans a doctorate if it would not be taken seriously because I paid for it. I am in social sciences, I know that makes a difference.
RESPONSE A: You shouldn't pay for it.
RESPONSE B: In your case, financing your pursuit of a doctorate has intriguing nuances that may make your situation an outlier to the "never" rule of thumb. You've been working in your field for decades so you may have skills that set you years ahead of typical graduate students. * Could you do in two or three years that would take others five years or more? * Will earning your doctorate guarantee you a tenured position that will include a sustainable number of cost of living adjustments to your salary? If the answer to both questions is yes, your calculations may be significantly different because you might be able to forecast a return on investment with a higher level of confidence than most aspiring academics.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Should a person get a PhD or EdD if they have to pay for it themselves? Same as the title, I’ve been mulling the idea recently to go beyond a masters but I’ve been in the work force of academia for almost 20 years without a doctorate. I had always heard the adage, “don’t get a doctorate if they aren’t paying you to get it”. Is this still a true statement? Was it ever? I’m not sure I’m willing to spend another 50k to 100k in loans a doctorate if it would not be taken seriously because I paid for it. I am in social sciences, I know that makes a difference.
RESPONSE A: In your case, financing your pursuit of a doctorate has intriguing nuances that may make your situation an outlier to the "never" rule of thumb. You've been working in your field for decades so you may have skills that set you years ahead of typical graduate students. * Could you do in two or three years that would take others five years or more? * Will earning your doctorate guarantee you a tenured position that will include a sustainable number of cost of living adjustments to your salary? If the answer to both questions is yes, your calculations may be significantly different because you might be able to forecast a return on investment with a higher level of confidence than most aspiring academics.
RESPONSE B: No don't do it
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: How do you list a PhD in a resume if it's quite multidisciplinary? This is honestly just semantics, but I also don't want to get in trouble with industry recruiters should something look fishy. My PhD's primary supervisor is in the Faculty of Medicine and Health. My work is predominantly biomedical image processing, as is the majority of my supervisor's research output in the past decade. He and I are physiotherapists by first qualification, but this is quite tangential to the research because it's so based on biomedical engineering and epidemiology now. Would you list it as PhD, Biomedical Engineering? It's not in that faculty though... PhD, Musculoskeletal Imaging? That's not even a subject. PhD, Radiological Medicine? I have no clue.
RESPONSE A: Put what it says on your diploma. What department or program granted you the degree?
RESPONSE B: Use the terminology they'd see in your transcripts. When you write about your work experience, list the PhD project and describe it in whatever terms you think best.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: How do you list a PhD in a resume if it's quite multidisciplinary? This is honestly just semantics, but I also don't want to get in trouble with industry recruiters should something look fishy. My PhD's primary supervisor is in the Faculty of Medicine and Health. My work is predominantly biomedical image processing, as is the majority of my supervisor's research output in the past decade. He and I are physiotherapists by first qualification, but this is quite tangential to the research because it's so based on biomedical engineering and epidemiology now. Would you list it as PhD, Biomedical Engineering? It's not in that faculty though... PhD, Musculoskeletal Imaging? That's not even a subject. PhD, Radiological Medicine? I have no clue.
RESPONSE A: What does your diploma indicate? That is what you put on your resume. You make it clear in the details what programs you were in and what you did, but for HR purposes going into the corporate world, keep semantic continuity as to listing degrees and qualifications.
RESPONSE B: Just list PhD, title, date, and then a short description of key achievements from the PhD. If you're struggling to classify it, then that classification going to be meaningless to the person reading it.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: How do you list a PhD in a resume if it's quite multidisciplinary? This is honestly just semantics, but I also don't want to get in trouble with industry recruiters should something look fishy. My PhD's primary supervisor is in the Faculty of Medicine and Health. My work is predominantly biomedical image processing, as is the majority of my supervisor's research output in the past decade. He and I are physiotherapists by first qualification, but this is quite tangential to the research because it's so based on biomedical engineering and epidemiology now. Would you list it as PhD, Biomedical Engineering? It's not in that faculty though... PhD, Musculoskeletal Imaging? That's not even a subject. PhD, Radiological Medicine? I have no clue.
RESPONSE A: What’s it say your degree is in on your transcripts?
RESPONSE B: You write down your thesis title and the faculty they awarded it. Then in the interviews, just be smart ;)
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: /March 2021. I could ask to move the offer for next year on the basis of waiting for all application results, but: *a)* I don't think it's possible (the funding comes from a programme that will start now) *b)* I don't want to practically "accept" the offer for next year unless I'm accepted by my top 3 schools. I feel like postponing the offer for next year could also serve as a motivation for a bad recommendation so I won't get accepted by the other schools (again, paranoia). ​ ​ So my questions to you, /r/askacademia, are: 1. How do I approach my advisor about all this? How do say that I don't think I'll accept the offer but still don't want to burn this bridge / sour the relationship? 2. Should I even ask for a recommendation letter at all? 3. Can I somehow protect myself from bad recommendation letters? 4. Am I paranoid? Please tell me I am... 5. Hypothetically, should I have applied last year (before I was done with my thesis and without the recommendation letter) so that I'd have all results by now? 6. Any other advice? ​ ​ Thank you if you've read my paranoid wall of text. All of your input/thoughts/advice will be greatly appreciated!
RESPONSE A: Sending great students to other labs is a way of promoting the excellence of your group, so your PI will still benefit from the whole thing if you end up going somewhere else on their recommendation.
RESPONSE B: Ya, not paranoia but normal anxiety. Just say something like, "Hey professor, I wanted to let you know that I'm really grateful for your PhD offer, and that I'm going to consider it but I'm also planning to apply to other PhD programs. This is because \*insert solid reason why the other unis are preferable, if you have one\*. I'm really enjoying working with you and hope you'd still be happy to write me recommendation letters for them as well."
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: , my committee strongly suggested that I write a journal article based on my thesis. My thesis supervisor talked to me privately and wants to co-author the article together. I don't have any background in academia or article writing. Is it a good thing that a professor wants to write with me? What do you think of this? Why would a professor want to write with me?
RESPONSE A: This is a very good thing, especially for career development. Sit down and hammer out authorship, timelines, expectations, etc... beforehand though.
RESPONSE B: There's several thing that your supervisor will contribute: 1a. Writing guidance. Writing a paper for publication is very different to writing a thesis (at least in most fields). 1b. Stucturing and context. Helping you guide the paper in such a was that it answers a specific and publishable question, and that it is properly set within the broader context of the field 1c. Review. They will help hammer out the fundamental issues that get papers rejected at review stage, and will be able to help guide you through the peer review process once submitted. 2. Their credibility. In an ideal world everything is double blind, but in reality people know most of the time where papers are coming from. By attaching their name to it a senior academic is making your path through the murky waters of review that little bit easier. As a trade off, they get their name on a paper. However... ...As a masters student your work was almost certainly building on and directly guided by your supervisor anyway, so it would be - in most cases - inappropriate for them *not* to be a co-author (again, at least in STEM - YMMV). Writing a paper without an experienced co-author, as a first timer, is an almost impossible task. Chances are you are going to have to refine and edit your text significantly, multiple times. I have never worked on a students first papers (Undergrad, PhD and Masters) that didn't require 3 or 4 rounds of major review before we entered the simple tinkering phase before submission. This might be an issue specific to technical STEM writing, but it's worth baring in mind.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: Is there such a thing as sharing too much of your progress with your PhD supervisor? I am doing a PhD in history, currently in second year, and my supervisors are very nice and praiseworthy but somewhat intimidating characters. Nevertheless, they are not specialists in my area and thus there is always a bit of "you're the expert, you know better" coming from them. Seeing that this relationship is going to be about methodology and approach more than content, I always want to share more with them but feel like it is not appropriate. Most of our meetings end up being about general questions of methodology, which are beneficial but I also need more specific advice. For example, would it be appropriate to share with them an overview of what I have so far? (X thousand words on this, Y thousand words on that, a list of this, a list of that, an outline of two chapters...) and have them judge my progress more in detail? Or is this not professional enough? [One supervisor is British and one is American]
RESPONSE A: There's two questions here. The first is, "should I get into the weeds if my committee members aren't issue specialists?". Probably not. While committee diversity is as strength, ideally you should have someone who has issue-specific expertise you can talk to. If there isn't anyone at your institution, you might seek out an external committee member. My supervisor isn't an issue expert, he's more for general support, so I don't go to him to with those types of problems. The second question is whether you should be reporting on your progress at a more granular level. Ultimately your supervisors should come up with some parameters for the general process (send completed chapters for review, etc.), but I think it's usually a good idea to give them a sense of what milestones you hit/are working towards. That should give them an indication of how hands on or hands off they can be.
RESPONSE B: Yes! They should see your writing
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: specific advice. For example, would it be appropriate to share with them an overview of what I have so far? (X thousand words on this, Y thousand words on that, a list of this, a list of that, an outline of two chapters...) and have them judge my progress more in detail? Or is this not professional enough? [One supervisor is British and one is American]
RESPONSE A: Yes! There is. I am always waiting to have enough confidence in some research or to have collected enough information about it before saying anything. Sometimes I am keeping stuffs for myself for months. The issue is sharing too much is that you also sharing stuffs which can be incorrect or even completely silly. So, in that case, you can just remain vague about it and say you have started something new but it is the very beginning and there is nothing much to be said about. Another reason is that while research is a continuous process, discoveries, even small ones, only occur at certain times and are essentially a discontinuous process, which is in general not predictable. Sometimes, you will discover a lot in a short amount of time and you will find nothing for weeks or even months. Keeping stuffs for yourself allows you to reveal new information whenever you want and "smoothen the discovery process". In other words, you will always have something to say even though you are currently hitting a wall. Regarding your supervisors, you may take the initiative of laying down what you did so far for some feedback. Do not over-exaggerate and do not put too much. Some short reports are usually fine. Also, check with them what format they would prefer. For instance, longer reports every X weeks or shorter more frequent ones.
RESPONSE B: I’m sort of bewildered by the question. Both my own PhD supervision when I earned my degree, and the way I supervise my doctoral students since then up through now has focused largely on reading chunks of work produced by my doctoral students, and commenting on them, then having meetings to flesh out the comments. I’m a little confused as to what I’d be doing as a supervisor if I weren’t commenting on what they’ve written, and finding either areas to improve or telling them it’s time to move on.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: Is there such a thing as sharing too much of your progress with your PhD supervisor? I am doing a PhD in history, currently in second year, and my supervisors are very nice and praiseworthy but somewhat intimidating characters. Nevertheless, they are not specialists in my area and thus there is always a bit of "you're the expert, you know better" coming from them. Seeing that this relationship is going to be about methodology and approach more than content, I always want to share more with them but feel like it is not appropriate. Most of our meetings end up being about general questions of methodology, which are beneficial but I also need more specific advice. For example, would it be appropriate to share with them an overview of what I have so far? (X thousand words on this, Y thousand words on that, a list of this, a list of that, an outline of two chapters...) and have them judge my progress more in detail? Or is this not professional enough? [One supervisor is British and one is American]
RESPONSE A: I’m sort of bewildered by the question. Both my own PhD supervision when I earned my degree, and the way I supervise my doctoral students since then up through now has focused largely on reading chunks of work produced by my doctoral students, and commenting on them, then having meetings to flesh out the comments. I’m a little confused as to what I’d be doing as a supervisor if I weren’t commenting on what they’ve written, and finding either areas to improve or telling them it’s time to move on.
RESPONSE B: My strategy depended on how I felt. If I was on a roll and was super into it, I would go to my advisor every time I had something with discussing. If I was in a lazy phase, i would get my shit done and then only tell her about it all if she asked. She didn't know how long it all took to get done. So i might get a few days to work on my own pet projects or just do nothing and unwind, then drop ask the data on her when she asked so it still looked like I was working on it
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: Is there such a thing as sharing too much of your progress with your PhD supervisor? I am doing a PhD in history, currently in second year, and my supervisors are very nice and praiseworthy but somewhat intimidating characters. Nevertheless, they are not specialists in my area and thus there is always a bit of "you're the expert, you know better" coming from them. Seeing that this relationship is going to be about methodology and approach more than content, I always want to share more with them but feel like it is not appropriate. Most of our meetings end up being about general questions of methodology, which are beneficial but I also need more specific advice. For example, would it be appropriate to share with them an overview of what I have so far? (X thousand words on this, Y thousand words on that, a list of this, a list of that, an outline of two chapters...) and have them judge my progress more in detail? Or is this not professional enough? [One supervisor is British and one is American]
RESPONSE A: >Most of our meetings end up being about general questions of methodology, which are beneficial but I also need more specific advice. As a PhD-student, I ran into this problem a couple of times. At one point, I had to phrase it as a concrete question in writing before a meeting. "Should I do X or Y?" and then make sure that the question was addressed in the meeting.
RESPONSE B: I’m sort of bewildered by the question. Both my own PhD supervision when I earned my degree, and the way I supervise my doctoral students since then up through now has focused largely on reading chunks of work produced by my doctoral students, and commenting on them, then having meetings to flesh out the comments. I’m a little confused as to what I’d be doing as a supervisor if I weren’t commenting on what they’ve written, and finding either areas to improve or telling them it’s time to move on.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: was talking and then realized he should speak when I hadn't spoken for a while. It's like he wasn't even paying attention and just wants to be done and move on. All these have been making me feel like I'm a very low priority on his list and punched a hole in my self-confidence. I have been dreading our weekly meetings and often times needed an hour or two afterwards just to regain any motivation to get back to work. He has a big lab so he's probably overworked meeting with everyone, and to be fair, this project has been dragging for a while now, but we're at the verge of finishing, so maybe he's losing interest and just wants to be done. Even so, I'd expect some level of interest and engagement, professionally-speaking. I was contrasting this with advisors at my previous university, and oh man, the differences are so stark. I always felt like I was listened to and respected and that my advisors genuinely cared about my research. Never had I feel like I was talking to myself all the time when I met with them, or anxiety when meeting time approaches. Just want to vent since this has been on my chest for a while. I'm wondering if others can offer perspective or experience so I can conclude if this advisor is truly a jerk or just displaying "normal behaviors" of PI of a large lab.
RESPONSE A: Just bear in mind that he might have something else going on in his life. Sickness, a bad marriage, debt, problems with children -so many things. It does not excuse his behavior, but there may well be something going on that has taken his eye off the ball.
RESPONSE B: I am somewhat surprised at the answers till now. What you have there is - without a doubt - a bad advisor. Sure, could be that something else is occupying his mind, but what you described is completely disrespectful. In a normal relationship (private or professional) this would be not acceptable, but sadly as a PhD student... Anyway, all you can do is finish up as soon as possible - you said you're almost done. Thank the heavens for that
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: the whirl of higher knowledge and studies, that someone might not even consider while trying for a job?" I can tell you from my personal experience that there have been instances from my life where I have seen people excel so much in their lives. Like one of the people I know (with whom I have studied basically) is being recognized by many people outside of my country. He's doing some pretty amazing business collaborations (UX and stuff, tbh) and I am grinding myself to learn how drug delivery systems work! I don't even know whether people would recognize this in the future or not. It might sound like I am jealous of him. Well, in a way, you would be right! I might be jealous that wonderful things are happening to everyone else other than me. I have been really pushing myself to do some cool stuff and I must say that I have succeeded in some as well (that I am proud of, tbh!) but in real life, it seems I am out of the race and they are far beyond my reach. Is this my guilt of not driving in the right way as him? Or, is it my imposter syndrome that is hindering me to make progress? Have you felt like this is now the stopping point in my life and feel like you are engulfed by total darkness and nothing seems to be okay now! What are your personal experiences? Could you share? How did you find a way to tackle it, if you have any! Would love any advice or hear your story out!
RESPONSE A: I'm not trying to be trite or sarcastic, but you need therapy. Make an appointment with a therapist. Today. it will help. And yes, imposter syndrome is very common among academics. We have a very abstract job, with uncertain outcomes, and usually no tangible product. We are also in a bubble, surrounded by overachievers and rockstar geniuses. So we torture ourselves by comparing ourselves with the smartest and most successful 0.01% of the population. I guarantee most people would consider you very successful, smart, and priviledged. You aren't a failure just because you didn't win a Nobel Prize.
RESPONSE B: *looks at a calendar* Yes.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: Imposter syndrome or guilt? Has there been any instance in your life where you felt like: "Okay, my life has come to a halt! People around me are doing crazy amazing jobs and what am I doing? Grinding myself into the whirl of higher knowledge and studies, that someone might not even consider while trying for a job?" I can tell you from my personal experience that there have been instances from my life where I have seen people excel so much in their lives. Like one of the people I know (with whom I have studied basically) is being recognized by many people outside of my country. He's doing some pretty amazing business collaborations (UX and stuff, tbh) and I am grinding myself to learn how drug delivery systems work! I don't even know whether people would recognize this in the future or not. It might sound like I am jealous of him. Well, in a way, you would be right! I might be jealous that wonderful things are happening to everyone else other than me. I have been really pushing myself to do some cool stuff and I must say that I have succeeded in some as well (that I am proud of, tbh!) but in real life, it seems I am out of the race and they are far beyond my reach. Is this my guilt of not driving in the right way as him? Or, is it my imposter syndrome that is hindering me to make progress? Have you felt like this is now the stopping point in my life and feel like you are engulfed by total darkness and nothing seems to be okay now! What are your personal experiences? Could you share? How did you find a way to tackle it, if you have any! Would love any advice or hear your story out!
RESPONSE A: *looks at a calendar* Yes.
RESPONSE B: I don’t think it’s just academia. Any field you go into, you run the risk of being a middling performer or having bad luck and not getting recognized. Comparison is the thief of joy, look back at how far YOU have come, don’t compare your low points to other people’s highlight reels, get off social media (esp LinkedIn).
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: future or not. It might sound like I am jealous of him. Well, in a way, you would be right! I might be jealous that wonderful things are happening to everyone else other than me. I have been really pushing myself to do some cool stuff and I must say that I have succeeded in some as well (that I am proud of, tbh!) but in real life, it seems I am out of the race and they are far beyond my reach. Is this my guilt of not driving in the right way as him? Or, is it my imposter syndrome that is hindering me to make progress? Have you felt like this is now the stopping point in my life and feel like you are engulfed by total darkness and nothing seems to be okay now! What are your personal experiences? Could you share? How did you find a way to tackle it, if you have any! Would love any advice or hear your story out!
RESPONSE A: In my experience, the worst people ended up with the best career outcomes from high school onwards. So even though I do get envious and sad about my relative career trajectory sometimes, I remind myself that this world isn't fair and that I'm not entitled to good things. I have to go out and strategize/seize them for myself. It's a pep talk of sorts. The other thing is that I ended up in my safety school for the PhD, so I have been experiencing the opposite of the imposter syndrome I dealt with in my master's program. It's cringe hearing people in my program talk about imposter syndrome when the academic quality here is nowhere near Ivy/Oxbridge. I'm truly puzzled at who they think they are impostering lol. But the vibe here is super nice and all about helping each other, so my mental health has been at ease.
RESPONSE B: I don’t think it’s just academia. Any field you go into, you run the risk of being a middling performer or having bad luck and not getting recognized. Comparison is the thief of joy, look back at how far YOU have come, don’t compare your low points to other people’s highlight reels, get off social media (esp LinkedIn).
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: Imposter Syndrome but manifesting weirdly! I have a manuscript accepted at a thing. I promised to post the code I used in the paper. But now I have a sinking feeling, that when I post it, everybody will pick it apart and tear me apart for not-great/bad coding practices. I mean, the code I used is not the focus of the paper, just a means to an end and its pretty standard normal stuff. But, I am paralyzed with dread. Is this normal? Also, this is my first publication, in case that info helps!
RESPONSE A: Totally normal. I also sometimes feel fear showing people my code or my derivation in case they discover I made a mistake somewhere. You have to push through and do it anyways. Make sure your code is commented appropriately and then post it. If people come back with recommendations or comments, that's great - it means you can make it better. But probably they'll just use it and appreciate you making it available. Courage is not the lack of fear, but being willing to act while you're scared.
RESPONSE B: Just post the code. Unless you are a computer programmer who has promised some kind of fancy, new, and highly efficient algorithm, then nobody will care about your code, for either of two reasons: 1. They *aren't* computer people and just don't care about "computer stuff" at all. They'll just be interested in the results of the main paper. 2. They *are* computer people, so if they want to run your code but see suboptimal programming techniques, they'll just update the code on their own as they see fit before running it, by which point they'll have forgotten about the original code they started with. This is nothing to be worried about. Post the code as you promised, and everything will be fine.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: Imposter Syndrome but manifesting weirdly! I have a manuscript accepted at a thing. I promised to post the code I used in the paper. But now I have a sinking feeling, that when I post it, everybody will pick it apart and tear me apart for not-great/bad coding practices. I mean, the code I used is not the focus of the paper, just a means to an end and its pretty standard normal stuff. But, I am paralyzed with dread. Is this normal? Also, this is my first publication, in case that info helps!
RESPONSE A: Totally normal. I also sometimes feel fear showing people my code or my derivation in case they discover I made a mistake somewhere. You have to push through and do it anyways. Make sure your code is commented appropriately and then post it. If people come back with recommendations or comments, that's great - it means you can make it better. But probably they'll just use it and appreciate you making it available. Courage is not the lack of fear, but being willing to act while you're scared.
RESPONSE B: Normal feeling. Also lol, no one’s actually gonna read your code.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: Imposter Syndrome but manifesting weirdly! I have a manuscript accepted at a thing. I promised to post the code I used in the paper. But now I have a sinking feeling, that when I post it, everybody will pick it apart and tear me apart for not-great/bad coding practices. I mean, the code I used is not the focus of the paper, just a means to an end and its pretty standard normal stuff. But, I am paralyzed with dread. Is this normal? Also, this is my first publication, in case that info helps!
RESPONSE A: Thats not imposter syndrome. Thats fear that you did something wrong and people will tear you apart.
RESPONSE B: Normal feeling. Also lol, no one’s actually gonna read your code.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: The imposter syndrome during job search This is my final year in PhD and searching for jobs in industry and academia. I always end up feeling that i am not good enough or not fit for the job, even though i have all the skillset. I dont know what to do.. I often end up with paralysis where i just think about the post and why i don't deserve it. My only strategy right now is to apply to various multiple positions as much as possible. I hate this uncertainty during the job search.
RESPONSE A: I have years of experience working with children, conducting research, working in clinical settings and as a student and I still feel this way myself. But, fake it till you make it. You worked THIS hard to get your PhD, you have to take some stock in the fact that you did this. No one else took your classes, did your research, wrote your papers, mounted your dissertation defense, etc. Sure, you might have had help, no man is an island, but you did all the work and are just entering the next step of your journey.
RESPONSE B: I finished my phd 10 years ago and I have tenure and I just found out I may get a huge (like several hundred thousand dollar) grant and I have crazy imposter syndrome right now. Like they want a 2 page explanation of how we will address a certain issue and I'm like..oh no..I'm going to screw up those two pages, and they are going to figure out I have no idea what I'm doing! And what's worse is if I get the grant, I actually have to do the project! I am seriously freaking out about this right now. So yeah it never ends haha.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: The imposter syndrome during job search This is my final year in PhD and searching for jobs in industry and academia. I always end up feeling that i am not good enough or not fit for the job, even though i have all the skillset. I dont know what to do.. I often end up with paralysis where i just think about the post and why i don't deserve it. My only strategy right now is to apply to various multiple positions as much as possible. I hate this uncertainty during the job search.
RESPONSE A: I know the feeling. Some tips: * everything is an achievement. If you got travel funding for a conference, put that as succesfull funding on your CV. Relevant volunteering is useful as well * Collaborations are important as well, list those for example in projects where you helped * show how your skills match the person specification * if you get to interview stage: answer and don't let silence take over.
RESPONSE B: I finished my phd 10 years ago and I have tenure and I just found out I may get a huge (like several hundred thousand dollar) grant and I have crazy imposter syndrome right now. Like they want a 2 page explanation of how we will address a certain issue and I'm like..oh no..I'm going to screw up those two pages, and they are going to figure out I have no idea what I'm doing! And what's worse is if I get the grant, I actually have to do the project! I am seriously freaking out about this right now. So yeah it never ends haha.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: Lingering imposter syndrome and anxiety I graduated with my PhD in a STEM field in June, but I am still feeling major imposter syndrome effects. I had a rough time emotionally through my PhD (as most people do) and nearly left twice. I'm not impressed with my work. I feel like some of my experimental results were cherry-picked and my committee never realized. My advisor wants to re-submit two papers that never got through while I was a student, but I can't seem to bring myself to do new experiments for these papers. Doing these experiments brings back a lot of memories throughout the last 6 years that are tough to deal with. I can't seem to bring myself to work on my PhD line of research at all. The two papers to work on have been rejected several times already: 1 was rejected twice, and the other was rejected three times. I just want to be done with this chapter of my life, but I worry that my advisor will always want to do more. The paper that's been rejected 3 times is a joint paper with another prof and student, and everybody is waiting on me to do more. I'm not sure that I'm emotionally ready to start working on these papers again, and that makes me feel weak, unprofessional, and like a disappointment. Has anyone experienced this lingering imposter syndrome and/or anxiety? Did you ever overcome it?
RESPONSE A: I joke with my Ph.D. students that they aren't ready to graduate until they hate their thesis, their advisor, and often themselves for doing it. As with many jokes, there is a grain of truth to it. Just keep moving forward. The feeling will fade.
RESPONSE B: You could tell them you’re done with this project, hand it off to the student or another one of the coauthors, and take a demotion in the author list. I think the bigger question is will this paper help you going forward? If not, then spend your time on something more useful to you.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: papers to work on have been rejected several times already: 1 was rejected twice, and the other was rejected three times. I just want to be done with this chapter of my life, but I worry that my advisor will always want to do more. The paper that's been rejected 3 times is a joint paper with another prof and student, and everybody is waiting on me to do more. I'm not sure that I'm emotionally ready to start working on these papers again, and that makes me feel weak, unprofessional, and like a disappointment. Has anyone experienced this lingering imposter syndrome and/or anxiety? Did you ever overcome it?
RESPONSE A: You know what they call someone who gets a PhD but feels like an imposter? Doctor. The anxiety is another question altogether. You might consider finding someone professional to talk about it with. There are many ways to deal with it, from the pharmaceutical to the behavioral and everything in between. Sometimes just talking about it helps you feel more in control, and that addresses the underlying issue. I found quitting caffeine helped mellow me out a lot; your mileage may vary. But don't feel like you have to do it alone. Reach out and find a way to manage it. Personally, I found my post-PhD-anxiety decreased dramatically once I found my footing _away_ from my advisor and home institution. Then I could "break out" of whatever "student-mode" I was in and concentrate on being whatever I was going to be next (in that case, a postdoc). Again, your mileage may vary (postdocs can be stressful to, in their own way). But it does sound like you have residual issues regarding your advisor and this old work and would prefer to make a "clean sweep" of it. If that's the case, it's worth figuring out a way to make that happen — even talking it over with your advisor, if you think they'd be understanding. If not — maybe find a way out of that situation.
RESPONSE B: Best thing to do in order to combat imposter syndrome is to mentor someone younger than you! You’ll hear yourself teach them things and you’ll be like, “Holy shit, I actually know stuff...”
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: list somehow...? How do I prevent this from happening again? Any similar stories from others here?
RESPONSE A: This happens far more to junior level folks than anyone will admit. This happened to me more than once, under more than one mentor and later with peer and senior collaborators. It makes you end up feeling very used, and also makes one wonder if this is how some of those people get to, and remain, at the top of their game. Surprisingly, it was never the tyrannical types that did this (with those, you can see it coming), it is with the charismatic, even somewhat "nicer" types of PIs, that attract people to flock to them with excitement about research (I guess that makes it easier to blindside you). It also made me, as the recipient of this lack of respect, do a lot of self-blame and wonder if I have a "doormat" personality that caused this to happen. When I suspected it was happening prior to publication, I was unable to fix the situation without being accused of causing drama. I have only had one former big-name mentor give me an unprompted apology that s/he knows s/he did me a huge disservice that likely affected my career, but I did not get the apology until 20 years later . . . So I can commiserate, but unfortunately I have no solution for you. I was never smart enough to figure this out. This is one of the reasons I eventually left the politics of trying to be a major player in basic research, but I was extremely fortunate that I had other academic career options that others do not.
RESPONSE B: You can contact the journal editor and try to have a correction made. The more evidence that you can supply, the better. You don't have to lay down and take it. Though the coauthors will find out, and be upset, you wouldn't be doing anything they, or any rational person, wouldn't do. At this stage of your career, a PNAS coauthorship is worth far more than anything else they could give you (e.g. letter of recommendation). And finally, if it leads to a retraction, that's in your advantage as well because you can republish.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: include me in the discussions. To add to the political aspect, somebody else is on the paper who I'm certain did little work - he was an author on our last paper on the same topic but did not do any of the computational modeling work that is being showcased in this new paper... I know for a fact he doesn't know how. I have no idea how that could be but it looks like he was just thrown on the authorship list for some reason. Needless to say, I'm quite frustrated. But now I'm not sure what to do. Way after the fact, she wrote me an uncharacteristically friendly email showing the paper was published and privately acknowledging my contribution (but not apologizing...), maybe meant to just make me feel better? She downplayed how much I would have benefited from the authorship but that, frankly, seems insane to me. I don't feel like I have power in this situation but I feel I was severely exploited. Is there a way to post-hoc edit the authorship list somehow...? How do I prevent this from happening again? Any similar stories from others here?
RESPONSE A: This is awful and I agree with /u/lalochezia1 about how to proceed. But I'm interested in your statement that "it was generally understood that I'd be part of this paper" - what does that mean? I learned early and the hard way to have the awkward, explicit conversation about authorship early on in the process - you can't be afraid to advocate for yourself. This would be a reliable way to avoid something like this happening again.
RESPONSE B: You can contact the journal editor and try to have a correction made. The more evidence that you can supply, the better. You don't have to lay down and take it. Though the coauthors will find out, and be upset, you wouldn't be doing anything they, or any rational person, wouldn't do. At this stage of your career, a PNAS coauthorship is worth far more than anything else they could give you (e.g. letter of recommendation). And finally, if it leads to a retraction, that's in your advantage as well because you can republish.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: was led by our collaborators but a professor in my department, who is on my committee, was heavily involved in the paper and was the main connection between us and our collaborators. It's shocking and disappointing that she would somehow neglect to include me in the discussions. To add to the political aspect, somebody else is on the paper who I'm certain did little work - he was an author on our last paper on the same topic but did not do any of the computational modeling work that is being showcased in this new paper... I know for a fact he doesn't know how. I have no idea how that could be but it looks like he was just thrown on the authorship list for some reason. Needless to say, I'm quite frustrated. But now I'm not sure what to do. Way after the fact, she wrote me an uncharacteristically friendly email showing the paper was published and privately acknowledging my contribution (but not apologizing...), maybe meant to just make me feel better? She downplayed how much I would have benefited from the authorship but that, frankly, seems insane to me. I don't feel like I have power in this situation but I feel I was severely exploited. Is there a way to post-hoc edit the authorship list somehow...? How do I prevent this from happening again? Any similar stories from others here?
RESPONSE A: You can contact the journal editor and try to have a correction made. The more evidence that you can supply, the better. You don't have to lay down and take it. Though the coauthors will find out, and be upset, you wouldn't be doing anything they, or any rational person, wouldn't do. At this stage of your career, a PNAS coauthorship is worth far more than anything else they could give you (e.g. letter of recommendation). And finally, if it leads to a retraction, that's in your advantage as well because you can republish.
RESPONSE B: It sucks this happened to you. It’s fine if stand up for yourself. What does your primary advisor say on the matter? In the future, it’s very important to keep track of things like this before they become problems.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: like I have power in this situation but I feel I was severely exploited. Is there a way to post-hoc edit the authorship list somehow...? How do I prevent this from happening again? Any similar stories from others here?
RESPONSE A: This is awful and I agree with /u/lalochezia1 about how to proceed. But I'm interested in your statement that "it was generally understood that I'd be part of this paper" - what does that mean? I learned early and the hard way to have the awkward, explicit conversation about authorship early on in the process - you can't be afraid to advocate for yourself. This would be a reliable way to avoid something like this happening again.
RESPONSE B: This happens far more to junior level folks than anyone will admit. This happened to me more than once, under more than one mentor and later with peer and senior collaborators. It makes you end up feeling very used, and also makes one wonder if this is how some of those people get to, and remain, at the top of their game. Surprisingly, it was never the tyrannical types that did this (with those, you can see it coming), it is with the charismatic, even somewhat "nicer" types of PIs, that attract people to flock to them with excitement about research (I guess that makes it easier to blindside you). It also made me, as the recipient of this lack of respect, do a lot of self-blame and wonder if I have a "doormat" personality that caused this to happen. When I suspected it was happening prior to publication, I was unable to fix the situation without being accused of causing drama. I have only had one former big-name mentor give me an unprompted apology that s/he knows s/he did me a huge disservice that likely affected my career, but I did not get the apology until 20 years later . . . So I can commiserate, but unfortunately I have no solution for you. I was never smart enough to figure this out. This is one of the reasons I eventually left the politics of trying to be a major player in basic research, but I was extremely fortunate that I had other academic career options that others do not.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: risk taking a lower grade for the sake of maintaining the peace?
RESPONSE A: Hmmm, I don't really know. Maybe you could add more slides at the end as a sort of 'conceptual integration' or 'conclusion' or something like that, and teach that part during class. That way you don't have to delete everyone's work and you get to do things the way you want. Or maybe you could do the same but during the class, without the slides. Something like: member 1 talks about paper A, then member 2 talks about paper B, and then you talk about differences and similarities or something like that. Hope this helps :)
RESPONSE B: So here's the thing. You're clearly understanding the assignment, you're clearly well prepared for the assignment, and you're clearly smarter than your peers. The key now is to not be an ass about it. Your peers are eager, making an effort, putting in their piece, but they're missing the key component -the synthesis part. I think you need to acknowledge that they're not trying to hijack the assignment - by preparing slides way ahead of time - but rather they are being eager and putting in an effort- they're just missing the synthesis bit. So instead of only *telling* them that what they did wasn't enough -or even explaining that what they did wasn't enough, I think you should also show them what you mean by making your contribution to the assignment by actually doing a synthesis and giving them an alternative framework that they could then slot all the hard work they've done into. So perhaps you could create a new PowerPoint with an outline (doesn't have to be fully fleshed out, you don't need to do allll the work or redo the assignment- but at least create a structure and framework to visually demonstrate what you want to do and to guide them along the right path. Clearly just talking to them didn't seem to work, so now you can show them as well. Hopefully by showing them what you mean, not just talking about it, you can push things forward. Also you're doing some of the work and doing your part. That's how I'd approach this.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: did not want to be like the previous groups before us and that I wanted to actually meet the expectations set out by our professor. They all seemed passionate and excited about the assignment, however one of the group members sent us a PowerPoint 2 weeks before any of us had even met with it organized exactly how the previous groups had theirs organized. I explained during the meeting my opinion of how I believe the professor wants a conceptual, comprehensive lesson as opposed to independent summaries of the articles. I don’t think she understood what I was trying to say, but our other group member eventually caught on and agreed. She admitted to not doing so well on the weekly essays we’re assigned and our other group member admitted to scoring C’s on her last few. I kept quiet during this conversation because I haven’t received a grade lower than a 93 on anything I’ve turned in, and didn’t want to be off putting. But after going back and forth for awhile trying to explain it to her, we agreed to read the readings independently and then reconvene next week. Last night she sends me the “updated” PowerPoint via email asking if I can fill in the last two slides. Nothing changed regarding its organization so I don’t email back and opt to discuss today at tonight’s meeting. A few minutes ago, she texts the group chat asking again if I could have the authors organized by year by Tuesday. I’m annoyed and at a loss on how to proceed. Do I just cave and risk taking a lower grade for the sake of maintaining the peace?
RESPONSE A: What if the project is the other person’s individual summaries followed by your tying everything together?
RESPONSE B: Hmmm, I don't really know. Maybe you could add more slides at the end as a sort of 'conceptual integration' or 'conclusion' or something like that, and teach that part during class. That way you don't have to delete everyone's work and you get to do things the way you want. Or maybe you could do the same but during the class, without the slides. Something like: member 1 talks about paper A, then member 2 talks about paper B, and then you talk about differences and similarities or something like that. Hope this helps :)
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: by slide saying “author x said this and this is what he meant by that. Author y said this, and this is what he meant by that”. This is not how I understood the assignment to be completed, and our professor has had to come back behind each group to connect the pieces of information together and reteach the class. Our group met last week and I explained to them that I did not want to be like the previous groups before us and that I wanted to actually meet the expectations set out by our professor. They all seemed passionate and excited about the assignment, however one of the group members sent us a PowerPoint 2 weeks before any of us had even met with it organized exactly how the previous groups had theirs organized. I explained during the meeting my opinion of how I believe the professor wants a conceptual, comprehensive lesson as opposed to independent summaries of the articles. I don’t think she understood what I was trying to say, but our other group member eventually caught on and agreed. She admitted to not doing so well on the weekly essays we’re assigned and our other group member admitted to scoring C’s on her last few. I kept quiet during this conversation because I haven’t received a grade lower than a 93 on anything I’ve turned in, and didn’t want to be off putting. But after going back and forth for awhile trying to explain it to her, we agreed to read the readings independently and then reconvene next week. Last night she sends me the “updated” PowerPoint via email asking if I can fill in the last two slides. Nothing changed regarding its organization so I don’t email back and opt to discuss today at tonight’s meeting. A few minutes ago, she texts the group chat asking again if I could have the authors organized by year by Tuesday. I’m annoyed and at a loss on how to proceed. Do I just cave and risk taking a lower grade for the sake of maintaining the peace?
RESPONSE A: I mean…the easy answer is to start with the summaries then synthesize on the back end after the articles have been summarized. Everyone contributes and everyone wins.
RESPONSE B: Group work is more important even if it is a lower grade. Work on your soft skills and try harder next time to convince the group.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: each group to connect the pieces of information together and reteach the class. Our group met last week and I explained to them that I did not want to be like the previous groups before us and that I wanted to actually meet the expectations set out by our professor. They all seemed passionate and excited about the assignment, however one of the group members sent us a PowerPoint 2 weeks before any of us had even met with it organized exactly how the previous groups had theirs organized. I explained during the meeting my opinion of how I believe the professor wants a conceptual, comprehensive lesson as opposed to independent summaries of the articles. I don’t think she understood what I was trying to say, but our other group member eventually caught on and agreed. She admitted to not doing so well on the weekly essays we’re assigned and our other group member admitted to scoring C’s on her last few. I kept quiet during this conversation because I haven’t received a grade lower than a 93 on anything I’ve turned in, and didn’t want to be off putting. But after going back and forth for awhile trying to explain it to her, we agreed to read the readings independently and then reconvene next week. Last night she sends me the “updated” PowerPoint via email asking if I can fill in the last two slides. Nothing changed regarding its organization so I don’t email back and opt to discuss today at tonight’s meeting. A few minutes ago, she texts the group chat asking again if I could have the authors organized by year by Tuesday. I’m annoyed and at a loss on how to proceed. Do I just cave and risk taking a lower grade for the sake of maintaining the peace?
RESPONSE A: Group work is more important even if it is a lower grade. Work on your soft skills and try harder next time to convince the group.
RESPONSE B: Literally I do not understand what is stopping you from making the changes you want. All I am hearing is a bunch of whining. What has been your contribution?... The way I see it your classmate took some initiative and started the project, and if you want to improve it then do so, take some initiative too, fr. Make edits, present edits, im sure they will be good and the group will appreciate them.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: completed, and our professor has had to come back behind each group to connect the pieces of information together and reteach the class. Our group met last week and I explained to them that I did not want to be like the previous groups before us and that I wanted to actually meet the expectations set out by our professor. They all seemed passionate and excited about the assignment, however one of the group members sent us a PowerPoint 2 weeks before any of us had even met with it organized exactly how the previous groups had theirs organized. I explained during the meeting my opinion of how I believe the professor wants a conceptual, comprehensive lesson as opposed to independent summaries of the articles. I don’t think she understood what I was trying to say, but our other group member eventually caught on and agreed. She admitted to not doing so well on the weekly essays we’re assigned and our other group member admitted to scoring C’s on her last few. I kept quiet during this conversation because I haven’t received a grade lower than a 93 on anything I’ve turned in, and didn’t want to be off putting. But after going back and forth for awhile trying to explain it to her, we agreed to read the readings independently and then reconvene next week. Last night she sends me the “updated” PowerPoint via email asking if I can fill in the last two slides. Nothing changed regarding its organization so I don’t email back and opt to discuss today at tonight’s meeting. A few minutes ago, she texts the group chat asking again if I could have the authors organized by year by Tuesday. I’m annoyed and at a loss on how to proceed. Do I just cave and risk taking a lower grade for the sake of maintaining the peace?
RESPONSE A: Group work is more important even if it is a lower grade. Work on your soft skills and try harder next time to convince the group.
RESPONSE B: Instead of talking about the different idea, you could try to show it through your own organization of the ppt or making your own slides. That puts a real alternative out there instead of something hypothetical. Another idea instead of saving the connections for the end is to show connections or major themes within the existing, boring structure. Could be bolded words, notes in bubbles, something graphical.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: , how do you cope with giving 3-6 hours lecture every day of your life for decades? Even a single lecture takes a lot of concentration, focus and its like a presentation/a performance. With lots of students making jokes at you or making bad comments, people yawning, being disrespectful/mocking, interruptions, disturbances etc etc. Doing that for decades. And even during times of personal crises like when you are divorced or dealing with grief in your personal life etc---how do you deal with it all anyway?
RESPONSE A: I suspect perhaps that you're an anxious type. I am too. One thing to keep in mind is that you don't have to do all 30 years at once. They come at you one at a time. Don't borrow 30 years of anxiety right now. Personally, teaching is stressful. I find it exhausting, but I teach a 2:2 load. That's six hours of teaching per week. I have NO idea how gradeschool teachers do it all day everyday, but six hours is just a small chunk of my week.
RESPONSE B: I teach a few different courses and I try to change them up so it's not the same course over and over every semester. Next semester will be my 16 and 17th time teaching stats but it's been almost 2 years since I last taught it plus an election year so I'm looking forward to it. I try to change up something about the class, maybe update an assignment or text or add some new class activity or in a non stats class completely redo 1 or 2 lectures each semester, that way I keep things fresh but don't have to reinvent the wheel. As for teaching during a personal crises, for me teaching was a great distraction from the personal problems going on in my life cause while I'm teaching I am definitely not thinking about my problems. As for rude students they are new every semester and the rude ones leave but you always get to meet cool new ones who inspire you as people too. I also teach 3 to 9 hours a week not 3 to 6 a day...and it is a performance which is intense but part of why I like the job. I did drama as a kid and was always in plays, it is fairly similar and something I enjoy doing.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: How do you cope with lecturing and teaching the same subject over and over for decades of your life even during times of personal crises? Non-native English speaker here. It seems to me that, teaching the same subject or courses for decades must get extremely boring to a point that it must be excruciating and downright maddening. How do you cope with it? Also, how do you cope with giving 3-6 hours lecture every day of your life for decades? Even a single lecture takes a lot of concentration, focus and its like a presentation/a performance. With lots of students making jokes at you or making bad comments, people yawning, being disrespectful/mocking, interruptions, disturbances etc etc. Doing that for decades. And even during times of personal crises like when you are divorced or dealing with grief in your personal life etc---how do you deal with it all anyway?
RESPONSE A: I suspect perhaps that you're an anxious type. I am too. One thing to keep in mind is that you don't have to do all 30 years at once. They come at you one at a time. Don't borrow 30 years of anxiety right now. Personally, teaching is stressful. I find it exhausting, but I teach a 2:2 load. That's six hours of teaching per week. I have NO idea how gradeschool teachers do it all day everyday, but six hours is just a small chunk of my week.
RESPONSE B: So many questions. 1. I don't lecture. I teach intro to X type courses. I allow students to explain and give examples of most of the chapter. I then facilitate the discussion and add my own explanation and examples. It's way easier than prepping a lecture. 2. I have the meanest, leanest syllabus ever. By the time they walk into the classroom, they know I will not tolerate any BS. 3. Grief. When my dad died, I went into the classroom and just did it as if nothing had happened. Honestly, it it was something like a divorce or an unexpected death (my dad had been ill so it wasn't unexpected), I don't know what I would do.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: be like. Being overworked each day, having to compete with thousands of other people for a fraction of spots available, having no TT opportunities... At this point I think I only kept going because I hate the software industry so much that even the BS of academia sounded more pleasant. But I don't want to put effort anymore, I don't see anything positive coming out of it. It has made me hate the subject as a whole. Especially programming. I like the code I have written for the papers. But I don't want to see another person's code ever again. I don't ever want to debug someone else's code, I don't want to look at it, looking at anyone else's code nowadays physically stresses me, I can feel the anxiety rising. I am older, and that means my fluid IQ is on decline, and academia seems to suffer from age discrimination. At this point even if I get in, I don't know if it's worth it. Has someone regained their motivation to study their topic? Have the positives of being a researcher justified the stress and the ridiculous competition that is modern academia for you?
RESPONSE A: If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please reach out. You can find help at a National Suicide Prevention Lifeline USA: 18002738255 US Crisis textline: 741741 text HOME United Kingdom: 116 123 Trans Lifeline (877-565-8860) Others: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org
RESPONSE B: You are correct in thinking that networking matters big time in academia. Have you contacted professors after applying to programs? that would significantly increase the possibility of being accepted. You may not see how that would be worth it, but I can. I think you would be a great research scientist or research professor. Those are position that have you coming up with your own code to solve a problem without having to mentor students, teaching, network to establish collaborations, or writing grants and finding funding. But you can only access those positions with a graduate degree (for the most part) or by strategically networking and selling yourself at present.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: to debug someone else's code, I don't want to look at it, looking at anyone else's code nowadays physically stresses me, I can feel the anxiety rising. I am older, and that means my fluid IQ is on decline, and academia seems to suffer from age discrimination. At this point even if I get in, I don't know if it's worth it. Has someone regained their motivation to study their topic? Have the positives of being a researcher justified the stress and the ridiculous competition that is modern academia for you?
RESPONSE A: My field is different (clinical psychology), but I know the feeling of being rejected by programs (doctorate programs for 3 years/cycles). I'm not competitive, and I dislike it. It has made me fall out of love with my field. Anxiety sucks, and makes your very self stand still. Time continues, but it stands still for you. It is a horrible feeling. This advice has helped me. At the end of last year, I resolved myself to make a goal for this New Year. Something I can accomplish. I decided to work in the field doing something, anything, at the end of the year, I will decide if my confidence has been regained in this field (and apply for another round of doctorate programs) or truly decide to switch to a new one (Nursing has been on my radar). Use your education and skills as a base, and build off of that. Check career sites for positions and look at the qualifications of something. Data Science, Health Information, and so on. You might try out multiple things to get a sense of the career that you want. I hope this helps, at least a little. Good luck to you, and be kind to yourself.
RESPONSE B: Apply to more programs, find something that you actually like within your field (CS is a wide and ever widening field), then actually commit to it instead of the idea of it. Academia isn't about getting good grades or getting on the Dean's list. And getting rejected from a program won't be your last rejection if you decide to go to graduate school. Professors want students who are interested in their field, not interested in the job.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: . I've tried to push her to do this, but she doesn't budge. I've been very critical of Hanna here, but she is brilliant (like was valedictorian of undergrad and got almost perfect 4.0 in grad school), very caring and thoughtful, and I think is an amazing teacher. She is not the most organized and for some reason will not put things on a calendar to go do. She does not like writing grants, is on the fence about papers, and enjoys talking to the people she is close to and that's about it. Judging from all of her advisors who I could not stomach working for, I don't think she's great at judging character. She seems more unhappy now than she has in a while (probably about as unhappy as she was when she changed post-docs). She thinks she needs to stay in her current post-doc another year while she applies to positions at small universities. I'm really worried about her - I know a job you despise can make your life miserable and lead to depression. She may already be there. I want to help her. -Should I push her to leave academia? -Should I continue to push her to get on top of the small university applications? -Does she really need to stay at this post-doc another year if she wants to pursue an faculty position? -Would it really be the end of her academic career if she took an industry job for the next year? -What should I be doing to support her? -What advice do you have for her that I should pass along?
RESPONSE A: I think your friend tells you this stuff because she wants to vent, not because she wants you to solve her problems. As someone outside of academia, I don’t think you’re capable of solving her problems. So just listen and be empathetic.
RESPONSE B: Your friend sounds a lot like me, in many ways, especially in regard to having a real interest in teaching and less interest in research. The answer is probably to find a teaching-focused job in a smaller university. That's my dream job too, but where I am (the UK) it's hard to come by.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: a while (probably about as unhappy as she was when she changed post-docs). She thinks she needs to stay in her current post-doc another year while she applies to positions at small universities. I'm really worried about her - I know a job you despise can make your life miserable and lead to depression. She may already be there. I want to help her. -Should I push her to leave academia? -Should I continue to push her to get on top of the small university applications? -Does she really need to stay at this post-doc another year if she wants to pursue an faculty position? -Would it really be the end of her academic career if she took an industry job for the next year? -What should I be doing to support her? -What advice do you have for her that I should pass along?
RESPONSE A: I think your friend tells you this stuff because she wants to vent, not because she wants you to solve her problems. As someone outside of academia, I don’t think you’re capable of solving her problems. So just listen and be empathetic.
RESPONSE B: It's not your job and you can't fix someone who isn't willing to put in the effort. I'll be honest and say I skim read the last third of your essay because it's clear Hanna is making the same mistakes over and over, is unhappy but doesn't want to change. She wants to be in academia no matter how unhappy it's making her. It's an important life lesson not to take on the problems of others and not to try and solve problems that aren't yours to solve. At this point, you need to accept Hanna is her own person who must make her own mistakes. You can be there to support her and offer advice if she asks for it, but otherwise you need to step back and let her live her life. Otherwise you will destroy the friendship. If her unhappiness and refusal to change becomes too much, you can tell her that or you can change the subject when she raises it. It might be that the friendship is doomed anyway, if she's consumed by this pattern of behaviour she won't change.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: few, but frustratingly just with previous lab mates. She also doesn't network. In my industry, that's just about the most important thing you can do. She is very introverted, and covid definitely hasn't helped get her going to events and just meeting other people in academia. I've tried to push her to do this, but she doesn't budge. I've been very critical of Hanna here, but she is brilliant (like was valedictorian of undergrad and got almost perfect 4.0 in grad school), very caring and thoughtful, and I think is an amazing teacher. She is not the most organized and for some reason will not put things on a calendar to go do. She does not like writing grants, is on the fence about papers, and enjoys talking to the people she is close to and that's about it. Judging from all of her advisors who I could not stomach working for, I don't think she's great at judging character. She seems more unhappy now than she has in a while (probably about as unhappy as she was when she changed post-docs). She thinks she needs to stay in her current post-doc another year while she applies to positions at small universities. I'm really worried about her - I know a job you despise can make your life miserable and lead to depression. She may already be there. I want to help her. -Should I push her to leave academia? -Should I continue to push her to get on top of the small university applications? -Does she really need to stay at this post-doc another year if she wants to pursue an faculty position? -Would it really be the end of her academic career if she took an industry job for the next year? -What should I be doing to support her? -What advice do you have for her that I should pass along?
RESPONSE A: Why are you so involved just leave her alone
RESPONSE B: I think your friend tells you this stuff because she wants to vent, not because she wants you to solve her problems. As someone outside of academia, I don’t think you’re capable of solving her problems. So just listen and be empathetic.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: What reason do I put to recommend a reviewer for a journal paper? I'm going to submit my first journal paper this week, and have got to recommend some reviewers. However, what reason do I put for recommending them? I can't leave it blank, so what are they looking for? I want to put something like "expert in the field" or "knowledgable on topic area", but this seems so vague it's almost pointless. Anyone ever had to do this?
RESPONSE A: I'm in a stem field. But I usually first ask my PI for who he recommends since they know the field better. Then if I need more names, I'll go through that particular journal and look for publications in fields similar to mine or similar to an aspect of mine that recently published as well. With the hopes that they will be knowledgeable as well as know the level of expectations for that journal (not expect high tier amount of experiments for a mid tier journal). And remember these names are suggestions and those names have the option to not review your paper. In which case, the editor will find others.
RESPONSE B: If you're in STEM, then a good strategy would be to choose at least one reviewer who is familiar with your particular field of research, i.e. can provide an expert opinion on the topic you're writing about, and then at least one reviewer who is an expert in the major methods or techniques you used to do your experiments who can provide an expert opinion on the soundness of your experimental strategy and the appropriateness of your data interpretation. Some journals call these a "subject matter reviewer" and a "technical reviewer." For the reasons, state exactly that: Dr. X is an expert in <whatever my field is>, and Dr. Y is an expert in <this major experimental technique I used>.
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POST: What reason do I put to recommend a reviewer for a journal paper? I'm going to submit my first journal paper this week, and have got to recommend some reviewers. However, what reason do I put for recommending them? I can't leave it blank, so what are they looking for? I want to put something like "expert in the field" or "knowledgable on topic area", but this seems so vague it's almost pointless. Anyone ever had to do this?
RESPONSE A: Give citations for articles they have published in the field of your submission, especially if they have published in the journal to which you are submitting.
RESPONSE B: "They're probably going to not suggest any edits because my advisors know them".
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POST: What reason do I put to recommend a reviewer for a journal paper? I'm going to submit my first journal paper this week, and have got to recommend some reviewers. However, what reason do I put for recommending them? I can't leave it blank, so what are they looking for? I want to put something like "expert in the field" or "knowledgable on topic area", but this seems so vague it's almost pointless. Anyone ever had to do this?
RESPONSE A: "They're probably going to not suggest any edits because my advisors know them".
RESPONSE B: Can you pick anyone? I'd probably suggest some researchers who I cited in the paper, particularly people in your field/discipline and who have published with them.
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POST: What to look for when being a reviewer for a journal Hello community, I’ve been asked to be a reviewer for a journal and they gave me my first paper to review, however I would like to ask for opinions on what is suspected of the analysis if anyone can share tips with me I will be extremely thankful.
RESPONSE A: Refer to the journal's guideline for reviewers and/or authors depending what is made available to you. Most journals want to know if the manuscript (1) is suitable for the subject matter of the publication, (2) has "novelty" i.e. presents new and interesting knowledge not already done by other authors, and (3) is written to a high standard of quality. Your review comments should principally address these criteria or whatever else the journal asks for. Additional comments should highlight specific issues with the manuscript in your opinion - I usually address major systemic issues first and list any minor issues (missing references, unclear figures, spelling, etc.) at the end. Keep in mind that you are not assessing if you agree with the paper, only if it is suitable for publication. For example, if the authors make a conclusion and neglect to do a necessary analysis to support it, that is a problem. If the authors present a well-supported conclusion that you don't like, that is not a problem and should not be noted as such.
RESPONSE B: https://www.dartmouth.edu/~mpayres/teaching/gradprogram/HowToReview.pdf Here’s an oldie but goodie
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POST: My journal submission status is still “awaiting reviewer selection” after nearly 3 months. What do I do? So as the title says, I am in “awaiting reviewer selection” status in a mid-tier education journal, and it has been nearly 3 months like that. What do I do at this point? Do I write an email to the editor? What would I even say? I hate that my article is just “stuck” like this, when I could be working on submitting it somewhere else. How do I get things moving faster?
RESPONSE A: The portal may not be accurate. But yes you could email to ask.
RESPONSE B: Yes, email the editor or editorial office. 3 months is too long. If you do not get a satisfactory response, pull it and try elsewhere.
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POST: What's something your proud of from this past academic year? In the spirit of promoting better feelings about what we've accomplished instead of what we should be doing or have yet to do, brag about yourself. Whether your accomplishment was in research, teaching, service, an award, helping a student, or whatever. Share! For me, it was that I think I did well my first year. I put together decent teaching materials for class, which I'll improve on. I did a good amount of service. I helped students with advice. And I had some of my work presented and even got a paper accepted. I just need to revise and resubmit and I'll have a pub. All while also having my daughter.
RESPONSE A: Spelling "you're" correctly.
RESPONSE B: Getting into my top choice PhD program
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POST: What's something your proud of from this past academic year? In the spirit of promoting better feelings about what we've accomplished instead of what we should be doing or have yet to do, brag about yourself. Whether your accomplishment was in research, teaching, service, an award, helping a student, or whatever. Share! For me, it was that I think I did well my first year. I put together decent teaching materials for class, which I'll improve on. I did a good amount of service. I helped students with advice. And I had some of my work presented and even got a paper accepted. I just need to revise and resubmit and I'll have a pub. All while also having my daughter.
RESPONSE A: Spelling "you're" correctly.
RESPONSE B: I'm super proud of, or gloating over, the exact moment when I put my "away for the summer" message on my email so anything from the University's domain gets my return message saying I won't deal with any department business until we are officially back per our contract. Now it's my time for my work. Oh happy day.
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POST: What's something your proud of from this past academic year? In the spirit of promoting better feelings about what we've accomplished instead of what we should be doing or have yet to do, brag about yourself. Whether your accomplishment was in research, teaching, service, an award, helping a student, or whatever. Share! For me, it was that I think I did well my first year. I put together decent teaching materials for class, which I'll improve on. I did a good amount of service. I helped students with advice. And I had some of my work presented and even got a paper accepted. I just need to revise and resubmit and I'll have a pub. All while also having my daughter.
RESPONSE A: Joined a professional organization in my field, set up a great mentoring relationship, presented at a conference, connected with a researcher I'm super interested in a scored a research assistant position in another country, and scored a TA position. It's been a long year and I'm fighting to get into a PhD soon, so it has felt really productive! Thanks for this post!!
RESPONSE B: Spelling "you're" correctly.
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POST: What's something your proud of from this past academic year? In the spirit of promoting better feelings about what we've accomplished instead of what we should be doing or have yet to do, brag about yourself. Whether your accomplishment was in research, teaching, service, an award, helping a student, or whatever. Share! For me, it was that I think I did well my first year. I put together decent teaching materials for class, which I'll improve on. I did a good amount of service. I helped students with advice. And I had some of my work presented and even got a paper accepted. I just need to revise and resubmit and I'll have a pub. All while also having my daughter.
RESPONSE A: Spelling "you're" correctly.
RESPONSE B: Literally nothing. I want to jump back in time, shake my younger self and scream "go to industry for fucks sake!".
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POST: What's something your proud of from this past academic year? In the spirit of promoting better feelings about what we've accomplished instead of what we should be doing or have yet to do, brag about yourself. Whether your accomplishment was in research, teaching, service, an award, helping a student, or whatever. Share! For me, it was that I think I did well my first year. I put together decent teaching materials for class, which I'll improve on. I did a good amount of service. I helped students with advice. And I had some of my work presented and even got a paper accepted. I just need to revise and resubmit and I'll have a pub. All while also having my daughter.
RESPONSE A: First publication (10th and last author but IDGAF, it's in Nature). Also, coming to realize that I picked the right grad school over what is widely regarded as one of the best in my field is such an incredible feeling. I'm so proud of myself for being able to recognize that
RESPONSE B: I'm super proud of, or gloating over, the exact moment when I put my "away for the summer" message on my email so anything from the University's domain gets my return message saying I won't deal with any department business until we are officially back per our contract. Now it's my time for my work. Oh happy day.
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POST: . Please state your field!
RESPONSE A: I'm about to graduate in Geography (GIS) from a very, very human/critical theory focused dept at state school. My favorite GIS text so far has been Nicholas Chrisman's Exploring Geographic Information Systems. It's not super exciting, but it's kind of historical, covers a huge number of basic elements of information science, and situates it as technical discipline that serves/is grounded in socio-political things. Great for people who've seen the very basics of clip/overlay/make layer in a GIS, but don't have much understanding of the why/how. Plus there are no fucking screenshots of software menus. If you've never seen those on a screen, try Price's Mastering ArcGIS series, comes with data and is basically just lots of long, in-depth tutorials. No need to buy the newest version, the software doesn't change that quickly. It's not a 'beginner' book per se, but a pretty comprehensive coverage of the concepts of Nature and the nature of geography in anglophone traditions plus a number of historical and current takes on the matter: Noel Castree's Nature. For those interested in scripting/Python with ArcGIS, I can recommend Zandbergen's Python Scripting for ArcGIS and Pimpler's Programming ArcGIS 10.1 with Python Cookbook. The former is a textbook proper, teaches some theory, lots of contextual (in terms of the program) information, the later is much more of a straight recipe/how to, with a few pointers about how things might get messed up or why you're seeing that error in that place.
RESPONSE B: Political Science (Political Theory and Philosophy, these are both favorites and the starter texts): Plato, The Republic Machiavelli, The Prince Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality John Stuart Mill, On Liberty John Rawls, Political Liberalism That'll be a few weeks of reading and a good start in canonical Western Political Philosophy
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POST: 1. What are your favorite textbooks/books/papers/etc. from within your field? 2. What would you recommend as a "starter kit" for someone who'd like to start learning your field? Questions 1 & 2 don't necessarily have to overlap. Please state your field!
RESPONSE A: Principles of sensory evaluation by Lawless and Heymann U need to be a food lover to get into sensory science field :)
RESPONSE B: Political Science (Political Theory and Philosophy, these are both favorites and the starter texts): Plato, The Republic Machiavelli, The Prince Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality John Stuart Mill, On Liberty John Rawls, Political Liberalism That'll be a few weeks of reading and a good start in canonical Western Political Philosophy
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POST: Why is seemingly every ML/CS paper posted on Arxiv and published as a conference proceeding, whereas most biology papers are not on BiorXiv and are published in actual journals? I'm trying to understand the cultural/domain differences here. They seem like very different approaches to presenting research.
RESPONSE A: Top tier conference proceedings in CS are considered archival but I guess in general it’s just common to publish in proceedings since legitimate conferences are peer-reviewed, at least in my subfield.
RESPONSE B: Machine Learning and Computer Science often view the highly selective conferences as the highest impact avenues for disseminating their work, more so than journal publications. arXiv also has a far more established presence in physics and mathematics, and ML/CS are much closer culturally to these fields than biology is.
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POST: Should i inform the editor about my previous peer-review? My manuscript came back from peer-review with mixed opinions and the editor decided to reject. After addressing the comments and a major rewrite, I am planning to submit to a another journal. I am wondering if I should let know the editor about previous reviews and provide them upon request? Do you think the editor would appreciate the transparency or perhaps this would facilitate the review process?
RESPONSE A: Editor jumping in here-unless we specifically ask (eg if its a transfer between related journals) we don't want to see someone else's peer review. It's not necessary and has privacy implications.
RESPONSE B: I don't think so. It's a different submission process now and they're receiving it the first time. They will not even ask. The only thing they want to ensure is it is not under review at another journal at the same time and that you will not submit it to another while being reviewed.
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POST: Should i inform the editor about my previous peer-review? My manuscript came back from peer-review with mixed opinions and the editor decided to reject. After addressing the comments and a major rewrite, I am planning to submit to a another journal. I am wondering if I should let know the editor about previous reviews and provide them upon request? Do you think the editor would appreciate the transparency or perhaps this would facilitate the review process?
RESPONSE A: I have done this and it worked out well. That said, you need to have addressed those comments. Editors make judgement on novelty and quality, if the reviewers’ issue was mostly novelty or interest, you can circumvent that. It also depends on the venue. My reviews/reject was at a CNS journal and then we sent it to a sub journal (not of the same family actually) so they are used to this. The short version is this expedited the review process a lot, the editor also only sent it to two reviewers because of the revisions we’d done.
RESPONSE B: I wouldn't. I made that mistake once. The first journal rejected the paper not because of problems but because they didn't think the topic was a good fit. I spend time rewriting the paper based on the peer review comments and to fit a much shorter word limit, and submitted to a second journal. The second editor refused to send it out for review saying that they don't accept rejected papers, ignoring that the paper was rejected for topic-related reasons, not related to the quality of the work.
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POST: Should i inform the editor about my previous peer-review? My manuscript came back from peer-review with mixed opinions and the editor decided to reject. After addressing the comments and a major rewrite, I am planning to submit to a another journal. I am wondering if I should let know the editor about previous reviews and provide them upon request? Do you think the editor would appreciate the transparency or perhaps this would facilitate the review process?
RESPONSE A: lol no of course you shouldn't do that When your girlfriend dumps you, do you provide the next girl you meet with an itemised list of reasons why she thought you were a terrible person, along with a half-hearted list of measures you have taken to address your faults? A new journal = a fresh start. If the previous editors/reviewers believed that you would be able to convincingly reply to their comments then you wouldn't have been rejected, it would have been major revisions or rejection with an encouragement to resubmit. If you were outright rejected then the paper is unsalvageable with those reviewers, and you need to try new ones.
RESPONSE B: Don’t do this. Moreover, since you’re submitting to a new journal you have the opportunity to request that specific people *not* be asked to review your paper. If you know or suspect that a particular person was responsible for your previous rejection, this is your chance to make sure that person isn’t given your paper to review again. Of course, this presupposes that you think the reviewer was unfair. If you think the reviewer was fair then you should absolutely address their concerns before resubmitting. In that case, you might end up with a stronger paper that you can submit to a higher-tier journal.
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POST: Should i inform the editor about my previous peer-review? My manuscript came back from peer-review with mixed opinions and the editor decided to reject. After addressing the comments and a major rewrite, I am planning to submit to a another journal. I am wondering if I should let know the editor about previous reviews and provide them upon request? Do you think the editor would appreciate the transparency or perhaps this would facilitate the review process?
RESPONSE A: Why? You think journals are out there dedicating to science and not doing business? Your goal is to get it published.
RESPONSE B: lol no of course you shouldn't do that When your girlfriend dumps you, do you provide the next girl you meet with an itemised list of reasons why she thought you were a terrible person, along with a half-hearted list of measures you have taken to address your faults? A new journal = a fresh start. If the previous editors/reviewers believed that you would be able to convincingly reply to their comments then you wouldn't have been rejected, it would have been major revisions or rejection with an encouragement to resubmit. If you were outright rejected then the paper is unsalvageable with those reviewers, and you need to try new ones.
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POST: Should i inform the editor about my previous peer-review? My manuscript came back from peer-review with mixed opinions and the editor decided to reject. After addressing the comments and a major rewrite, I am planning to submit to a another journal. I am wondering if I should let know the editor about previous reviews and provide them upon request? Do you think the editor would appreciate the transparency or perhaps this would facilitate the review process?
RESPONSE A: I have done this and it worked out well. That said, you need to have addressed those comments. Editors make judgement on novelty and quality, if the reviewers’ issue was mostly novelty or interest, you can circumvent that. It also depends on the venue. My reviews/reject was at a CNS journal and then we sent it to a sub journal (not of the same family actually) so they are used to this. The short version is this expedited the review process a lot, the editor also only sent it to two reviewers because of the revisions we’d done.
RESPONSE B: lol no of course you shouldn't do that When your girlfriend dumps you, do you provide the next girl you meet with an itemised list of reasons why she thought you were a terrible person, along with a half-hearted list of measures you have taken to address your faults? A new journal = a fresh start. If the previous editors/reviewers believed that you would be able to convincingly reply to their comments then you wouldn't have been rejected, it would have been major revisions or rejection with an encouragement to resubmit. If you were outright rejected then the paper is unsalvageable with those reviewers, and you need to try new ones.
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POST: What if I have to deploy during an MS or PhD program? I'm in the National Guard and I'm considering getting a MS followed by a PhD in computer science. I might have to go on a deployment (usually 9-12 months) during this time. I would have warning about it beforehand, maybe a matter of months or maybe a few years before having to go. Obviously I can leave and then continue work after returning and I would also try to spend time doing research while abroad, but I am wondering how much of a disruption this would be to education. In what ways would it set my research back? Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?
RESPONSE A: Your best bet would be to talk to the program co-ordinator/director of graduate studies at your department. I can't claim to know the first thing about deployment, but my guess would be that you would be placed on leave from the graduate program that you're in while you're deployed, and you should be able to go back to where you left off upon your return. You can obviously try to do some research or other work while away, but I can't imagine it would be easy. Different schools and departments have different policies about this, so you really need to talk to yours.
RESPONSE B: I would strongly reconsider the PhD at this juncture. An MS isn't as much of a research degree these days but a PhD requires dedication and work and you can't just take off for a year in the middle of it.
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POST: Will struggling in some academic courses make it difficult to pursue research or a career in Academia? I am currently in the 4th year of my Combined undergraduate+masters of Physics. I am particularly struggling in my condensed matter physics course. It's hard for me to get the intuition for it. I believe it's also due to the disturbance last semester due to the lockdown, hurrying home and losing half of the semester which covered some related topics. And in this semester continuous evaluation has replaced exams so the amount of tests and assignments per week makes it difficult to find time for anything. I am struggling to keep up and feeling very demotivated. I used to love classes, was always able to follow up and work on it, and I have a good GPA. But I am so lost right now that I am doubting my aim to go for a PhD. I understand that no one can be an expert in all topics of a field but if I struggle so much in my masters, do I even deserve a PhD? I wanted to go for higher studies in Astronomy. I have some research experience in it too but I am suddenly doubting everything. If people can shed some light, it'll be helpful.
RESPONSE A: I'm not a physicist. It depends deeply on the overlap of your desired academic career and the course. I don't know enough to compare astronomy and condensed matter physics to say. In my own academic career, I'm shit with quantum physics when it applies to chemistry and not a particular strong organic chemist. My areas of chemistry don't overlap with quantum physics in a manner which means i need to make new discoveries (ie I need to know how some analytical techniques work but I'm not working on pushing the boundaries of those techniques).
RESPONSE B: I’m a physicist. I had to take graduate quantum three times before I earned a B (minimum passing grade). I still did a great post doc at NASA and now I’m a tenured professor at a small, primarily undergrad university. You won’t be an expert at everything that’s ok.
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POST: s. But when I get too much micro managing and disrespect, this affects me and I can't focus. I feel like a moron and a child. How do I stop him getting under my skin, and start to work like a dynamo like I did before? The ADHD is I think makes people not respect me because it makes me too exicted and makes my mind runes a mile at a second. SO people just see me as a kid, with mediocre intelligence. I mean I agree that I asked him some trivial questions. But I don't deserve disrespect, and I had been very sucsefful in the past. So I know I have the potential. I really need some advice and directions. thank a lot.
RESPONSE A: Micromanaging usually happens when your boss doesn't feel comfortable that you can handle things on your own. Have you demonstrated that capability to him yet? It's still early in the process so it's natural for your adviser to not trust you fully yet.
RESPONSE B: The tasks that you've been asked to do such as reading up on gaps in your knowledge and calculating various things seem entirely normal for a PhD, even more so for how early you are into your PhD. Furthermore, you'll be very directed by your supervisor early in your PhD until they are comfortable with the fact you can manage yourself and your own research direction and that's entirely normal, after all, a PhD is training to become a researcher. Everything you've said here sounds normal, PhDs are very different to Bachelor's and Masters degrees and you won't get incredible research outputs immediately. If I'm honest, and I'm not trying to cause any offence, it sounds like you have quite a high opinion of yourself which may be to your detriment here (i.e. I've never heard a first year PhD student describe themselves as a 'dynamo' in terms of their previous research). I think the most beneficial thing here would be to take a step back and realise that your supervisor is probably asking you to do things for good reason. They are much more experienced and accomplished than yourself are at this stage of your career and that's completely normal and expected and use those things to your advantage!
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POST: to studying because I was adjusting to the new life in a foregin country. On the other side I am a very ambitious and idealistic guy, I love my subject and I aim very high. How ever I feel like my PhD advisor does not respect me, he does not listen to me very carefully, when I am explaining my argument I feel like he does not give much attention etc. This pisses me off deeply, and highly demotivates me. Also he ia micro managing me, by giving very specific tasks like calculate this and that, but I feel like a calculator rather than a scientist. I dont get a good guidiance but what I get is just directives. I have been sucsesful in my bachelor degree, and I had a good pape rin masters. But when I get too much micro managing and disrespect, this affects me and I can't focus. I feel like a moron and a child. How do I stop him getting under my skin, and start to work like a dynamo like I did before? The ADHD is I think makes people not respect me because it makes me too exicted and makes my mind runes a mile at a second. SO people just see me as a kid, with mediocre intelligence. I mean I agree that I asked him some trivial questions. But I don't deserve disrespect, and I had been very sucsefful in the past. So I know I have the potential. I really need some advice and directions. thank a lot.
RESPONSE A: Micromanaging usually happens when your boss doesn't feel comfortable that you can handle things on your own. Have you demonstrated that capability to him yet? It's still early in the process so it's natural for your adviser to not trust you fully yet.
RESPONSE B: I have ADHD. I do get overly excited. Sometimes this causes me to talk over people or interrupt them, or to bore them with my ideas. But being "inaccurate"? Not a symptom of ADHD. You also can't spell simple words or express yourself clearly at all, as evidenced by this post, so I'm guessing there is a lot more going on here.
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POST: a very ambitious and idealistic guy, I love my subject and I aim very high. How ever I feel like my PhD advisor does not respect me, he does not listen to me very carefully, when I am explaining my argument I feel like he does not give much attention etc. This pisses me off deeply, and highly demotivates me. Also he ia micro managing me, by giving very specific tasks like calculate this and that, but I feel like a calculator rather than a scientist. I dont get a good guidiance but what I get is just directives. I have been sucsesful in my bachelor degree, and I had a good pape rin masters. But when I get too much micro managing and disrespect, this affects me and I can't focus. I feel like a moron and a child. How do I stop him getting under my skin, and start to work like a dynamo like I did before? The ADHD is I think makes people not respect me because it makes me too exicted and makes my mind runes a mile at a second. SO people just see me as a kid, with mediocre intelligence. I mean I agree that I asked him some trivial questions. But I don't deserve disrespect, and I had been very sucsefful in the past. So I know I have the potential. I really need some advice and directions. thank a lot.
RESPONSE A: They might not respect you. Earn it, or don't. What really matters is that they're competent, that they help and guide you, that you produce good work as a team in a timely fashion, and that they write you good letters and help you network. You don't have to be best friends with your advisor, you just have to work well together.
RESPONSE B: I have ADHD. I do get overly excited. Sometimes this causes me to talk over people or interrupt them, or to bore them with my ideas. But being "inaccurate"? Not a symptom of ADHD. You also can't spell simple words or express yourself clearly at all, as evidenced by this post, so I'm guessing there is a lot more going on here.
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POST: Should I go to my PhD graduation/hooding ceremony? It's been a long year. I'm still smarting from disappointments on the job market as I try to finish my dissertation. I get along with my advisor fine, but I'm so ready to move on to the next chapter. Also, my family won't be able to attend. Did you go to your graduation? If you didn't, do you wish that you had? Thanks in advance for your input!
RESPONSE A: I’m not one for such ceremonies for my own accomplishments. I’m still glad I went. Partially so my kids could watch, but I ended up being really glad I was there for me.
RESPONSE B: Mine was done alongside undergraduate degree conferral, so it was a huge hint with thousands of students. The rental fee for the PhD regalia was ~$800. I didn't go and have no regrets.
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POST: Should I go to my PhD graduation/hooding ceremony? It's been a long year. I'm still smarting from disappointments on the job market as I try to finish my dissertation. I get along with my advisor fine, but I'm so ready to move on to the next chapter. Also, my family won't be able to attend. Did you go to your graduation? If you didn't, do you wish that you had? Thanks in advance for your input!
RESPONSE A: I didn’t because I’d already moved. If I was local I would have and do regret not traveling for it a bit. I think there’s a chance you’d regret not going and probably no chance you’d regret going. If it’s logistically possible, I’d say go.
RESPONSE B: Mine was done alongside undergraduate degree conferral, so it was a huge hint with thousands of students. The rental fee for the PhD regalia was ~$800. I didn't go and have no regrets.
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POST: Should I go to my PhD graduation/hooding ceremony? It's been a long year. I'm still smarting from disappointments on the job market as I try to finish my dissertation. I get along with my advisor fine, but I'm so ready to move on to the next chapter. Also, my family won't be able to attend. Did you go to your graduation? If you didn't, do you wish that you had? Thanks in advance for your input!
RESPONSE A: I didn’t because I’d already moved. If I was local I would have and do regret not traveling for it a bit. I think there’s a chance you’d regret not going and probably no chance you’d regret going. If it’s logistically possible, I’d say go.
RESPONSE B: I’m not one for such ceremonies for my own accomplishments. I’m still glad I went. Partially so my kids could watch, but I ended up being really glad I was there for me.
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POST: Should I go to my PhD graduation/hooding ceremony? It's been a long year. I'm still smarting from disappointments on the job market as I try to finish my dissertation. I get along with my advisor fine, but I'm so ready to move on to the next chapter. Also, my family won't be able to attend. Did you go to your graduation? If you didn't, do you wish that you had? Thanks in advance for your input!
RESPONSE A: If you can please go. I don't understand the sentiment of not going. You earned it.
RESPONSE B: I didn’t because I’d already moved. If I was local I would have and do regret not traveling for it a bit. I think there’s a chance you’d regret not going and probably no chance you’d regret going. If it’s logistically possible, I’d say go.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: Should I go to my PhD graduation/hooding ceremony? It's been a long year. I'm still smarting from disappointments on the job market as I try to finish my dissertation. I get along with my advisor fine, but I'm so ready to move on to the next chapter. Also, my family won't be able to attend. Did you go to your graduation? If you didn't, do you wish that you had? Thanks in advance for your input!
RESPONSE A: Yea. Go.
RESPONSE B: If you can please go. I don't understand the sentiment of not going. You earned it.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: our projects struggled to get going but are really starting to get moving now. If either of us quit now however then there is nothing to show for it (no paper, no reference etc) then it means quitting academia for good most likely? Alternatively both our supervisors could be in a terrible position trying to salvage our work if we dropped it and walked out? What's to stop either of us laying down an ultimatum - give the other a job here or I quit. Or is this just cheap blackmail from seriously underleveraged postdocs?
RESPONSE A: If you are prepared to leave if you two cannot work in the same place, let both places know your situation and see if one of them can solve it. That’s not blackmail, it’s honesty. More generally, I encourage you to be sad about the situation, but let go of your bitterness. Things haven’t worked out the way you wanted, but you are still both in strong positions to create a good life together. Embrace the opportunities you have and mourn the dream that hasn’t worked out without letting it turn toxic. It just didn’t work out, that’s all, and now it is time to do something else. It will be a lot easier for you if you accept that.
RESPONSE B: That's hardly blackmail - it's a statement of facts. You don't have to say give my partner a job or I quit. You can say my partner is my topmost priority at this point, so I'd like to be with them. Is it a possibility that they could work here since they have the appropriate expertise? While it may feel like it's just you two who cannot be together - it's far from the truth. The others quit, that's why you don't see them. As for being grateful, the long term postdoc scam doesn't work if narrative that you ought to be grateful isn't continually pushed. Screw that - treat it like you would treat any other job - worry about yourself, not your PI. It's their responsibility to build systems that make sure they're not in a terrible position if you decide to leave, not yours.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: employed - then SCREW this. I've no desire to improve lives with research anymore after being treated like this continually and expected to be *grateful* for the opportunity. My question for academia as a whole is: We both are in the same position - our projects struggled to get going but are really starting to get moving now. If either of us quit now however then there is nothing to show for it (no paper, no reference etc) then it means quitting academia for good most likely? Alternatively both our supervisors could be in a terrible position trying to salvage our work if we dropped it and walked out? What's to stop either of us laying down an ultimatum - give the other a job here or I quit. Or is this just cheap blackmail from seriously underleveraged postdocs?
RESPONSE A: I do not know in what field you work , but I would say its not impossible for you to find a new post doc. Just be open about why you quit and why you want to start a new one somewhere else. It probably does not look good on a CV but with some explanation I would not consider it as a career killer. Your postdoc is work and you should consider it as such. You do not owe your PI anything. If you leave the project you leave. If the institution is well funded they will have no trouble finding a replacement. To smooth things over I would discuss I transition period in which you could prepare handing off the project to someone else.
RESPONSE B: If you are prepared to leave if you two cannot work in the same place, let both places know your situation and see if one of them can solve it. That’s not blackmail, it’s honesty. More generally, I encourage you to be sad about the situation, but let go of your bitterness. Things haven’t worked out the way you wanted, but you are still both in strong positions to create a good life together. Embrace the opportunities you have and mourn the dream that hasn’t worked out without letting it turn toxic. It just didn’t work out, that’s all, and now it is time to do something else. It will be a lot easier for you if you accept that.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: half a year since I joined, and the PI has been very helpful to me, giving me all the freedom that I desire while assisting whenever I ask for help. Now, although I certainly share some common interests with the PI and their group, since the start of the fellowship I ended up working mostly on my personal projects or things with other collaborators. I can blame the pandemic-induced reduction in physical meetings that could kickstart new projects with the group, I can blame the PI for not pushing me to join some of their ongoing studies, but ultimately the main reason is my choosing the path of least resistance and pursuing the projects that I know will lead to good publications without having to study new ideas from scratch. Of course technically I don't *have* to work for the PI as I have my own funding. But the funding was obtained with the support of the PI, and the PI as well as their administrative staff have gone above and beyond to help me since I joined. I have this constant feeling that I should be doing something together with them to "pay back" for the help that I received, even if it's not formally required. I wanted to hear others' thoughts about this. Is my feeling of "owing" something to the PI justified? In case I end up not having *any* joint projects with the PI, would this reflect badly on me? Am I burning a bridge with this PI by not actively pursuing projects with them?
RESPONSE A: Generally, especially since postdocs can't be PIs (as further evidenced by the fact that they had to submit for you), there is some expectation that the PI provide some supervision on your project, even if it's just a feedback role. Some salary (e.g. summer support) for the PI to reflect that work is standard.
RESPONSE B: Are you a lab based researcher? Do you spend time in the PI's physical lab? If so, then you are using some of their resources. Your funding pays for your salary and one presumes some costs. Not the for university facilities. Not the admins. Not the equipment nor reagents, nor other costs. Independent postdocs in the practical sciences are *transitions* to independence. Behave accordingly.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: fellowship that essentially gives me funding for a postdoctoral position. The application involved me writing a proposal, and then the PI submitting the proposal along with some admin busywork on their side. It has been about half a year since I joined, and the PI has been very helpful to me, giving me all the freedom that I desire while assisting whenever I ask for help. Now, although I certainly share some common interests with the PI and their group, since the start of the fellowship I ended up working mostly on my personal projects or things with other collaborators. I can blame the pandemic-induced reduction in physical meetings that could kickstart new projects with the group, I can blame the PI for not pushing me to join some of their ongoing studies, but ultimately the main reason is my choosing the path of least resistance and pursuing the projects that I know will lead to good publications without having to study new ideas from scratch. Of course technically I don't *have* to work for the PI as I have my own funding. But the funding was obtained with the support of the PI, and the PI as well as their administrative staff have gone above and beyond to help me since I joined. I have this constant feeling that I should be doing something together with them to "pay back" for the help that I received, even if it's not formally required. I wanted to hear others' thoughts about this. Is my feeling of "owing" something to the PI justified? In case I end up not having *any* joint projects with the PI, would this reflect badly on me? Am I burning a bridge with this PI by not actively pursuing projects with them?
RESPONSE A: Are you a lab based researcher? Do you spend time in the PI's physical lab? If so, then you are using some of their resources. Your funding pays for your salary and one presumes some costs. Not the for university facilities. Not the admins. Not the equipment nor reagents, nor other costs. Independent postdocs in the practical sciences are *transitions* to independence. Behave accordingly.
RESPONSE B: Bringing in your own funding, working on a new topic, and publishing multiple papers seems like a good deal for the PI already, no?
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: Quitting postdoc fellowship to change careers completely Long story short, COVID really did a number on my mental health and made me realize that I’ve been forcing myself to continue down my career for everyone else (family/PI pressure, guilt of using funding) and not for myself. I decided that I need to leave my fellowship and change careers entirely, but I’m not sure what the correct etiquette is. I wasn’t really given a formal contract either, so I’m wondering if breaking this decision to my mentors during our next scheduled meeting and giving a two week notice would be appropriate? Any insight would be appreciated!
RESPONSE A: Really happy for you OP that you realized what’s truly going to make you happy :) I’m still a grad student so I don’t have any actual advice but it’s inspiring seeing people taking control of their lives. Best of luck to you and hope this community can give you some clarity
RESPONSE B: I would give way more notice than two weeks. 1-2 months is better. The most professional way to handle this would be to tell your PI in person and tell them you would be willing to train people. It’s not easy to replace someone on short notice so the more you can do to ease the transition the better things will be with your PI. Also, not to pry but do you have a job lined up? A career to switch into? It’s fine if that’s your choice but another option is time off from lab to see if that’s what you want to do, and that way you don’t burn a bridge in the process.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
|
POST: Quitting postdoc fellowship to change careers completely Long story short, COVID really did a number on my mental health and made me realize that I’ve been forcing myself to continue down my career for everyone else (family/PI pressure, guilt of using funding) and not for myself. I decided that I need to leave my fellowship and change careers entirely, but I’m not sure what the correct etiquette is. I wasn’t really given a formal contract either, so I’m wondering if breaking this decision to my mentors during our next scheduled meeting and giving a two week notice would be appropriate? Any insight would be appreciated!
RESPONSE A: I would give way more notice than two weeks. 1-2 months is better. The most professional way to handle this would be to tell your PI in person and tell them you would be willing to train people. It’s not easy to replace someone on short notice so the more you can do to ease the transition the better things will be with your PI. Also, not to pry but do you have a job lined up? A career to switch into? It’s fine if that’s your choice but another option is time off from lab to see if that’s what you want to do, and that way you don’t burn a bridge in the process.
RESPONSE B: Just sent an email and move on if your mind is really made up. But do you have any job offers?
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Quitting postdoc fellowship to change careers completely Long story short, COVID really did a number on my mental health and made me realize that I’ve been forcing myself to continue down my career for everyone else (family/PI pressure, guilt of using funding) and not for myself. I decided that I need to leave my fellowship and change careers entirely, but I’m not sure what the correct etiquette is. I wasn’t really given a formal contract either, so I’m wondering if breaking this decision to my mentors during our next scheduled meeting and giving a two week notice would be appropriate? Any insight would be appreciated!
RESPONSE A: Really happy for you OP that you realized what’s truly going to make you happy :) I’m still a grad student so I don’t have any actual advice but it’s inspiring seeing people taking control of their lives. Best of luck to you and hope this community can give you some clarity
RESPONSE B: Just sent an email and move on if your mind is really made up. But do you have any job offers?
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
|
POST: Quitting postdoc fellowship to change careers completely Long story short, COVID really did a number on my mental health and made me realize that I’ve been forcing myself to continue down my career for everyone else (family/PI pressure, guilt of using funding) and not for myself. I decided that I need to leave my fellowship and change careers entirely, but I’m not sure what the correct etiquette is. I wasn’t really given a formal contract either, so I’m wondering if breaking this decision to my mentors during our next scheduled meeting and giving a two week notice would be appropriate? Any insight would be appreciated!
RESPONSE A: Honestly bro if you’re personally not happy with something you shouldn’t do it, doesnt matter who tells you what or how much you make or whatever. Way too many people nowadays get stuck in these never ending cycles of “well I’ve been doing it for x amount of years I can’t stop now” and it’s sad cus they’re not happy. Not really much insight here but just saying good choice, to chase what you want and be who you are cus the world we live in makes that really hard sometimes
RESPONSE B: Just sent an email and move on if your mind is really made up. But do you have any job offers?
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: Quitting postdoc fellowship to change careers completely Long story short, COVID really did a number on my mental health and made me realize that I’ve been forcing myself to continue down my career for everyone else (family/PI pressure, guilt of using funding) and not for myself. I decided that I need to leave my fellowship and change careers entirely, but I’m not sure what the correct etiquette is. I wasn’t really given a formal contract either, so I’m wondering if breaking this decision to my mentors during our next scheduled meeting and giving a two week notice would be appropriate? Any insight would be appreciated!
RESPONSE A: Just sent an email and move on if your mind is really made up. But do you have any job offers?
RESPONSE B: Congratulations. I'm glad you woke up.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: What to expect when quitting a T32-funded postdoc position? I'm 6 months into a postdoc position and I hate it. I won't go into a lot of detail but this is such a bad fit for me. My PI exhibits really controlling/condescending behavior that contributes to a toxic lab environment. The job description for the position doesn't match what I'm doing at all, and I'm not having an enjoyable or productive time here. I've already made up my mind to leave and started applying for jobs recently. I'm funded on a T32 with a payback obligation, so if I leave before 1 year is up then I'll have to payback the salary I've already made. Does anyone have experience quitting their postdoc in a situation like this? Is it a longer exit process than quitting a regular job that doesn't have a payback obligation? Did you get to pay in installments or was it just one sum?
RESPONSE A: Is your postdoc advisor also the PI of the T32 program? If not, talk to the PI(s) of the T32. On a training grant like that there should be a pool of advisors. A T32 is meant to support your training, so you are not beholden to a specific lab - that lab is not paying your salary, the NIH is. You could do something else and make the case that it better contributes to your training/career development as a scientist.
RESPONSE B: Will you be moving into something related to science? You will need to "work off" those months to not have to repay. I believe you have to work them off within 2 years.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: What to expect when quitting a T32-funded postdoc position? I'm 6 months into a postdoc position and I hate it. I won't go into a lot of detail but this is such a bad fit for me. My PI exhibits really controlling/condescending behavior that contributes to a toxic lab environment. The job description for the position doesn't match what I'm doing at all, and I'm not having an enjoyable or productive time here. I've already made up my mind to leave and started applying for jobs recently. I'm funded on a T32 with a payback obligation, so if I leave before 1 year is up then I'll have to payback the salary I've already made. Does anyone have experience quitting their postdoc in a situation like this? Is it a longer exit process than quitting a regular job that doesn't have a payback obligation? Did you get to pay in installments or was it just one sum?
RESPONSE A: Is your postdoc advisor also the PI of the T32 program? If not, talk to the PI(s) of the T32. On a training grant like that there should be a pool of advisors. A T32 is meant to support your training, so you are not beholden to a specific lab - that lab is not paying your salary, the NIH is. You could do something else and make the case that it better contributes to your training/career development as a scientist.
RESPONSE B: What are your plans next? There are so many jobs that would qualify for payback. Teaching science to working in biotech. I have heard annecodatly that you can just explain your personal reasons for leaving and the NIH is likely to grant forgivness. You can then go pursue your dreams.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
|
POST: What to expect when quitting a T32-funded postdoc position? I'm 6 months into a postdoc position and I hate it. I won't go into a lot of detail but this is such a bad fit for me. My PI exhibits really controlling/condescending behavior that contributes to a toxic lab environment. The job description for the position doesn't match what I'm doing at all, and I'm not having an enjoyable or productive time here. I've already made up my mind to leave and started applying for jobs recently. I'm funded on a T32 with a payback obligation, so if I leave before 1 year is up then I'll have to payback the salary I've already made. Does anyone have experience quitting their postdoc in a situation like this? Is it a longer exit process than quitting a regular job that doesn't have a payback obligation? Did you get to pay in installments or was it just one sum?
RESPONSE A: Will you be moving into something related to science? You will need to "work off" those months to not have to repay. I believe you have to work them off within 2 years.
RESPONSE B: where are you located? I ended my postdoc contract before the term was done but I am in a state with 'employment at will' labor laws that supersede contracts. I did have to pay back my moving allowance (\~$2k) but it was worth it. Do you have any other positions lined up? Sometimes the contract can be upheld if you just switch PIs instead of quitting entirely. Talk to the HR in your institution to see if they can find you a different advisor. Also, if you are part of a postdoc union you should reach out to them. They will usually have all the knowledge and resources surrounding contracts. Finally --> your PI might be breaking contract agreements by having unreasonable exceptions and treating you poorly. Talk to your union rep if you have one.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
|
POST: What to expect when quitting a T32-funded postdoc position? I'm 6 months into a postdoc position and I hate it. I won't go into a lot of detail but this is such a bad fit for me. My PI exhibits really controlling/condescending behavior that contributes to a toxic lab environment. The job description for the position doesn't match what I'm doing at all, and I'm not having an enjoyable or productive time here. I've already made up my mind to leave and started applying for jobs recently. I'm funded on a T32 with a payback obligation, so if I leave before 1 year is up then I'll have to payback the salary I've already made. Does anyone have experience quitting their postdoc in a situation like this? Is it a longer exit process than quitting a regular job that doesn't have a payback obligation? Did you get to pay in installments or was it just one sum?
RESPONSE A: The payback obligation is to the NIH not the university so the exit process is not longer. As long as you stay in a science job for the same number of months you were on the T32 the NIH will consider it as being paid back. They are usually flexible on what a science job is, it doesn't have to be another postdoc. You can contact the NIH institute that awarded the T32 to discuss your options.
RESPONSE B: Will you be moving into something related to science? You will need to "work off" those months to not have to repay. I believe you have to work them off within 2 years.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: bad fit for me. My PI exhibits really controlling/condescending behavior that contributes to a toxic lab environment. The job description for the position doesn't match what I'm doing at all, and I'm not having an enjoyable or productive time here. I've already made up my mind to leave and started applying for jobs recently. I'm funded on a T32 with a payback obligation, so if I leave before 1 year is up then I'll have to payback the salary I've already made. Does anyone have experience quitting their postdoc in a situation like this? Is it a longer exit process than quitting a regular job that doesn't have a payback obligation? Did you get to pay in installments or was it just one sum?
RESPONSE A: I had a very similar situation. I was terrified of owing money and felt very trapped. I wound up taking a position in a different lab to finish up my T32 time. In retrospect, I should have taken a year off. The other lab was not as toxic, but it wasn't a good fit and I wasn't productive while I was there. I just didn't care about the project. One suggestion, one bit of info. Talk to the T32 PI. The person running the grant has a vested interest in your success. They only have a couple of slots for a postdoc per year and if one of them flames out, it makes it harder to get renewed. The info I got from my T32 PI was that the NIH wants you to stay in science. So you probably won't have to pay back the salary if you still use your degree. I also agree with the other comment about contacting the NIH program officer. That contact is really helpful. If you are interested in staying in academia, then it is also an opportunity to meet someone important to your future.
RESPONSE B: What are your plans next? There are so many jobs that would qualify for payback. Teaching science to working in biotech. I have heard annecodatly that you can just explain your personal reasons for leaving and the NIH is likely to grant forgivness. You can then go pursue your dreams.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: How long before my PhD graduation should I apply for postdocs? Hi guys, I'm currently in my last year of PhD and I should graduate around January 2023. I work in molecular biology and biophysics in France. I'm looking into postdocs in the US and I've listed a few labs that I'm interested in. When do you think would be the best moment to start sending emails to ask about open positions? Also, I have only one paper published at the moment as 2nd author, another in submission, and a third one in writing. Should I wait until those are published to send emails or not? One small other question : in France, there are mostly four categories of people in labs: technicians (BS), engineers (MS), PhD students, and then all the people who have a PhD. From what we saw, the engineer category is not really there in US academic labs. My wife is a scientist, with a MS in plant biology. She's working in research labs as an engineer and we were wondering how easy it would be for her to find work in the US. Can she go into an academic lab or should she look into industry positions? Thanks!
RESPONSE A: You can start applying for positions up a year before graduation. Additionally, many labs don't openly post a postdoc position. They might have a part of their lab page saying they have an open position all the time. Or they might not. Just email the PI to inquire. Additionally some universities do postdoc preview sessions once a year to help cover costs of travel (if covid restrictions allow) for the candidate to come in and interview with multiple labs at one time. You still have to set up the interviews but the labs themselves don't have to pay anything to bring you in. I did it and it was a good experience.
RESPONSE B: One year or half of the year before your supposed defence. But do not be stressed if you will apply later.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: How long before my PhD graduation should I apply for postdocs? Hi guys, I'm currently in my last year of PhD and I should graduate around January 2023. I work in molecular biology and biophysics in France. I'm looking into postdocs in the US and I've listed a few labs that I'm interested in. When do you think would be the best moment to start sending emails to ask about open positions? Also, I have only one paper published at the moment as 2nd author, another in submission, and a third one in writing. Should I wait until those are published to send emails or not? One small other question : in France, there are mostly four categories of people in labs: technicians (BS), engineers (MS), PhD students, and then all the people who have a PhD. From what we saw, the engineer category is not really there in US academic labs. My wife is a scientist, with a MS in plant biology. She's working in research labs as an engineer and we were wondering how easy it would be for her to find work in the US. Can she go into an academic lab or should she look into industry positions? Thanks!
RESPONSE A: You can start applying for positions up a year before graduation. Additionally, many labs don't openly post a postdoc position. They might have a part of their lab page saying they have an open position all the time. Or they might not. Just email the PI to inquire. Additionally some universities do postdoc preview sessions once a year to help cover costs of travel (if covid restrictions allow) for the candidate to come in and interview with multiple labs at one time. You still have to set up the interviews but the labs themselves don't have to pay anything to bring you in. I did it and it was a good experience.
RESPONSE B: One year before you want to start. As for your wife, you're right that there's not really a Master's student position - they'd be considered a lab tech, like those with a bachelor's. If she's not interested in an academic career, I would definitely try to get a position in industry, though visa might be tough to get.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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