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POST: Rejection Letter with Positive Feedback Hello everyone. I recently submitted a manuscript for publication to a Q1 journal (Electrical Engineering) but the editor decided against its acceptance. She mentioned that the work is sound and definitely worth publishing, but it doesn't fit the scope of this journal. She also suggested a different journal of similar IF that would be more suitable for my work and urged me to submit it there. Since this is my first submission, I am not sure if I should respond to the editor. I want to thank her for the comments and the suggestion but I am not sure if this is appropriate or if it happens in general. Any feedback would be helpful, thanks!
RESPONSE A: Disclaimer - I am an undergrad, but I have published a few papers where I am the corresponding author. I usually reply to the editors. But sometimes you can see that there is reply to: no-reply then obviously you should not. But I don't think there is any harm thanking the editor.
RESPONSE B: If they are your genuine feelings, I think the editors I have worked with would certainly appreciate your email. Doesn’t hurt to be polite!
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POST: probably with him as my advisor if nothing changes. He still wants me to work with him (for some reason), and would like to see me work on a journal paper this summer (which doesn't inspire positive feelings, to say the least). The whole situation has shown me that I really don't want to be at my current school for another two years doing the same stuff for a MS. ​ Frankly, I just want to quit (the undergrad research). I would like nothing more than to very politely thank my advisor for his investment in me, but that I'm not cut out for his style of research and need to pursue other things. I'm mostly being stopped by my guilt over having been such a poor investment and that maybe I should try sticking things out. I feel like I can't really trust my judgment. And then there is the fact that I have always been interested in grad school. I don't know how quitting some undergrad research would look on future grad school applications. I also don't want to completely burn bridges with my advisor. Overall, I'm just not sure what to do.
RESPONSE A: For as much as I love research, I happen to find it overwhelming at sometimes. I know your struggle. As a undergrad researcher as well I recommend you to speak directly with your advisor first to see what’s doable. Similarly, try talking to your PI and see what can she/he do to help you out. I hope it helps Please meditate about it before doing something you’ll regret later.
RESPONSE B: You'll be surprised how often advisors will support whatever choices you make. I started in neuro research for my undergrad and ABSOLUTELY hated it. I told my advisor I wanted to switch to cancer immunology he helped me get into the MS program at my current institute (graduated two weeks ago) and wrote my reference for the PhD program I'll be starting in August. He's been as supported , if not more so, as my current masters mentor. Just talk to him, if he reacts badly he's a poor advisor in general but honestly saying you don't like a lab is less of an issue as you may think. Hope that helps!
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POST: How do I find people to collaborate with on a research outside of my university? Is this a good idea? I'm sorry beforehand if that's an inappropriate (and perhaps silly) question, but I'm still somewhat new to academia. I'm currently working on my masters degree and the problem is that atmosphere in my lab is rather stagnating. For instance, in over a year we managed to work on and publish only one or two smallish papers. Despite my eagerness to work, I couldn't get proper collaborations within my lab or my university either. I feel like I'm wasting my potential, but since I cannot leave in the middle of my masters program, I was wondering if it's possible to find a remote research project outside of my university. Also, what are the good practices on finding interesting collaborations to work on? Thanks in advance!
RESPONSE A: I find collaborators at conferences and an through participation in professional organizations. See if there's a professional organization with a local chapters. Students often have a cheaper rate to join.
RESPONSE B: It's not going to be easy to find outside collaborators as a graduate student unless your advisor is on-board.
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POST: What is your relationship with your advisor like?
RESPONSE A: I only saw mine twice. So fairly nonexistent but he was helpful, kind, and supportive when I needed him.
RESPONSE B: He's brilliant, top in his field, and also very responsive and willing to help. However, he's also quite blunt and harsh with feedback, so i am a bit afraid of him. Could be worse.
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POST: What is your relationship with your advisor like?
RESPONSE A: He's brilliant, top in his field, and also very responsive and willing to help. However, he's also quite blunt and harsh with feedback, so i am a bit afraid of him. Could be worse.
RESPONSE B: My relationship with my supervisor (as we call them in the UK) was very paternal and friendly. We got on really well, but I knew him before I started already a bit. I think it was why I was picked too. We did remote fieldwork, and if you don't get on well, it can be dramatic. I think I've been quite lucky in that sense. I respect him as a researcher and as a human being. He's had some tough family things to deal with early in his career, which I think makes him appreciative of all the other things in life than next to research. Or at least a very empathetic person. It's been 6 years since my PhD examination and we are now friends. Although he still helps me with life advice and references. So he's more of a Rafiki while I'd be Simba, haha. Still a bit paternal, but in a good way. NB: I am fully aware of his flaws too, it's not that I adore him in that sense.
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POST: What is your relationship with your advisor like?
RESPONSE A: He's brilliant, top in his field, and also very responsive and willing to help. However, he's also quite blunt and harsh with feedback, so i am a bit afraid of him. Could be worse.
RESPONSE B: Overall it was good. He is a very friendly guy and was always happy to help or give advice. He gave me a good mix of guidance and independence, which I generally needed more independence than guidance. He wasn't an expert in my area but knew enough to contribute a lot. I used my committee to capture all parts of my dissertation so that I could be helped and challenged in all areas to grow as much as I could. I feel my experience was how it should be.
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POST: What is your relationship with your advisor like?
RESPONSE A: Politically peaceful. I have two, one I like very much and respect. The other I have scalding hatred for; from his attitude towards work ethics, collaborations to his use of position/seniority for personal gain. But, needs must.
RESPONSE B: He's brilliant, top in his field, and also very responsive and willing to help. However, he's also quite blunt and harsh with feedback, so i am a bit afraid of him. Could be worse.
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POST: What is your relationship with your advisor like?
RESPONSE A: He's brilliant, top in his field, and also very responsive and willing to help. However, he's also quite blunt and harsh with feedback, so i am a bit afraid of him. Could be worse.
RESPONSE B: Mine was generally friendly and quite approachable, but he was also unfortunately rather lazy and somewhat incompetent. Fortunately, my other committee members made up for his weaknesses.
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POST: or something. What should I do? I'd like to talk with him about this because it's starting to get to me. My emails will go unread or he'll only respond when I see him in person and remind him I emailed. I don't think I've sent too many or asked any questions that I didn't need him for. (For example, one of my unanswered emails was regarding how we should proceed with the IRB approval on my dissertation.) I'm starting to feel really neglected or like, even if he's nice to me in person, he must secretly hate me. How do I approach this? How can I bring this up with him in a professional way?
RESPONSE A: All of academia sucks at emails, sometimes trapping them in person guilts them into replying. I've shameless stalked my supervisor as he came out of the bathroom *on a Sunday* after he ignored my emails for two weeks.
RESPONSE B: It's not just you. You wouldn't believe the amount of effort it takes some people to respond to emails when their responses are *required to give them grant money*. Some tips: remember BLUF-Bottom line up front. People are busy, and if they see paragraphs they tend to glaze over them. If there's a lot you need to say, then say the mission critical thing in the first sentence or two. Also, don't put tons of questions in the same email. The response time will depend on the question that takes the longest to answer because the entire email gets flagged to deal with later. It's fine to combine quick and easy questions together, but don't attach a manuscript draft and expect an answer to your other questions anytime soon. And my number 1 secret weapon: arbitrary deadlines. If there's something I need an answer to I just tell them to please provide an answer by close of business next Friday. 90% of the time I get an answer within the hour because they don't want to forget and miss my (meaningless) deadline. Since this is your boss that's a little trickier, but there's always "hey I need to provide _____ to the really important office by next week"
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POST: My graduate advisor is terrible at answering emails. I'm beginning to think he might actually hate me, or something. What should I do? I'd like to talk with him about this because it's starting to get to me. My emails will go unread or he'll only respond when I see him in person and remind him I emailed. I don't think I've sent too many or asked any questions that I didn't need him for. (For example, one of my unanswered emails was regarding how we should proceed with the IRB approval on my dissertation.) I'm starting to feel really neglected or like, even if he's nice to me in person, he must secretly hate me. How do I approach this? How can I bring this up with him in a professional way?
RESPONSE A: Professors are very busy. We have proposals to write, courses to prepare, exams and assignments to create and grade, research to run, papers to write, students to mentor, faculty meetings to attend, conference calls to make. In addition, professors can recieve 20+ emails per-day from students, funding agencies, collegues, the university, etc. A professor has the choice of spending all day answering emails and getting nothing important done or ignoring most emails and focusing on important activities. Those activities that lead to more funding. Emails are read in the evening during the week or on the weekend. (Yes. After work, we go home and work. Lol) Look at a time management matrix. To a professor, most emails sit in quadrant III and IV. Either they are urgent and not important. Or not urgent and not important. What is urgent and important to you, might not be the same for the professor. It is best to visit your professor in person if you need a quick response.
RESPONSE B: All of academia sucks at emails, sometimes trapping them in person guilts them into replying. I've shameless stalked my supervisor as he came out of the bathroom *on a Sunday* after he ignored my emails for two weeks.
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POST: Ok, I'm totally fed-up with MATLAB's plotting. I'm throwing it out the proverbial window. What are the better options for plots for papers? I don't know how much it matters but I'm a physicist so at various times I need regular plots, color maps, 3d surfaces, LaTeX and math equations on labels, and so on. With that in mind, what do people feel is the best plotting program? Matlab NEVER works right, and if you ever manage to get it perfect on screen, good luck getting it to look anything like that when you print it to a vector graphic format. What do you guys use?
RESPONSE A: ggplot and matplotlib. Pyplot if you want something similar to matlab but less awful.
RESPONSE B: I use MATLAB and Adobe Illustrator. I don't know if the problems you're having are the fault of MATLAB or whatever program you're using to process the vector image, but my suggestions are: 1 - set(gcf,'renderer','painters') when printing to a vector image, especially with the pcolor command 2 - make your own color maps. I have a couple of color maps I use, typically centered on white, and then I force the color axis to be centered on zero. I get much better looking pcolor and contourf shading this way 3 - I print shading, contours, and underlying data (world map, color bar, etc) to separate files and layer them in Illustrator. It gives me greater control over transparency and line thickness 4 - rasterize the final product in Illustrator at high resolution to get rid of streaks and pixelation
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POST: Ok, I'm totally fed-up with MATLAB's plotting. I'm throwing it out the proverbial window. What are the better options for plots for papers? I don't know how much it matters but I'm a physicist so at various times I need regular plots, color maps, 3d surfaces, LaTeX and math equations on labels, and so on. With that in mind, what do people feel is the best plotting program? Matlab NEVER works right, and if you ever manage to get it perfect on screen, good luck getting it to look anything like that when you print it to a vector graphic format. What do you guys use?
RESPONSE A: It's worth it to learn ggplot in R. It is incredibly powerful, though it has a steep learning curve.
RESPONSE B: I use MATLAB and Adobe Illustrator. I don't know if the problems you're having are the fault of MATLAB or whatever program you're using to process the vector image, but my suggestions are: 1 - set(gcf,'renderer','painters') when printing to a vector image, especially with the pcolor command 2 - make your own color maps. I have a couple of color maps I use, typically centered on white, and then I force the color axis to be centered on zero. I get much better looking pcolor and contourf shading this way 3 - I print shading, contours, and underlying data (world map, color bar, etc) to separate files and layer them in Illustrator. It gives me greater control over transparency and line thickness 4 - rasterize the final product in Illustrator at high resolution to get rid of streaks and pixelation
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POST: Ok, I'm totally fed-up with MATLAB's plotting. I'm throwing it out the proverbial window. What are the better options for plots for papers? I don't know how much it matters but I'm a physicist so at various times I need regular plots, color maps, 3d surfaces, LaTeX and math equations on labels, and so on. With that in mind, what do people feel is the best plotting program? Matlab NEVER works right, and if you ever manage to get it perfect on screen, good luck getting it to look anything like that when you print it to a vector graphic format. What do you guys use?
RESPONSE A: I used to use MatLab a lot, and my impression was that you could control pretty much every aspect of your plots once you figured out the names of things. What you see on screen is a pretty poor guide though, I used to output an e.g. .eps file and tweak it until that looked how I wanted. Maybe it's changed though, haven't used it for a few years. If you're really fed up with it, here's some alternatives: * python matplotlib library. This is what I use almost exclusively. Can do most things that matlab can do, except 3D graphics. Can handle latex formatting for labels. * A lot of people use R. * xfig? As bellcrank suggested, if you really want to polish your figures, open the output in Illustrator or Inkscape, which allows you to tweak fonts, colours, linewidths etc. ad infinitum.
RESPONSE B: It's worth it to learn ggplot in R. It is incredibly powerful, though it has a steep learning curve.
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POST: Ok, I'm totally fed-up with MATLAB's plotting. I'm throwing it out the proverbial window. What are the better options for plots for papers? I don't know how much it matters but I'm a physicist so at various times I need regular plots, color maps, 3d surfaces, LaTeX and math equations on labels, and so on. With that in mind, what do people feel is the best plotting program? Matlab NEVER works right, and if you ever manage to get it perfect on screen, good luck getting it to look anything like that when you print it to a vector graphic format. What do you guys use?
RESPONSE A: THAT! I have been struggling so much with MATLAB... I recently switched to python with numpy and matplotlib. The syntax is very similar to MATLB's. It works great, and python is pretty good at parsing files and reading data efficiently so this is a win-win for me. Also now I don't need to ask someone else to run my scripts.
RESPONSE B: I'm not sure how familiar you are with Python. Though my guess is if you can learn Matplot, then you can learn Python easily. You should check out the Seaborn package. It builds on Matplot, but enhances the aesthetics of the plots greatly, and it's incredibly easy to use.
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POST: Ok, I'm totally fed-up with MATLAB's plotting. I'm throwing it out the proverbial window. What are the better options for plots for papers? I don't know how much it matters but I'm a physicist so at various times I need regular plots, color maps, 3d surfaces, LaTeX and math equations on labels, and so on. With that in mind, what do people feel is the best plotting program? Matlab NEVER works right, and if you ever manage to get it perfect on screen, good luck getting it to look anything like that when you print it to a vector graphic format. What do you guys use?
RESPONSE A: I used to use MatLab a lot, and my impression was that you could control pretty much every aspect of your plots once you figured out the names of things. What you see on screen is a pretty poor guide though, I used to output an e.g. .eps file and tweak it until that looked how I wanted. Maybe it's changed though, haven't used it for a few years. If you're really fed up with it, here's some alternatives: * python matplotlib library. This is what I use almost exclusively. Can do most things that matlab can do, except 3D graphics. Can handle latex formatting for labels. * A lot of people use R. * xfig? As bellcrank suggested, if you really want to polish your figures, open the output in Illustrator or Inkscape, which allows you to tweak fonts, colours, linewidths etc. ad infinitum.
RESPONSE B: I'm not sure how familiar you are with Python. Though my guess is if you can learn Matplot, then you can learn Python easily. You should check out the Seaborn package. It builds on Matplot, but enhances the aesthetics of the plots greatly, and it's incredibly easy to use.
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POST: to avoid taking a break in between. This way, you can coast on the inertia of functioning in an academic environment instead of having to readjust from industry. Does the same principle apply post-PhD? For some context, I've accepted an industry position in software but hope to eventually return to AI-related research after I catch my breath. I'm starting to wonder whether I should've instead accepted an academic postdoc position. Do research skills 'decay' over time? Can anyone share experiences on returning to academia after industry? Thanks very much.
RESPONSE A: In my field the thing that's a real problem would be the early career grants, that have a deadline from getting your PhD. What I think you need to know is what happens if you miss out on those - is there then any realistically likely alternative path into a good academic research career, i.e., above postdoc grunt level?
RESPONSE B: I feel like something is to be said about how rare it is for someone to go back to a post-doc after doing industry. Surely these individuals, after having experienced academic research in their PhDs and research in industry, are rationally deciding to remain in industry. And I doubt it has anything to do with their research skills decaying. Sure money has a lot to do with it. But also, in industry, you move up the ladder more quickly - you'll likely end up being a group leader much faster than getting a TT position. Especially in biotech, people move quite rapidly (2-3 years) horizontally and vertically between positions and companies, learning brand new skills at each step. Also, things can feel like they're moving faster, given access to greater resources and scale in industry. Idk - I feel like I'm in the same boat as you. I'm gonna join a startup right out of my PhD. But in the back of my head, I feel like maybe I'll get bored and run right back to a postdoc. But given how rare that is, I'm guessing I'll find fewer and fewer reasons to go back once I experience that the pace of research is energizing in industry as well, if not moreso.
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POST: Inertia effect of staying in academia post-PhD? I know that when deciding whether to enter a PhD program right away after a bachelor's, some people recommend to avoid taking a break in between. This way, you can coast on the inertia of functioning in an academic environment instead of having to readjust from industry. Does the same principle apply post-PhD? For some context, I've accepted an industry position in software but hope to eventually return to AI-related research after I catch my breath. I'm starting to wonder whether I should've instead accepted an academic postdoc position. Do research skills 'decay' over time? Can anyone share experiences on returning to academia after industry? Thanks very much.
RESPONSE A: I notice a lot more initiatives in my field of being "innovative", i.e. making research relevant for industry. Policy makers have declared that number of industry collaborations and startups will have a larger impact on funding decisions in the future. In consequence, department leaders are looking desperately for more connections with industry. I bet someone coming back from industry, possibly with a network of people in industry, would be a strong candidate - and might be hired above Postdoc grade right away. I have seen this happening.
RESPONSE B: I think academic 'inertia' is significantly more critical post PhD than post Bac, or Master. I dont think taking breaks between undergrad and grad school matters at all. At the same time, taking a break from academia post-PhD makes it nearly impossible to return for two reasons. First, you will probably have a higher income as recent PhD in industry compared to academia (post-doc, entry level faculty position, adjunct). Second, many university departments will start to see your PhD as being "stale" after a few years without an academic position, unless you are able to keep up with publishing (for research-oriented positions) or teaching (for teaching-oriented positions). Keeping up with publishing or teaching is very challenging if you dont have an academic position.
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POST: What are you looking for in a reference manager? We are currently working on a new reference manager/library for Windows, Linux and macOS. As you probably know better than me, there are already plenty of options available. However, every piece of software out there is probably lacking something you may need. At the moment, the following goals are some of our high priorities: - Importing websites and articles through the browser - OCR for JPEG/TIFF/PDF/EPUB - Automated metadata lookup - Fuzzy search in entire documents - Tagging reference items (be it a web page or a PDF file) - Send to Kindle - Completely self-hosted: no vendor lock-in if you don't want to. Some features such as Send to Kindle and Cloud Sync can be automated by our servers and that would require you to create an account. However, it will also be possible to create a backup of your database to a single file, copy it over manually to another PC and import it there to continue working on it (or attach it to your Dropbox/OneDrive/whatever cloud drive platform you like). In addition, the entire database will be easy to read in case the application would become deprecated at some point or you want to use something else. Files are stored in a directory, the database is open and easy to write an alternative client for. We care about making stuff open. Especially with scientific research, academics should be able to use open tools without being tied to an ecosystem. While this is a good target for our application, we also like to have as much advantage over other similar software packages as possible. Therefore, what feature are you really looking for in a new reference manager?
RESPONSE A: I'm pretty happy with Zotero TBH
RESPONSE B: Bibtex/biblatex support
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POST: Any advice for those of us starting graduate programs this month?
RESPONSE A: Find the biggest, baddest dude in the program and knock him/her out so everyone respects you.
RESPONSE B: If it's like my program, the first year is a kick in the nuts as far as course work goes. Make friends with your fellow classmates and if it's allowed, work together on the assignments and studying. Give up on the idea of a life or fun outside of your program for at least the first year. This will be very different than what you've done before and much much harder. Once courses are over, you enter research land. This is a bit like that moment when the rocket thrusters shut down, you feel that jerk and then you're floating. The floating is because, congratulations, you've finished book learnin. Now you have to figure something out for yourself. There is no more structure, there is no more syllabus, you wander alone in a desert looking for a clue and feeling like everyone else is doing better than you. Realize that you have to now be your own teacher and student. While your adviser can help, your project ultimately becomes all your responsibility. Once you start research, get fucking organized! Keep a running bibliography of any papers you read that you find interesting. Write something about what you did or what you learned every day. Make journaling a thing, it'll make writing so much easier when it's time. Finally, learn to cook mass quantities of food once or twice a week to pack and bring with you. You dont want to spend your stipend on food and life while going into debt. Live cheaply to the best of your abilities.
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POST: Any advice for those of us starting graduate programs this month?
RESPONSE A: Find the biggest, baddest dude in the program and knock him/her out so everyone respects you.
RESPONSE B: Work hard. Pass your first semester classes with Bs or higher. Get along. Don't pick battles you can't win, and generally you won't win against faculty or administration. Choose a great mentor not a great project. And like this commercial says at 10 seconds, "I want to be a yes man, yes woman, yes sir coming sir." That's mostly first year advice, by your second or third year you'll know the ropes well enough to relax a little, pick a few battles you can win, and learn how to politely interact with faculty and administration and get what you want while also giving them what they want. And you can also start to back off of the video's recommendations :)
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POST: Any advice for those of us starting graduate programs this month?
RESPONSE A: Keep a schedule. Don't procrastinate. Take an active role in your studies and graduate career. Eat healthy. Get LOTS of sleep. Exercise. Manage your manager/ Professor (set healthy boundaries, be professional, set reasonable expectations for work, etc) CYA
RESPONSE B: Find the biggest, baddest dude in the program and knock him/her out so everyone respects you.
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POST: How important is social media? I will be starting grad school in the fall, and I was wondering how important social media is for building connections and how helpful it is to have career-wise in academia. I had Facebook in the past, but I eventually realized it wasn't for me and got off. As of now I am not active on any social media platform (not counting reddit). Is this something that has the potential to hold my career back? Are there social media outlets that are commonly used among academics that I should consider joining?
RESPONSE A: My PhD student's training/coursework includes a mandatory course on social media engagement. They're actually *marked* on their social media likes. Note that this has nothing to do with me - I think it's atrocious. Not sure if it comes from my institution or the MRC directly: but yeah, social media is a big part. Personally I think it can be a great thing if you use it right, although the culture can be a bit pitchforky sometimes, so if you're careful with what you say, fine. Definitely for REF they include impact statements and altmetrics etc., so they want evidence you're 'getting your work out there'. I think the trick is to treat it as just another aspect of work: make it clearly your *work* twitter.
RESPONSE B: From my observations, social media is negligible in advancing your career, but it can very easily end it. Don't post inflammatory tweets on your real account, people.
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POST: Any favorite books or resources to guide new mentors of postdocs? I haven't mentored a postdoc and I'm likely to have the opportunity to do so soon. I went straight into faculty without a postdoc and don't have personal experience to draw upon. I've heard many terrible stories of postdoc experiences and want to be a good mentor to postdocs who work with me. Given this, are there any books, articles, or other resources that you would recommend?
RESPONSE A: Can't help as I'm still in grad school but it's nice to see someone reaching out to be a good mentor!
RESPONSE B: The fact that you care enough about the situation to ask this is a wonderful sign that you will be a good mentor! My post doc position responsibilities were unclear and management and expectations were vague at best. The most frustrating aspect was that I was expected to manage without authority (or backing) to do so. I don’t have any resources- my apologies- but my personal advice is to be clear in directives and work with the post doc to set up a timeline of accomplishments and a list of responsibilities. And make sure those responsibilities or any authority given are clear to everyone in the lab.
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POST: Postdoc or industry position Is it a good idea to go for a postdoc, if your ultimate goal to join industry?
RESPONSE A: It's a myth that careers have to follow a certain route otherwise you can't succeed at the next thing. If you want to do a postdoc, do it. Lots of people go into industry from academia, at all stages. It's far easier to have a successful lifetime career if you do things you enjoy rather than doing things you don't enjoy thinking you'll get some tradeoff in the future. Do what you think will interest you, keep you motivated and you can do well now, rather than what you think will bring you future success.
RESPONSE B: Many industrial positions would like to see some postdoc experience. Not all, just some.
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POST: my GPA might hold me back. I'm not graduating for another year but I'm wondering if I'll be accepted into graduate school if my GPA is too low. I failed a course in my first semester and its been haunting me ever since. I've had a semester GPA of 3.0 for 3 of the last 4 semester but my GPA is still not great because I failed that one course really badly. It isn't even a course that I need anymore since I'm not in the sciences. With reviewers really take that into account that I failed a course in my first semester that isn't even relevant? How do I explain to them that I actually do well its just that my GPA reflects all the courses I've done including the ones that I did poorly in when I was trying for a different major?
RESPONSE A: A lot of schools I’ve applied to will ask what my last two year GPA was and if it’s higher than overall GPA they usually chalk it up as an adjustment period. Also if you’ve changed majors and the class you failed wasn’t part of your current major or any relation to what you will be studying I would imagine that it would be more likely to be overlooked. Most grad applications are seen as a package so being a little weak in one aspect wouldn’t rule you out. Best of luck!
RESPONSE B: Do everyone a favor: don’t “explain” your poor grades. Highlight your academic successes in the context of your whole application and experience. So you got an F a few years ago. The quickest way to bore and irritate a reviewer is to have a laundry list of excuses. Tell me about your outstanding achievement your junior year instead. Why is this my advice? If you are going to be admitted into my program, you will face adversity of some sort. Personal , professional , whatever. You will need to succeed in spite of those roadblocks whatever they may be. What you write in your statement becomes an insight to how you will handle that adversity. So whatever situation produced that “F”... what if it happens again? Will you leave the program? Avoid the excuses : highlight the successes.
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POST: grad school I'm considering applying for a masters after I graduate and I'm worried that my GPA might hold me back. I'm not graduating for another year but I'm wondering if I'll be accepted into graduate school if my GPA is too low. I failed a course in my first semester and its been haunting me ever since. I've had a semester GPA of 3.0 for 3 of the last 4 semester but my GPA is still not great because I failed that one course really badly. It isn't even a course that I need anymore since I'm not in the sciences. With reviewers really take that into account that I failed a course in my first semester that isn't even relevant? How do I explain to them that I actually do well its just that my GPA reflects all the courses I've done including the ones that I did poorly in when I was trying for a different major?
RESPONSE A: I agree that admission committees look at grade trend as well as the overall number (so if you show big improvement from a bad first semester or first year, they don't look at the early grades much). I will say though, 3.0 is still kind of low for a graduate program. Without knowing your program or major, just make sure you look into the minimums and averages for the programs you're looking into.
RESPONSE B: Do everyone a favor: don’t “explain” your poor grades. Highlight your academic successes in the context of your whole application and experience. So you got an F a few years ago. The quickest way to bore and irritate a reviewer is to have a laundry list of excuses. Tell me about your outstanding achievement your junior year instead. Why is this my advice? If you are going to be admitted into my program, you will face adversity of some sort. Personal , professional , whatever. You will need to succeed in spite of those roadblocks whatever they may be. What you write in your statement becomes an insight to how you will handle that adversity. So whatever situation produced that “F”... what if it happens again? Will you leave the program? Avoid the excuses : highlight the successes.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: How do I explain my GPA when applying to grad school I'm considering applying for a masters after I graduate and I'm worried that my GPA might hold me back. I'm not graduating for another year but I'm wondering if I'll be accepted into graduate school if my GPA is too low. I failed a course in my first semester and its been haunting me ever since. I've had a semester GPA of 3.0 for 3 of the last 4 semester but my GPA is still not great because I failed that one course really badly. It isn't even a course that I need anymore since I'm not in the sciences. With reviewers really take that into account that I failed a course in my first semester that isn't even relevant? How do I explain to them that I actually do well its just that my GPA reflects all the courses I've done including the ones that I did poorly in when I was trying for a different major?
RESPONSE A: A lot of schools I’ve applied to will ask what my last two year GPA was and if it’s higher than overall GPA they usually chalk it up as an adjustment period. Also if you’ve changed majors and the class you failed wasn’t part of your current major or any relation to what you will be studying I would imagine that it would be more likely to be overlooked. Most grad applications are seen as a package so being a little weak in one aspect wouldn’t rule you out. Best of luck!
RESPONSE B: Applied to ten master’s programs (MPH) with a sub 3.0 gpa, was accepted to nearly all of them, chose a top ten program who offered me quite a bit of money. In my personal statement I had maybe half a sentence addressing my poor grades in undergrad, acknowledging I hadn’t put the necessary amount of work into certain classes. The rest of the essay described all of my research experience. Having three excellent letters of rec from a public health director, someone in administration, and my lab PI probably showed them that I was actually hardworking and could handle a full-time research position while in the program.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: How do I explain my GPA when applying to grad school I'm considering applying for a masters after I graduate and I'm worried that my GPA might hold me back. I'm not graduating for another year but I'm wondering if I'll be accepted into graduate school if my GPA is too low. I failed a course in my first semester and its been haunting me ever since. I've had a semester GPA of 3.0 for 3 of the last 4 semester but my GPA is still not great because I failed that one course really badly. It isn't even a course that I need anymore since I'm not in the sciences. With reviewers really take that into account that I failed a course in my first semester that isn't even relevant? How do I explain to them that I actually do well its just that my GPA reflects all the courses I've done including the ones that I did poorly in when I was trying for a different major?
RESPONSE A: I agree that admission committees look at grade trend as well as the overall number (so if you show big improvement from a bad first semester or first year, they don't look at the early grades much). I will say though, 3.0 is still kind of low for a graduate program. Without knowing your program or major, just make sure you look into the minimums and averages for the programs you're looking into.
RESPONSE B: Applied to ten master’s programs (MPH) with a sub 3.0 gpa, was accepted to nearly all of them, chose a top ten program who offered me quite a bit of money. In my personal statement I had maybe half a sentence addressing my poor grades in undergrad, acknowledging I hadn’t put the necessary amount of work into certain classes. The rest of the essay described all of my research experience. Having three excellent letters of rec from a public health director, someone in administration, and my lab PI probably showed them that I was actually hardworking and could handle a full-time research position while in the program.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: To the professors: If you received a resume of a Ph.D. student enrolled in a different university/country and want to join your research group as a Ph.D. student, how would you respond? Would it be considered a red flag for a student moving from one Ph.D. program to another? Thanks
RESPONSE A: Switching doctoral programs is rare but does happen. Here they basically have to start over in most cases. They would go through the usual application process. I would not necessarily consider this a red flag but would want an explanation.
RESPONSE B: I am one of the rare cases of a doctoral student who switched doctoral programs. I got divorced in my first year of Program 1, and I realized I needed to leave the city/state to continue moving forward. I decided to transfer to Program 2. I ran the idea by my PI who supported my decision. He knew people at Program 2, so he gave them a call and facilitated a transition for me (i.e. lab to lab) while I formally applied (university to university).
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: Changing my name professionally BEFORE marriage? I am a second-year PhD student getting married next June, however I am slated to have my first article published in March. I've decided to take my fiancé's last name, and the editors of the journal I'll be published in (who are also my mentors and close colleagues) already know this. Since I see no reason to publish under my maiden name only to list future publications under my new name, would it cause undue trouble to change my name professionally for my first publication but before I'm married? Or should I hold off on using my new name until after I've legally changed it? Thanks for your input!
RESPONSE A: It's fine to change your name now. The only downside would be if you didn't end up getting married, or got divorced later, and felt obligated to stay with that last name for publication purposes. There's no reason you need to have the same publication name as legal name. You could keep your maiden name as the publication name or even have a separate pen name altogether (neither maiden nor married name), which is what I did since my maiden name is incredibly common. The most important consideration is that it be a UNIQUE name, so do some author searches before deciding on your publication name to make sure there aren't, like, 10000 "JH Smiths" out there already. Grats on the publication and grats in advance on the wedding!
RESPONSE B: This is always a complicated situation. What I have seen (i) Have already changed their name, simply use their new last name. (ii) Have pubs under their old name on their CV for earlier work and put a note on the CV (e.g. née Smith). (iii) Use a maiden name for all publications throughout career and in academic circles, use formal name for all other documents and in personal circles. I have not ever heard of anyone choosing to use another name _before_ marriage, but I would think journals would not mind if you gave them a small note of why that is. Best of luck!
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POST: Publishing under middle name? Hi all, second year PhD microbiology student here, about to publish my first paper. Since I was born I've always been called my middle name; socially, professionally and basically everywhere. Not even my parents have called me by my first name, not when I was a baby and not now. I know you don't need to publish under your legal name, but are there any downsides to using your middle name? Instead of "First Last", I was thinking of doing "Middle First Initial Last" and sticking to it for the rest of my career. I have not published before, all my conference posters are under "Middle Last". Any long term problems with grants or something this may cause? Or am I in the clear.
RESPONSE A: It's pretty common, especially for other cultures where naming conventions are different. From what I've seen, it'd be more like J. Harry Smith so you know that it's not their "first name" in the Western sense, which could matter if a report or news article used their full name. Or maybe they just like the look of having the first initial. I like the look of having my second initial, even though I doubt anyone else in the world has the same first and last name anyway. You're the one who has to publish under it, may as well be a styling that you like.
RESPONSE B: you're fine, I've never been asked to provide ID showing my legal name for any publication or grant.
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POST: "Academia Letters" from academia.edu: legit or not? Hi, I got an email today from Academia.edu (yeah yeah, I know) about their new experimental publishing format. Unlike some of their other stuff, it's not pay to publish. Is this worth even thinking about? Text of the email: Hi [My Name], You're invited to submit to a new, experimental online journal called Academia Letters. We're looking for ultra-short research papers (800-1600 words), such as brief reports, case studies, or “orphaned” findings and ideas dropped from previously-published work. Letters are rapidly vetted by scholars researching similar topics. Accepted submissions are assigned a DOI and disseminated to thousands of interested scholars, practitioners, and members of the general public. Click here [link removed] to submit an article or to learn more about our vision, author guidelines, and review process. Looking forward to your submission. Thanks, The Academia Team
RESPONSE A: Yes it should be legit. But it may not be the best fit for your work.
RESPONSE B: "Rapidly vetted" does not sound like peer review.
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POST: emia Letters. We're looking for ultra-short research papers (800-1600 words), such as brief reports, case studies, or “orphaned” findings and ideas dropped from previously-published work. Letters are rapidly vetted by scholars researching similar topics. Accepted submissions are assigned a DOI and disseminated to thousands of interested scholars, practitioners, and members of the general public. Click here [link removed] to submit an article or to learn more about our vision, author guidelines, and review process. Looking forward to your submission. Thanks, The Academia Team
RESPONSE A: I also got this invitation. I submitted a letter. Was accepted already. Just a small and not very relevant essay. But I got two good reviews and one rejecting. This one said that the work was very generalistic and that I wasn't true to the arguments of the author. I just ignored it, especially because it was just a letter of 3 pages and not a real paper. Lets see how it works out.
RESPONSE B: I have something published there and the reception has been fantastic. It's been read by 415 people in over 50 countries. Many of them are academics. Some reached across to me privately to say they loved the idea espoused in the letter. The letter was even thrown up for subject matter expert discussion in Academia. So now I have good feedback to further develop the idea into a standard paper. At some point, getting heard (and timely too) is more important than publishing in conventional outlets. After all, the so-called known reputable outlets either reject ideas sometimes for laughable reasons or take forever to publish an accepted paper. Once my paper was accepted for publication when the data had become too old to put out there. The world is becoming too fast and folks no longer have time to read lengthy pieces, especially in the social sciences and humanities. Academia Letters is offering an alternative to that. By limiting the paper to 1600 words, authors go straight to the point, thereby increasing readability. I see this doubt-arousing journal concept as the future of academic publishing. Academia Letters is peer-reviewed, and papers are rejected if the reviewers so conclude. And it is free of charge.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: today from Academia.edu (yeah yeah, I know) about their new experimental publishing format. Unlike some of their other stuff, it's not pay to publish. Is this worth even thinking about? Text of the email: Hi [My Name], You're invited to submit to a new, experimental online journal called Academia Letters. We're looking for ultra-short research papers (800-1600 words), such as brief reports, case studies, or “orphaned” findings and ideas dropped from previously-published work. Letters are rapidly vetted by scholars researching similar topics. Accepted submissions are assigned a DOI and disseminated to thousands of interested scholars, practitioners, and members of the general public. Click here [link removed] to submit an article or to learn more about our vision, author guidelines, and review process. Looking forward to your submission. Thanks, The Academia Team
RESPONSE A: I have something published there and the reception has been fantastic. It's been read by 415 people in over 50 countries. Many of them are academics. Some reached across to me privately to say they loved the idea espoused in the letter. The letter was even thrown up for subject matter expert discussion in Academia. So now I have good feedback to further develop the idea into a standard paper. At some point, getting heard (and timely too) is more important than publishing in conventional outlets. After all, the so-called known reputable outlets either reject ideas sometimes for laughable reasons or take forever to publish an accepted paper. Once my paper was accepted for publication when the data had become too old to put out there. The world is becoming too fast and folks no longer have time to read lengthy pieces, especially in the social sciences and humanities. Academia Letters is offering an alternative to that. By limiting the paper to 1600 words, authors go straight to the point, thereby increasing readability. I see this doubt-arousing journal concept as the future of academic publishing. Academia Letters is peer-reviewed, and papers are rejected if the reviewers so conclude. And it is free of charge.
RESPONSE B: Are they still seeking submissions at Academia Letters?
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: looking for ultra-short research papers (800-1600 words), such as brief reports, case studies, or “orphaned” findings and ideas dropped from previously-published work. Letters are rapidly vetted by scholars researching similar topics. Accepted submissions are assigned a DOI and disseminated to thousands of interested scholars, practitioners, and members of the general public. Click here [link removed] to submit an article or to learn more about our vision, author guidelines, and review process. Looking forward to your submission. Thanks, The Academia Team
RESPONSE A: academia.edu sends these letters out for quick reviews. They seem to accept letters with at least 2 acceptance recommendations. I’ve been asked to review 4 so far. One was readable, and suitable for a broader audience. If you are up for tenure, a published letter is unhelpful. But it’s innovative and worth trying for the purpose of disseminating ideas. It’s an experiment and whether it works is an empirical question.
RESPONSE B: I have something published there and the reception has been fantastic. It's been read by 415 people in over 50 countries. Many of them are academics. Some reached across to me privately to say they loved the idea espoused in the letter. The letter was even thrown up for subject matter expert discussion in Academia. So now I have good feedback to further develop the idea into a standard paper. At some point, getting heard (and timely too) is more important than publishing in conventional outlets. After all, the so-called known reputable outlets either reject ideas sometimes for laughable reasons or take forever to publish an accepted paper. Once my paper was accepted for publication when the data had become too old to put out there. The world is becoming too fast and folks no longer have time to read lengthy pieces, especially in the social sciences and humanities. Academia Letters is offering an alternative to that. By limiting the paper to 1600 words, authors go straight to the point, thereby increasing readability. I see this doubt-arousing journal concept as the future of academic publishing. Academia Letters is peer-reviewed, and papers are rejected if the reviewers so conclude. And it is free of charge.
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POST: Search Committee Academics, How Important is Ph.D. program name? For those of you who have partaken in faculty hiring, how important (if at all) are faculty names (in STEM domains)? Furthermore, if comparing between applicants from Harvard, MIT, Columbia, or Princeton, is there a preference based on name?
RESPONSE A: On some level, names can be critical. First cuts to pools are made quickly when a committee has two weeks to get from 150-300+ applications down to 20. Though I've never known anyone to do that based solely on reputation of the Ph.D.-granting institution, program rep can be a major factor at that stage. (Many people I know basically read the cover letter and skim the c.v. to make their first cuts.) Once you're into the top 25 or so schools in a field, the work becomes much more granular. I've never seen anyone base a decision on "this person comes from the #7 program and this from the #19, so we're making our decision based on rank." That said, even at my liberal arts college there are *very few* faculty who do not hold degrees from top-25 programs in their various fields. In some fields (look at poli sci, for example) a handful of schools account for 50%+ of all hires in the US annually.
RESPONSE B: As someone at a large-ish, regional teaching-focused Master's-granting public university -- in my department (Math) nobody really cares about the brand name. What we do care about, is if you're focused on student success, have some experience that would indicate that you have what it takes to teach effectively in a smart and innovative department that thinks a _lot_ about teaching, and if you can bring something new to the table that would make us all better. Not all departments at my university may think like this, and definitely not all universities are like us. So YMMV depending on the institution and the discipline.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: Search Committee Academics, How Important is Ph.D. program name? For those of you who have partaken in faculty hiring, how important (if at all) are faculty names (in STEM domains)? Furthermore, if comparing between applicants from Harvard, MIT, Columbia, or Princeton, is there a preference based on name?
RESPONSE A: On some level, names can be critical. First cuts to pools are made quickly when a committee has two weeks to get from 150-300+ applications down to 20. Though I've never known anyone to do that based solely on reputation of the Ph.D.-granting institution, program rep can be a major factor at that stage. (Many people I know basically read the cover letter and skim the c.v. to make their first cuts.) Once you're into the top 25 or so schools in a field, the work becomes much more granular. I've never seen anyone base a decision on "this person comes from the #7 program and this from the #19, so we're making our decision based on rank." That said, even at my liberal arts college there are *very few* faculty who do not hold degrees from top-25 programs in their various fields. In some fields (look at poli sci, for example) a handful of schools account for 50%+ of all hires in the US annually.
RESPONSE B: Here is a simple rule of thumb regarding hiring (backed up by some research): You can move laterally and down, but not up: i.e., a top R1 grad can be hired at a top R1 (and down); a PUI grad can be hired by a PUI (and down); a PUI grad is *very unlikely* to be hired at an R1.
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POST: Does anyone have experience or thoughts on doing an MD after a PhD? I'm not asking for myself, rather for my wife. She's been toying with the idea for a couple years now, and is still uncertain. She's got a year left for her PhD in neuroscience, and really loves the idea of adding an MD to her character string. For her it opens further doors that a PhD wouldn't. There's a few MD PhD's at her workplace, and they've gone MD first, and added a PhD after, not sure if that is a major factor or not. I'm asking this as a general question, to see if there are any thoughts, experiences, and opinions out there.
RESPONSE A: I have almost exclusively seen this done as a joint program: 2 years of med school, then the PhD, then finish med school. This has the major benefit that in joint programs the tuition for the med school portion is covered, so you don't have to go into massive debt. I would encourage your wife to work in her field for a few years before deciding to take on the cost of an MD. I have a suspicion that she is feeling some anxiety about leaving school, and after 5-7 years in a PhD program I think it will be useful to be gainfully employed for a few years before jumping back in.
RESPONSE B: A few people in my department went to med school immediately after finishing their PhD.
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POST: professors of reddit : what was your GPA if you hold a science faculty position : what was your college GPA, and what level college do you teach (ivy-grade, 2nd tier, other). OR what were the worst grades you got and in what. extra credit : your SAT scores.
RESPONSE A: Why do you want to know this? Are you trying to determine whether college GPA correlates with holding a high profile professorship? I'm not a professor (yet) but let me spoil the surprise: On average, it's high. Does this mean that hiring committees care about your college GPA or SAT scores? Probably not. But, on average I imagine that people who can put forth the effort and show the intelligence to get a professorship have been high achievers their entire lives. I know my professor had a pretty bad GPA in college, so it's by no means a requirement to have good grades.
RESPONSE B: I honestly don't remember what my GPA was, but it certainly wasn't a 4.0, and I don't have a clue how my SAT scores translate to whatever the current scale is. Honestly, as a professor, I'd say that at least 2/3 of the students I see chasing a 4.0 are not the sort of students that are passionate about a discipline, and most of them are chasing the grade and not the knowledge. The bottom line: most of us probably became professors because we loved learning and knowledge. The students that I see who I could imagine as professors some day come talk to me about ideas, not grades.
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POST: Plagiarism in journal article and editor doesn’t respond Hi all, last year I noticed a new journal article that contained plagiarized content from my PhD dissertation as well as one of my own papers (both published in 2013). There are entire paragraphs that are copied, word-for-word, so I think this is as clear of a case as it gets. There’s also a table containing the exact same data in the exact same order and format as my own. There’s also no citation to my work. I emailed the journal’s editor to notify them and attached a document showing a side-by-side comparison. They said they would look into it but have since stopped responding to me after several attempts to follow up. Any suggestions for what I can do if the editor doesn’t take any action? Thanks!
RESPONSE A: Contact your university’s Research Integrity Officer — probably the VP of Research. I am that person for my university and if this happened with something someone published while they were here, even if they were now gone, it is definitely something I would pursue. At the very least, they can tell you how to proceed. If they won’t help you, which I think is unlikely, then I would contact their counterpart at the offender’s institution. If they are at a company, I would contact an appropriate VP level person here.
RESPONSE B: How long has it been since they last replied? These things take time. Editors will want to speak with the author of the piece, communicate with editorial board members, scientific advisory committee etc. Ideally, you want to hear back within a month, but you also need to account for the summer vacation.
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POST: Does an inconclusive data or result means the research is insignifigant/waste of time? Hello! If a study has produced data and results which are inconclusive, does it mean the research is insignificant or just a waste of effort of the researchers? I have heard about positive and negative results, but I haven't heard about inconclusive ones. Thank you for your insights especially on the academe perspective!
RESPONSE A: Sometimes the complexity of an issue doesn't become clear until a study is completed. One may have had good reason to believe all relevant variables were included, but reality turned out to be different. Sometimes this could have been known and should have been taken into consideration in the design. Other times it couldn't. But maybe you could clarify your question a bit. What do you mean with inconclusive? A significant zero correlation (e.g. not positive/negative)? Non-significance? Other? What discipline/topic are we talking about?
RESPONSE B: If the data is inconclusive, doesn't mean its insignificant. It just means more data is needed to result into a conclusion.
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POST: . Any insights?
RESPONSE A: So I got my B.S., did not want to get a job so I went on to get my M.S. a year later, still did not want to get a job, so I ended up getting a PhD. Near the end of this last degree, I realized I really, really, really, needed to figure out what I was going to do afterwards as I was running out of math degrees I wanted to earn. I did some soul searching, has some serious conversations with my girlfriend (now wife), and realized that I enjoyed the teaching environment to that of the purely research environment. (I was an art major as an undergrad until I ran into some incredible professors in the math department who challenged me, kept me interested, and were very friendly and open to social interactions). As a result of this discovery, I ended up applying for tenure track positions at smaller universities. I managed to land one right out of grad school and have loved the living daylights out of it every day since. I get to teach, maybe give back to a few students who might be in a similar position to me when I was their age; I get to do research at a pace I find acceptable; and I get to be part of a department what really works as a cohesive unit to keep things running smoothly. So, this might seem like a bit of a rambling response, but consider what got you into bioinformatics and genetics. Why those areas, why not chemistry or philosophy instead? Focus on those reasons and try to figure out what jobs really relate to those specifics. Lastly, you like to teach, so have you considered that with your education and "prestigious research institution" post-doc, you might be a really great candidate for a tenure track position at a smaller university? You might even feel like you fit in better there.
RESPONSE B: So the only reason you think of leaving is because you couldn't answer the question about where you see yourself a few years from now? But you like doing research and teaching? So basically you like academia life and you are successful at it? I'm pretty sure you should keep going because you have something that a lot of people are looking for. Unless you don't feel that way of course.
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POST: Should I stay in Europe or move to the USA for my PhD? (mathematics) I'm about to graduate from my Master's degree and start applying for PhD positions. I live in Europe and have several good institutions among my options. Should I consider moving to the USA? Could it be a good move to broaden my perspective? What are your arguments pro Europe and pro USA respectively when it comes to choosing where to do a PhD?
RESPONSE A: If you earn a PhD in the U.S., your academic regalia consists of robes, a sort of cape deal they call a hood, and a tam. If you earn a PhD in Finland, your academic regalia consists of white tie and a tailcoat, a top hat, AND A SWORD.
RESPONSE B: in addition to what what was already said, timing can be an issue. if you wanted to do a PhD in the US, right now your next opportunity would be to do the GREs in September/October, then submit applications in December/January for admission to begin school in August/September of 2019. that is, you would not begin until 15-16 months from now.
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POST: Becoming a researcher without a PhD I'm currently a CS undergrad and I have a job lined up for after I graduate. However, I love CS, learning, and research and have thus been considering going into a PhD program after working for 1-2 years but it will be difficult for me to give up my job making $90k/year to trudge it out in the program for 6 years making $30k/year if I'm lucky. My question is how plausible is it for me to become a researcher without a PhD? I know of many people who tell me they do research in a lab who do not have a PhD; how does the work they do differ from the work a PhD does if it differs at all?
RESPONSE A: >My question is how plausible is it for me to become a researcher without a PhD? Yes, though the common workload is along the lines of a research engineer and not scientist. All of the companies I've worked for have research software engineers (some with PhD, some without) that *mostly* implement/evaluate new methods in their domain. Their job is to improve/modify these methods, and while sometimes get a paper out of it, that is not the primary goal. There isn't a hard separation of duties for those with a PhD and those without, and it varies by industry. IMO it would be hard to give up 90k job out of undergrad, that's a fantastic opportunity, depending on location. You may want to consider a part-time Masters degrees that you can do online/evening classes. This will allow you to get your feet wet in research, and be positively sure it's what you love before giving up other job prospects.
RESPONSE B: Most people who do a PhD actually reduce their earnings against taking other options.
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POST: How do you treat erroneous papers in your area of expertise I often come across papers in legitimate journals that contain grave errors. These errors are obvious to me but might not be that obvious to others that aren't specialised in the same niche of a niche topic as I am. Therefore, I think it would be good to point out those errors. However, spending half the introduction of my paper on criticizing others makes me look like a dick, people will be pissed off at me, and they might start to criticize my own papers. The alternative would probably be to just ignore those erroneous papers. How do you handle this? Edit: Sorry for the missing question mark in the title.
RESPONSE A: In the patent field, I have used the term "internal inconsistencies" to discuss probably false information in the work of other. IMHO, you do not want to miss off people that might review your paper. Focus on what is true and go from there.
RESPONSE B: The first step is to make sure you don’t think a paper is erroneous only because you think it goes against what you believe. Calling a published article erroneous is a pretty serious accusation. Also, you would be correct in thinking people would perceive you as a dick if you spend time in your papers calling out said papers. That being said, there are times when a paper needs to be called out, so if you’re 100% sure it’s a bs paper, go ham!
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POST: How do I make the most out of my PhD program? What should I spend time on? What should I avoid? I'm thinking of this program as an investment (as everyone should) and I want to know how to get the most out of my investment. Looking forward to your thoughts!
RESPONSE A: Fill out an IDP, being as honest as possible, and share it with your thesis adviser. Come up with a training plan together and update it at least once a year to keep everyone on the same page.
RESPONSE B: Finished my PhD a few months ago, the most important things to do are networking and publishing, everything else is secondary in my opinion. I would trade in all my A classes for Bs for just 1 more first author paper.
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POST: feel over-dressed and like it heightens the difference between me and my sort of but also not really peers. The clothes aren't really the issue, but they sort of highlight how I feel sort of on the edge of different groups, but without one that I feel really comfortable in.
RESPONSE A: As a student I always felt more comfortable with a professor that dressed in a way that made them approachable. That's why I don't feel the need to 'dress up' when I am teaching. When I feel comfortable, I am more approachable...so long as I don't look like a complete slob. With regard to the feeling of being in limbo between student and staff...yeah, uhmm...what can I say? \*My university literally declassified us as either students or staff a few years back for taxation purposes.\* I don't feel valid in that respect whatsoever. It's crap and I don't know what to tell you. Just make friends and understand that you ARE qualified to be treated as someone approaching expertise in their field and you DO deserve respect for that.
RESPONSE B: Being a grad student can be hard in a college town. Even in a larger university, it really feels like every event, every restaurant/bar/club, everything is geared toward a younger crowd that you just don't fit in anymore. At this point, you are really a young professional. But college towns may not have much of this scene going on. But the typical advice is to look for activities you enjoy and try to develop outside friends. Of course, those young professionals have a salary that you don't so they are joining the cool exercise class while you are still going to the "free" campus gym. But somewhere out there is a late-20-something elementary school teacher feeling just as isolated as you. When you say there are few grad students, do you mean overall or in your department? While I was in neuroscience, my best friends in grad school were grad students in chemistry, social work, and business. In fact, I played on a intramural team with a bunch of chemistry grad students. We played almost every sport and it was lots of fun.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: . I.e somewhere between "oversized grandad sweater" (the clothing of choice for hipster undergrads here) and "full suit" (so a nice shirt or a jumper is a good inbetween). But then, when I'm not teaching classes I will feel over-dressed and like it heightens the difference between me and my sort of but also not really peers. The clothes aren't really the issue, but they sort of highlight how I feel sort of on the edge of different groups, but without one that I feel really comfortable in.
RESPONSE A: Being a grad student can be hard in a college town. Even in a larger university, it really feels like every event, every restaurant/bar/club, everything is geared toward a younger crowd that you just don't fit in anymore. At this point, you are really a young professional. But college towns may not have much of this scene going on. But the typical advice is to look for activities you enjoy and try to develop outside friends. Of course, those young professionals have a salary that you don't so they are joining the cool exercise class while you are still going to the "free" campus gym. But somewhere out there is a late-20-something elementary school teacher feeling just as isolated as you. When you say there are few grad students, do you mean overall or in your department? While I was in neuroscience, my best friends in grad school were grad students in chemistry, social work, and business. In fact, I played on a intramural team with a bunch of chemistry grad students. We played almost every sport and it was lots of fun.
RESPONSE B: I wear what a normally where. I don't socialize with undergrad students or staff outside of work. I stick to fellow phD students or friends from before I moved here. The exception is if I was to befriend someone at the fellow barn I ride at. However my friends from that barn ended up being stiil PhD students in other departments or vet students. You are between the two groups, as an introvert having just a couple of phd friends here is more than enough energy for me to spend due to the workload I have and some annoying medical issues.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: for hipster undergrads here) and "full suit" (so a nice shirt or a jumper is a good inbetween). But then, when I'm not teaching classes I will feel over-dressed and like it heightens the difference between me and my sort of but also not really peers. The clothes aren't really the issue, but they sort of highlight how I feel sort of on the edge of different groups, but without one that I feel really comfortable in.
RESPONSE A: As a student I always felt more comfortable with a professor that dressed in a way that made them approachable. That's why I don't feel the need to 'dress up' when I am teaching. When I feel comfortable, I am more approachable...so long as I don't look like a complete slob. With regard to the feeling of being in limbo between student and staff...yeah, uhmm...what can I say? \*My university literally declassified us as either students or staff a few years back for taxation purposes.\* I don't feel valid in that respect whatsoever. It's crap and I don't know what to tell you. Just make friends and understand that you ARE qualified to be treated as someone approaching expertise in their field and you DO deserve respect for that.
RESPONSE B: Why are you worried about classifying yourself? You aren't going to "click" with everyone in your peer group or academic level. It is healthy and valuable to have friends of more than one age group, to play more than one role (sometimes leader, sometimes follower). Connect with who you connect with. My undergrads sometimes come in virtually in their pajamas. I don't think I would go that far, and I dress a very very small bit nicer on teaching or seminar days than when I am in the lab by myself all day, but not by much. People will respect you because you are prepared, organized and competent. Not because you are in or not in a suit. I am team teaching a class this year. One of the profs is very formally fashionable, tie and suit. One of them literally wears shorts and hiking boots. I am somewhat in between.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: at least in my own head). On the one hand, I want to be percieved well by the students I teach. I feel like I need to act and dress "one step up" from students when teaching. I.e somewhere between "oversized grandad sweater" (the clothing of choice for hipster undergrads here) and "full suit" (so a nice shirt or a jumper is a good inbetween). But then, when I'm not teaching classes I will feel over-dressed and like it heightens the difference between me and my sort of but also not really peers. The clothes aren't really the issue, but they sort of highlight how I feel sort of on the edge of different groups, but without one that I feel really comfortable in.
RESPONSE A: Why are you worried about classifying yourself? You aren't going to "click" with everyone in your peer group or academic level. It is healthy and valuable to have friends of more than one age group, to play more than one role (sometimes leader, sometimes follower). Connect with who you connect with. My undergrads sometimes come in virtually in their pajamas. I don't think I would go that far, and I dress a very very small bit nicer on teaching or seminar days than when I am in the lab by myself all day, but not by much. People will respect you because you are prepared, organized and competent. Not because you are in or not in a suit. I am team teaching a class this year. One of the profs is very formally fashionable, tie and suit. One of them literally wears shorts and hiking boots. I am somewhat in between.
RESPONSE B: I wear what a normally where. I don't socialize with undergrad students or staff outside of work. I stick to fellow phD students or friends from before I moved here. The exception is if I was to befriend someone at the fellow barn I ride at. However my friends from that barn ended up being stiil PhD students in other departments or vet students. You are between the two groups, as an introvert having just a couple of phd friends here is more than enough energy for me to spend due to the workload I have and some annoying medical issues.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: classes, work more in UK then US? * Is a 3 year compressed degree more stressful than a 4 year one? * And a side question: Why do UK have 3 years while the rest of the world have 4 anyway?
RESPONSE A: For the US, a typical BA will be ~120 credit hours over eight semesters. A regular load is four courses per semester, so a BA will require 32 classes total. In most cases those classes will meet 3x/week for an hour or 2x a week for 90 minutes. (Labs would come in addition and credit will vary.) Generally speaking the degree program will be 1/3 general education requirements (humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, writing/composition, math, fine arts), 1/3 courses in the major, and 1/3 electives. Many students will use the electives to earn a minor, which is typically 1/2 the credits of a major, or in some cases a second major will be added. The nature of the classroom experience, work load, and expectations varies dramatically from one US institution to the next. The same course, for example, might be taught to 500 students who listen to lectures and take multiple choice exams in a large public university, or taught as a 20 student discussion-based seminar with a research paper in a liberal arts college. But both will show up as ENGL 150 on the transcript. I have no direct experience with the UK system, so will leave it to someone else to provide the comparison.
RESPONSE B: By far the biggest difference is that the UK system is single subject. You go to university registered for a particular degree. Majors and minors don't exist (except in some very few specialist cases). So your entire time is spent focussed on one subject. As a result, the UK system produces graduates after three years who have as much (if not more) specialist training in their subject. However, they have little or no degree-level training in other fields. For example, my geology degree included topics in chemistry, maths, palaeontology, structureal geology, sedimentology, volcanology, mineralogy, etc etc, but they were all taught by the geology department, were completely focussed on geological applications, and were sat only by geology students.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: How to improve racial equity at an R1, specifically for post-docs? Hey folks, I am participating in a "task force" on racism and racial equity within my university. I am (for all intents and purposes) a postdoc. The dean who is leading this thought a good approach would be for each job category (undergrad/grad/postdoc/faculty/staff) to lead a discussion on what changes should be made to improve racial equity at that level. I'm finding it harder to come up with specifics for post-docs than universal changes or specifics for undergrads and grad students. I would love to hear some brainstorms from you all, or references to documents if you have them. I do have some ideas, but in the interest of not biasing this discussion, will hold off on them until I hear some of yours. In theory the fruits of this discussion will lead to real change, so I'd really appreciate any and all ideas you have! Thanks! (If it is relevant, this is a STEM college (collection of departments) in a large R1 university. So not at the department level or at the university level, but in between).
RESPONSE A: I would suggest tackling a specific issue because this is very broad. Just like research you will want to look at a very specific issue the college is encountering such as graduation rates, or scholarship award winners. Then focus on that initially. One way to start is to look at the task force its self, does it properly represent the college population? Are there POC, 1st Gen, etc. on the force? If it is looking to tackle an undergrad issue, are there undergrads student on the force, or at least are there being surveyed/interviewed/focus group for information and their perspective?
RESPONSE B: I think quite a key factor is to think as well about the effect of and intersection with social class
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: How to improve racial equity at an R1, specifically for post-docs? Hey folks, I am participating in a "task force" on racism and racial equity within my university. I am (for all intents and purposes) a postdoc. The dean who is leading this thought a good approach would be for each job category (undergrad/grad/postdoc/faculty/staff) to lead a discussion on what changes should be made to improve racial equity at that level. I'm finding it harder to come up with specifics for post-docs than universal changes or specifics for undergrads and grad students. I would love to hear some brainstorms from you all, or references to documents if you have them. I do have some ideas, but in the interest of not biasing this discussion, will hold off on them until I hear some of yours. In theory the fruits of this discussion will lead to real change, so I'd really appreciate any and all ideas you have! Thanks! (If it is relevant, this is a STEM college (collection of departments) in a large R1 university. So not at the department level or at the university level, but in between).
RESPONSE A: There are national societies and associations for scholars from underrepresented demographic groups (e.g., SPARK Society in cognitive sciences). A good action item would be to target these societies when recruiting future postdocs/junior faculty.
RESPONSE B: I think quite a key factor is to think as well about the effect of and intersection with social class
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: How to improve racial equity at an R1, specifically for post-docs? Hey folks, I am participating in a "task force" on racism and racial equity within my university. I am (for all intents and purposes) a postdoc. The dean who is leading this thought a good approach would be for each job category (undergrad/grad/postdoc/faculty/staff) to lead a discussion on what changes should be made to improve racial equity at that level. I'm finding it harder to come up with specifics for post-docs than universal changes or specifics for undergrads and grad students. I would love to hear some brainstorms from you all, or references to documents if you have them. I do have some ideas, but in the interest of not biasing this discussion, will hold off on them until I hear some of yours. In theory the fruits of this discussion will lead to real change, so I'd really appreciate any and all ideas you have! Thanks! (If it is relevant, this is a STEM college (collection of departments) in a large R1 university. So not at the department level or at the university level, but in between).
RESPONSE A: One thing that our lab in particular is doing is actively seeking out and citing work done by BIPOC in our field. We also focus on highlighting diverse authors and their achievements during our journal club introductions. Minority groups are historically under-cited and this seems like an easy way to make a big difference.
RESPONSE B: I would suggest tackling a specific issue because this is very broad. Just like research you will want to look at a very specific issue the college is encountering such as graduation rates, or scholarship award winners. Then focus on that initially. One way to start is to look at the task force its self, does it properly represent the college population? Are there POC, 1st Gen, etc. on the force? If it is looking to tackle an undergrad issue, are there undergrads student on the force, or at least are there being surveyed/interviewed/focus group for information and their perspective?
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: How to improve racial equity at an R1, specifically for post-docs? Hey folks, I am participating in a "task force" on racism and racial equity within my university. I am (for all intents and purposes) a postdoc. The dean who is leading this thought a good approach would be for each job category (undergrad/grad/postdoc/faculty/staff) to lead a discussion on what changes should be made to improve racial equity at that level. I'm finding it harder to come up with specifics for post-docs than universal changes or specifics for undergrads and grad students. I would love to hear some brainstorms from you all, or references to documents if you have them. I do have some ideas, but in the interest of not biasing this discussion, will hold off on them until I hear some of yours. In theory the fruits of this discussion will lead to real change, so I'd really appreciate any and all ideas you have! Thanks! (If it is relevant, this is a STEM college (collection of departments) in a large R1 university. So not at the department level or at the university level, but in between).
RESPONSE A: One thing that our lab in particular is doing is actively seeking out and citing work done by BIPOC in our field. We also focus on highlighting diverse authors and their achievements during our journal club introductions. Minority groups are historically under-cited and this seems like an easy way to make a big difference.
RESPONSE B: There are national societies and associations for scholars from underrepresented demographic groups (e.g., SPARK Society in cognitive sciences). A good action item would be to target these societies when recruiting future postdocs/junior faculty.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: How to improve racial equity at an R1, specifically for post-docs? Hey folks, I am participating in a "task force" on racism and racial equity within my university. I am (for all intents and purposes) a postdoc. The dean who is leading this thought a good approach would be for each job category (undergrad/grad/postdoc/faculty/staff) to lead a discussion on what changes should be made to improve racial equity at that level. I'm finding it harder to come up with specifics for post-docs than universal changes or specifics for undergrads and grad students. I would love to hear some brainstorms from you all, or references to documents if you have them. I do have some ideas, but in the interest of not biasing this discussion, will hold off on them until I hear some of yours. In theory the fruits of this discussion will lead to real change, so I'd really appreciate any and all ideas you have! Thanks! (If it is relevant, this is a STEM college (collection of departments) in a large R1 university. So not at the department level or at the university level, but in between).
RESPONSE A: I don't have any suggestions but I'm tagging along for the responses as the focus on post-doc engagement is very interesting. I am a WOC and I've worked/volunteered in STEM diversity outreach in some capacity over the last 9 years, but I'm about 95% sure I will not be pursuing a post-doc position next year. Perhaps some resources here will give me some things to think about.
RESPONSE B: There are national societies and associations for scholars from underrepresented demographic groups (e.g., SPARK Society in cognitive sciences). A good action item would be to target these societies when recruiting future postdocs/junior faculty.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: Gallup: Majority of Americans (51%) who pursued a postsecondary education would change their degree type, institution or major. Do You Regret Your College Choices? >The recent research from the Education Consumer Pulse found that the most common education decision Americans say they would redo is their field of study (36%), followed by choosing a different institution (28%). And 12% would get a different type of degree entirely. Collectively, 51% of U.S. adults regret one or more of the three. *Interesting article.* And to start the conversation, I'll confess that I never cared for the regional public university where I earned my first college degree. Apparently, when I was 17 I thought that choosing the college that offered me the best soccer scholarship was an appropriate decision methodology... Amazing what I didn't know when I was 17. Anyone else?
RESPONSE A: Its hard for an 18 year old with not much life knowledge and life experience to choose the right major, the right field, the right college. I probably would change my institution. But, its hard to know what your experience will be like at a certain institution, you're just assuming. Maybe do more than one campus tour just to see what it is really like cause first impression are misleading.
RESPONSE B: I have a PhD and if I could I'd switch fields. Oops. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ There is probably a "grass is greener" effect going on but I definitely don't find it hard to believe that what you want at age 17 isn't always what you want even ten years later.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Gallup: Majority of Americans (51%) who pursued a postsecondary education would change their degree type, institution or major. Do You Regret Your College Choices? >The recent research from the Education Consumer Pulse found that the most common education decision Americans say they would redo is their field of study (36%), followed by choosing a different institution (28%). And 12% would get a different type of degree entirely. Collectively, 51% of U.S. adults regret one or more of the three. *Interesting article.* And to start the conversation, I'll confess that I never cared for the regional public university where I earned my first college degree. Apparently, when I was 17 I thought that choosing the college that offered me the best soccer scholarship was an appropriate decision methodology... Amazing what I didn't know when I was 17. Anyone else?
RESPONSE A: I have a PhD and if I could I'd switch fields. Oops. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ There is probably a "grass is greener" effect going on but I definitely don't find it hard to believe that what you want at age 17 isn't always what you want even ten years later.
RESPONSE B: I'm in the middle of my degree and am already regretting it. There aren't any better alternatives though.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Gallup: Majority of Americans (51%) who pursued a postsecondary education would change their degree type, institution or major. Do You Regret Your College Choices? >The recent research from the Education Consumer Pulse found that the most common education decision Americans say they would redo is their field of study (36%), followed by choosing a different institution (28%). And 12% would get a different type of degree entirely. Collectively, 51% of U.S. adults regret one or more of the three. *Interesting article.* And to start the conversation, I'll confess that I never cared for the regional public university where I earned my first college degree. Apparently, when I was 17 I thought that choosing the college that offered me the best soccer scholarship was an appropriate decision methodology... Amazing what I didn't know when I was 17. Anyone else?
RESPONSE A: Funny that you chose based on who gave you the best scholarship because so did I. It was definitely the right choice. Even if the school wasn't perfect, if you were going to play D1 in college, making sure the playing situation was ideal IS in fact the best way to chose 90% of the time. I think it's sort of ridiculous to look back and say 17 year old you didn't make the right decision...because you are a different person than you were however many years ago. Seems like you - or at least people in the article - are just reading the present onto the past.
RESPONSE B: I'm in the middle of my degree and am already regretting it. There aren't any better alternatives though.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Gallup: Majority of Americans (51%) who pursued a postsecondary education would change their degree type, institution or major. Do You Regret Your College Choices? >The recent research from the Education Consumer Pulse found that the most common education decision Americans say they would redo is their field of study (36%), followed by choosing a different institution (28%). And 12% would get a different type of degree entirely. Collectively, 51% of U.S. adults regret one or more of the three. *Interesting article.* And to start the conversation, I'll confess that I never cared for the regional public university where I earned my first college degree. Apparently, when I was 17 I thought that choosing the college that offered me the best soccer scholarship was an appropriate decision methodology... Amazing what I didn't know when I was 17. Anyone else?
RESPONSE A: Funny that you chose based on who gave you the best scholarship because so did I. It was definitely the right choice. Even if the school wasn't perfect, if you were going to play D1 in college, making sure the playing situation was ideal IS in fact the best way to chose 90% of the time. I think it's sort of ridiculous to look back and say 17 year old you didn't make the right decision...because you are a different person than you were however many years ago. Seems like you - or at least people in the article - are just reading the present onto the past.
RESPONSE B: I could have gone to a higher ranked program, but it would have meant taking on considerably more debt than I did. I do not regret it, dinner it for me where I wanted to go.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Gallup: Majority of Americans (51%) who pursued a postsecondary education would change their degree type, institution or major. Do You Regret Your College Choices? >The recent research from the Education Consumer Pulse found that the most common education decision Americans say they would redo is their field of study (36%), followed by choosing a different institution (28%). And 12% would get a different type of degree entirely. Collectively, 51% of U.S. adults regret one or more of the three. *Interesting article.* And to start the conversation, I'll confess that I never cared for the regional public university where I earned my first college degree. Apparently, when I was 17 I thought that choosing the college that offered me the best soccer scholarship was an appropriate decision methodology... Amazing what I didn't know when I was 17. Anyone else?
RESPONSE A: I hate all 3 colleges i strung together for undergrad. Smallish private religious college, huge state school, large private research university. Each wss a different flavor of terrible.
RESPONSE B: I'm in the middle of my degree and am already regretting it. There aren't any better alternatives though.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: Should the names of rapist mentioned by my interviewees be spelled out loud, or should it be pseudonymized as well? Currently I'm a research assistant in my department and I've been doing a number of interviews. As per usual in my field (anthropology), every interviewees are pseudonymized, but in several of my interviews the interviewees mentioned the name of rapist and sexual harasser in their community (several different persons), who are not exposed publicly yet. Some hoped that from the interviews the rapists/harassers will be exposed. The research question does not touch the issue of sexual harassment/rape, but the topic came out in interviews. This is my first time being confronted with this sort of issue and I am not fully well-informed to respond this sort of situation. My questions are two-fold: * Should I pseudonymize the name of the rapists in the **transcripts** I write for my supervisor to read? * Should I pseudonymize the name of the rapist in the **paper** I'm going to write after the data collection? Thank you in advance.
RESPONSE A: If these people are/were not charged, I would definitely pseudonymize. It would be best to bring this up with your PI prior to submitting the report or paper.
RESPONSE B: I think this is a question for your IRB.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Are a prospective employees' ratings on Ratemyprofessors.com or similar sites ever taken into account during the hiring process? If so, what specifically would turn a committee on or off from a potential candidate?
RESPONSE A: Only if you have a chili pepper.
RESPONSE B: Would a bank deny a loan to a restaurateur due to yelp reviews? Doubt it. Honestly, that's all I have to add. Seems like an interesting comparison. Carry on.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: it all up....my undergrad that is. I had a fucked up family situation, nothing tragic, just toxic and damaging and destructive to my time, energy, and commitment. I graduated from a big 10 school with a BS in Animal Science and a GPA of about 2.5. I don't want to work in AnSci, I regret my college decisions and I want to start over in a new field, I'm considering engineering (yes I know how hard it is, my husband is a ChemE and in his PhD now). I don't believe there is ANY possible way for me to get into a grad program, as my GPA and references are bleak. I'm 25 now, older, wiser, more committed, but most importantly, my toxic family is no longer a part of my life. I know I can do better. Is a second BS a valid way to make amends? If I wanted to go to grad school after a second BS would this be an appropriate step?
RESPONSE A: 1) Determine interests 2) Determine goal position/job 3) Without thinking about your current position and age, determine shortest possible route to attain objectives 4) Talk with your SO about the financial repercussions and assure yourself of their commitment to support you through previously designated shortest route to your self-defined success 5) Engage. Good luck Always remind yourself that what we perceive as "lost time" is a purely financial standpoint that resides in intrinsically social constructions that are devoid of real value. The money you will make working in a field you are passionnate about will radically outvalue the net financial loss implied by longer education; that is without even talking about the unquantifiable enhancement of your quality of life.
RESPONSE B: You are better off pursuing a MS or MA at a lower ranked school (meaning, one you can get into with low grades) and then use that as a stepping stone. You should be at a point in your life where you have a much more focussed idea of what you want to study and do for work in the future. Good grades in a MS program can serve the purpose you want from a second BS without the added repetition of classes.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: Dissertation software What apps/software are you using to help with all aspects of your dissertation? For example, one of my professors recommended EndNote, but it's out of my price range. I've tried Mendeley, but I am having difficulty learning it. I am writing a qualitative research paper, so I don't think I need to use LaTex. Any other apps? Any recommendations would be very helpful.
RESPONSE A: > one of my professors recommended EndNote, but it's out of my price range. Have you checked if you get a license from the university? If your professor is using it, I doubt he/she is paying for it out of pocket.
RESPONSE B: Zotero.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Dissertation software What apps/software are you using to help with all aspects of your dissertation? For example, one of my professors recommended EndNote, but it's out of my price range. I've tried Mendeley, but I am having difficulty learning it. I am writing a qualitative research paper, so I don't think I need to use LaTex. Any other apps? Any recommendations would be very helpful.
RESPONSE A: Zotero.
RESPONSE B: Mendeley is definitely worth giving another go
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Dissertation software What apps/software are you using to help with all aspects of your dissertation? For example, one of my professors recommended EndNote, but it's out of my price range. I've tried Mendeley, but I am having difficulty learning it. I am writing a qualitative research paper, so I don't think I need to use LaTex. Any other apps? Any recommendations would be very helpful.
RESPONSE A: Zotero.
RESPONSE B: When my MA tutor told me about Mendeley he also said that it takes quite a while to get used to but is worth it. I'm maybe a month or two in and now I'm used to it it's getting easier. Definitely needed to persevere though! Also, Google tutorials on Youtube for more help on it.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Dissertation software What apps/software are you using to help with all aspects of your dissertation? For example, one of my professors recommended EndNote, but it's out of my price range. I've tried Mendeley, but I am having difficulty learning it. I am writing a qualitative research paper, so I don't think I need to use LaTex. Any other apps? Any recommendations would be very helpful.
RESPONSE A: Zotero.
RESPONSE B: Mendeley. Being free! means that any editors or collaborators will be able to use it too. Endnote is clunky for this reason. LateX is much harder to get used to than Mendeley.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Dissertation software What apps/software are you using to help with all aspects of your dissertation? For example, one of my professors recommended EndNote, but it's out of my price range. I've tried Mendeley, but I am having difficulty learning it. I am writing a qualitative research paper, so I don't think I need to use LaTex. Any other apps? Any recommendations would be very helpful.
RESPONSE A: > one of my professors recommended EndNote, but it's out of my price range. Have you checked if you get a license from the university? If your professor is using it, I doubt he/she is paying for it out of pocket.
RESPONSE B: When my MA tutor told me about Mendeley he also said that it takes quite a while to get used to but is worth it. I'm maybe a month or two in and now I'm used to it it's getting easier. Definitely needed to persevere though! Also, Google tutorials on Youtube for more help on it.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: say enough, in my opinion. I'm doing a physics PhD, so I will have plenty of figures, diagrams, and equations, it will end up being roughly 200+ pages. I'm using Windows 10. I have Mendeley and 250+ references, and it seems easy enough to make a bibtex file. The most common recommendation I've seen is LyX. I have looked at ShareLaTeX, but honestly a) I won't be editing this with anyone - advisor won't learn latex..... and b) I'd rather be able to edit without internet access if necessary. So, my question is primarily, **is there something better than LyX for my purpose?** Secondary, **does anyone foresee any problems I might run into with LyX?** I read that it can get messy and you can't edit the code directly? I didn't quite understand that. From what I can tell, it looks as simple as HTML code on one side, WYSIWYG on the other - but haven't found an easy way to edit the code in the interface anyway. Lastly, if I wanted to make my PhD defense in something that's not powerpoint - suggestions? **tl;dr:** Is there anything better than LyX for PhD dissertation writing/formatting?
RESPONSE A: overleaf
RESPONSE B: Personally I use TeXstudio, and think it's great. It's everything you really need, and you can choose to download all the packages at once so you'll never need an internet connection to use it. (Sorry, just remembered, installing all packages is actually a choice when you install MikTeX! which you'll need to do before install an interpreter). > Secondary, does anyone foresee any problems I might run into with LyX? I can't say anything to that as I've never used it. > Lastly, if I wanted to make my PhD defense in something that's not powerpoint - suggestions? You can do it pretty easily in latex. There's a document class called beamer which is dedicated to making presentations. There is another one but I've not used it.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: it will end up being roughly 200+ pages. I'm using Windows 10. I have Mendeley and 250+ references, and it seems easy enough to make a bibtex file. The most common recommendation I've seen is LyX. I have looked at ShareLaTeX, but honestly a) I won't be editing this with anyone - advisor won't learn latex..... and b) I'd rather be able to edit without internet access if necessary. So, my question is primarily, **is there something better than LyX for my purpose?** Secondary, **does anyone foresee any problems I might run into with LyX?** I read that it can get messy and you can't edit the code directly? I didn't quite understand that. From what I can tell, it looks as simple as HTML code on one side, WYSIWYG on the other - but haven't found an easy way to edit the code in the interface anyway. Lastly, if I wanted to make my PhD defense in something that's not powerpoint - suggestions? **tl;dr:** Is there anything better than LyX for PhD dissertation writing/formatting?
RESPONSE A: I have been running EMACS for almost a year and I really like it. It's not a LaTeX editor per se. It's a highly customizable open source text editor that comes with tons of plugins. What I really like is that you can really set it up the way you exactly want it. Moreover the "commande line" interface really helps me focus when I need to write. Once you learn the shortcuts (evil-mode ftw) you don't ever need to take your hands of the keyboard and you can really fly through what you need to do. However this is a pretty geeky solution and there is a fair amount of learning and tweaking (especially on windows) before you become comfortable with it. For the presentation Beamer is the solution that let's you keep everything in a latex environment. However after making a couple of presentations with beamer I found that I really preferred the graphical power point way of doing thing.
RESPONSE B: overleaf
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: Which software and tools make your research and writing infinitely easier? I'm a PhD candidate in the humanities returning to my program after taking a leave of absence. I'm curious about software and other technological tools that you just can't imagine working without. I use Scrivener to write, and I like it quite a bit over Word. I used to use Zotero for bibliographic management, but I'm now finding it less intuitive than I remember and the Chrome plug-in doesn't seem to work half of the time. Technology changes and advances so quickly that it feels as though I'm not up-to-date with the most useful tools anymore. I'm particularly interested in hearing from those within the humanities since that's my area of study, but in the hopes that this thread can be helpful for academics of all fields, please still post if you work in the sciences, etc.! Many thanks!
RESPONSE A: I use Evernote. I am a grad student in the humanities. I did pay for the premium version though so I could attach/upload unlimited pdfs to it. When I do archival work I turn scans into pdfs, take notes in Evernote/put down some quick thoughts about the documents, and then attach them. If the words in the scans are clear enough sometimes the search feature will pick them up (for docs. that were typed not hand written). It has been really handy
RESPONSE B: Mendeley as citation manager, comes with chrome extension, looks up and renames PDFs and has a Word plugin.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: Which software and tools make your research and writing infinitely easier? I'm a PhD candidate in the humanities returning to my program after taking a leave of absence. I'm curious about software and other technological tools that you just can't imagine working without. I use Scrivener to write, and I like it quite a bit over Word. I used to use Zotero for bibliographic management, but I'm now finding it less intuitive than I remember and the Chrome plug-in doesn't seem to work half of the time. Technology changes and advances so quickly that it feels as though I'm not up-to-date with the most useful tools anymore. I'm particularly interested in hearing from those within the humanities since that's my area of study, but in the hopes that this thread can be helpful for academics of all fields, please still post if you work in the sciences, etc.! Many thanks!
RESPONSE A: Two big screens on my work computer.
RESPONSE B: I use Evernote. I am a grad student in the humanities. I did pay for the premium version though so I could attach/upload unlimited pdfs to it. When I do archival work I turn scans into pdfs, take notes in Evernote/put down some quick thoughts about the documents, and then attach them. If the words in the scans are clear enough sometimes the search feature will pick them up (for docs. that were typed not hand written). It has been really handy
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: Which software and tools make your research and writing infinitely easier? I'm a PhD candidate in the humanities returning to my program after taking a leave of absence. I'm curious about software and other technological tools that you just can't imagine working without. I use Scrivener to write, and I like it quite a bit over Word. I used to use Zotero for bibliographic management, but I'm now finding it less intuitive than I remember and the Chrome plug-in doesn't seem to work half of the time. Technology changes and advances so quickly that it feels as though I'm not up-to-date with the most useful tools anymore. I'm particularly interested in hearing from those within the humanities since that's my area of study, but in the hopes that this thread can be helpful for academics of all fields, please still post if you work in the sciences, etc.! Many thanks!
RESPONSE A: In stem. Zotero + latex + vim + Makefiles
RESPONSE B: Two big screens on my work computer.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: Which software and tools make your research and writing infinitely easier? I'm a PhD candidate in the humanities returning to my program after taking a leave of absence. I'm curious about software and other technological tools that you just can't imagine working without. I use Scrivener to write, and I like it quite a bit over Word. I used to use Zotero for bibliographic management, but I'm now finding it less intuitive than I remember and the Chrome plug-in doesn't seem to work half of the time. Technology changes and advances so quickly that it feels as though I'm not up-to-date with the most useful tools anymore. I'm particularly interested in hearing from those within the humanities since that's my area of study, but in the hopes that this thread can be helpful for academics of all fields, please still post if you work in the sciences, etc.! Many thanks!
RESPONSE A: Zotero
RESPONSE B: Two big screens on my work computer.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Which software and tools make your research and writing infinitely easier? I'm a PhD candidate in the humanities returning to my program after taking a leave of absence. I'm curious about software and other technological tools that you just can't imagine working without. I use Scrivener to write, and I like it quite a bit over Word. I used to use Zotero for bibliographic management, but I'm now finding it less intuitive than I remember and the Chrome plug-in doesn't seem to work half of the time. Technology changes and advances so quickly that it feels as though I'm not up-to-date with the most useful tools anymore. I'm particularly interested in hearing from those within the humanities since that's my area of study, but in the hopes that this thread can be helpful for academics of all fields, please still post if you work in the sciences, etc.! Many thanks!
RESPONSE A: Two big screens on my work computer.
RESPONSE B: I work in stem, but use mendeley. There's a nice chrome plugin that auto downloads PDFs when it puts it into my database, also works with word (fairly well). Previously I've used refworks (on a license), but find mendeley to be better.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: What are the best places to download academic books for free - apart from Library Genesis? ​
RESPONSE A: z-library
RESPONSE B: Quick plug for University of Chicago Press' mailing list. They offer a free book from their catalogue on e-readers every month. Worth checking out if you haven't already.
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POST: s, would they usually first ask for an informal interview (these days maybe by zoom?) or recommendation letters from my supervisors? Will most post-doc positions be for fixed durations like 2 or 3 years or are they more like short term contracts that maybe renewed every year? Are the pay scales fixed (a bit like grad student stipends) or do you directly negotiate with the PI recruiting you? I understand a lot of these factors would change according to the field, country and university so I was mostly interested in getting an idea about top US universities in STEM/biology. Any other tips, advice or things to avoid would be helpful. Thanks
RESPONSE A: I had very little luck cold calling, but definitely try if you like their research. With all the conferences being remote attended them and look that way too! I got an offer at a conference. I had half my interviews with those my PI knew. A few were off posts I saw that I was a fit for. Most PIs don’t post them because they get an onslaught of spam I hear. Often they can fill them from conferences etc (even just “ I saw your student’s talk and talked to them after” is enough to get your foot in the door. Sometimes they have funds but aren’t ready to bring someone on unless that person is perfect. It sounds like you should discuss this more with your PI, most want you to go to a postdoc
RESPONSE B: In addition to cold emails, don’t be afraid to mention to pretty much everyone that you’re looking for a postdoc. I secured my postdoc pre-COVID (so was interacting in-person), but I got it by mentioning that I was trying to find a postdoc while I was at a pre-meeting symposium and the subsequent meeting. I had so many helpful people (who I just met or barely knew!) let me know who to talk to, who might be looking, who had training grant money, etc etc. I felt like a used car salesman but it worked! Even if your PI/people at your school aren’t looking for a postdoc, mention it to them and let them use their professional network to help you. Cold emailing works but networking works better!
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: cases but is it worth putting in the effort to find a common connection if possible? Second, what information should I include in my first email so it doesn't go straight to the recycle bin? I am planning to write briefly about my PhD research/publications and how it connects with the PIs research. Should I also include a full CV and names of potential references or are these things only needed later if the PI actually responds. I was also curious how the process usually goes. If the PI actually responds, would they usually first ask for an informal interview (these days maybe by zoom?) or recommendation letters from my supervisors? Will most post-doc positions be for fixed durations like 2 or 3 years or are they more like short term contracts that maybe renewed every year? Are the pay scales fixed (a bit like grad student stipends) or do you directly negotiate with the PI recruiting you? I understand a lot of these factors would change according to the field, country and university so I was mostly interested in getting an idea about top US universities in STEM/biology. Any other tips, advice or things to avoid would be helpful. Thanks
RESPONSE A: I’ve done this before I got interviews and interest, but the problem was funding. We co-applied for fellowships but the ended up falling through. I ended up getting a postdoc through the conventional apply to a position route. If you’re applying speculatively I wouldn’t be surprised if your offered something super short to get you in with an aim to apply for more funding in that time. Keep the email short and to the point. Don’t be disappointed if they don’t have money in the short term. I asked permission to reproduce figures in my thesis at the same time to 1) flatter and 2) force a reply.
RESPONSE B: Cold emails are fine, but generic emails are not. Those go straight to trash. If you are interested in working with someone, do your homework first and explain why you are interested in working with them. Be specific, based on some of their recent publications or other information you have about their current research. Keep the first email concise and attach your CV rather than going into too much detail. Make it easy for them to see why the correspondence is worth their time.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: term contracts that maybe renewed every year? Are the pay scales fixed (a bit like grad student stipends) or do you directly negotiate with the PI recruiting you? I understand a lot of these factors would change according to the field, country and university so I was mostly interested in getting an idea about top US universities in STEM/biology. Any other tips, advice or things to avoid would be helpful. Thanks
RESPONSE A: Cold emails are fine, but generic emails are not. Those go straight to trash. If you are interested in working with someone, do your homework first and explain why you are interested in working with them. Be specific, based on some of their recent publications or other information you have about their current research. Keep the first email concise and attach your CV rather than going into too much detail. Make it easy for them to see why the correspondence is worth their time.
RESPONSE B: I’ve done this a lot as has my SO. We’ve both secured interest and offers out of it. My advice is to keep the actual email relatively brief (paragraph or 2). Say who you are, why you are interested in them (be specific!), say what postdocing with them will do for your career, and give them your timeline. Start contacting sooner rather than later. If a PI is interested and doesn’t have money, you may be able to pursue funding if you contact early enough. Or if they’re writing a grant they can ensure they are budgeting for a postdoc. As others said, many won’t reply. It’s okay to send a gentle reminder after a few weeks. As a professor I can tell you my inbox gets decimated daily. If I don’t check all day I am always going to miss something. I would say be prepared for more “no” responses than “yes” responses. Don’t let that get you down. Through cold emails my SO secured the absolute perfect postdoc for her. The PI’s info hadn’t been updated in a few years on the university page and it looked like he had no money. Turns out he’s very well-funded. For reference, she is in microbiology/infectious diseases and I am in nutrition/physiology.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: email so it doesn't go straight to the recycle bin? I am planning to write briefly about my PhD research/publications and how it connects with the PIs research. Should I also include a full CV and names of potential references or are these things only needed later if the PI actually responds. I was also curious how the process usually goes. If the PI actually responds, would they usually first ask for an informal interview (these days maybe by zoom?) or recommendation letters from my supervisors? Will most post-doc positions be for fixed durations like 2 or 3 years or are they more like short term contracts that maybe renewed every year? Are the pay scales fixed (a bit like grad student stipends) or do you directly negotiate with the PI recruiting you? I understand a lot of these factors would change according to the field, country and university so I was mostly interested in getting an idea about top US universities in STEM/biology. Any other tips, advice or things to avoid would be helpful. Thanks
RESPONSE A: Cold emails are fine, but generic emails are not. Those go straight to trash. If you are interested in working with someone, do your homework first and explain why you are interested in working with them. Be specific, based on some of their recent publications or other information you have about their current research. Keep the first email concise and attach your CV rather than going into too much detail. Make it easy for them to see why the correspondence is worth their time.
RESPONSE B: I had very little luck cold calling, but definitely try if you like their research. With all the conferences being remote attended them and look that way too! I got an offer at a conference. I had half my interviews with those my PI knew. A few were off posts I saw that I was a fit for. Most PIs don’t post them because they get an onslaught of spam I hear. Often they can fill them from conferences etc (even just “ I saw your student’s talk and talked to them after” is enough to get your foot in the door. Sometimes they have funds but aren’t ready to bring someone on unless that person is perfect. It sounds like you should discuss this more with your PI, most want you to go to a postdoc
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: so I was mostly interested in getting an idea about top US universities in STEM/biology. Any other tips, advice or things to avoid would be helpful. Thanks
RESPONSE A: I had very little luck cold calling, but definitely try if you like their research. With all the conferences being remote attended them and look that way too! I got an offer at a conference. I had half my interviews with those my PI knew. A few were off posts I saw that I was a fit for. Most PIs don’t post them because they get an onslaught of spam I hear. Often they can fill them from conferences etc (even just “ I saw your student’s talk and talked to them after” is enough to get your foot in the door. Sometimes they have funds but aren’t ready to bring someone on unless that person is perfect. It sounds like you should discuss this more with your PI, most want you to go to a postdoc
RESPONSE B: It’s extremely normal! Make sure to look at their lab websites. Many PIs have a blurb about prospective lab members and say what to include in an email. Make sure to personalize it. I just delete all the emails that were clearly copy/pasted and sent to tons of PIs. Interviews vary widely from PI to PI. Sometimes it’s just a phone call, sometimes they want you to do a talk. Contracts also vary based on how you will be funded and school policies. If you are being funded by a 2 yr grant, that would dictate your contract. Most are renewable if funds are available. In my field, many follow the NIH pay scale for postdocs and don’t have much wiggle room due to grant budgets, but bigger names who have more money floating around can pay higher. I suggest negotiating. Also negotiate for relocation money, ensure you have travel money /support for conferences, and discuss what support you’d have while applying for jobs. Traveling for job interviews, not to mention prepping for, takes a lot of time. Hopefully your PI will support time off for that, but good to discuss up front (and will give insight into how invested they are in your career development vs the labor you provide them).
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POST: Do you regret choosing academia? If you’re currently in academia, do you think you’d be happier in an industry position? Why or why not? What is your field of study?
RESPONSE A: Nope. I enjoy my job.
RESPONSE B: Yes and no. At the moment I'm really worried that I won't get to start a family because I'm living with my parents trying to get a job after a decade of training. No because I love what I do and I know its a phase made worse by covid. I wouldn't have made these sacrifices if I didn't want this career.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: Do you regret choosing academia? If you’re currently in academia, do you think you’d be happier in an industry position? Why or why not? What is your field of study?
RESPONSE A: I'm ABDand I am fairly sure that I'm not going to stay in academia. Do I regret it? Not really. I didn't really know what problems there were, and if someone had told me I'm not sure I would have listened. I also like some parts of who it has made me, and if I compare those to the academic parts of me that I dislike, it pretty much comes out even (which is a pain in and of itself, at times). Finally, maybe it's the stoic in me, but I don't think it's wise to regret anything, better to learn and do different, but also forgive your ignorant past self for not knowing what you do now. Do take the warnings about academia seriously, though. Field is education.
RESPONSE B: Nope, living the dream.
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A
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POST: Do you regret choosing academia? If you’re currently in academia, do you think you’d be happier in an industry position? Why or why not? What is your field of study?
RESPONSE A: Nope, living the dream.
RESPONSE B: Anthropology post-grad. Last year I decided to quit, I started searching for job, and I realised that MA in anthropology have absolutelly no value, radher opposite... so I am staing right now... I am feeling that I am trapped in academia... and I am regreting that I did not choose more valuable study when I was younger...
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: Do you regret choosing academia? If you’re currently in academia, do you think you’d be happier in an industry position? Why or why not? What is your field of study?
RESPONSE A: Anthropology post-grad. Last year I decided to quit, I started searching for job, and I realised that MA in anthropology have absolutelly no value, radher opposite... so I am staing right now... I am feeling that I am trapped in academia... and I am regreting that I did not choose more valuable study when I was younger...
RESPONSE B: Keep in mind that no choice is forever. I was a professor for 10 years and then left and went into the private sector. Both choices were right for that season of my life. No regrets.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Do you regret choosing academia? If you’re currently in academia, do you think you’d be happier in an industry position? Why or why not? What is your field of study?
RESPONSE A: Keep in mind that no choice is forever. I was a professor for 10 years and then left and went into the private sector. Both choices were right for that season of my life. No regrets.
RESPONSE B: No regrets here either- this is where I belong. I looked at leaving a few years back. Even had a lucrative industry job offer, but I could not leave. I like knowing that my job is secure, even if the cost of that is max salary. I’ve been in academia too long too leave. Plus, with the pandemic, I know if I had left I would have been laid off within two years and been left with nothing. The stability and predictability of my job, while mind numbing at times, is important to myself and my family.
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POST: Alternative career paths for Ph.D? What are some alternative careers outside of academia that those with a Ph.D in science (specifically ecology and evolutionary biology) may enjoy? It seems all too often that academia is promoted as the only option for those that stick it out in doctorate programs.
RESPONSE A: There is a huge amount of attention on this right now because of how tough the academic job market is. Tons of PhDs are starting consulting companies to help other PhDs get non-academic or "alt-ac" jobs. Check out "Beyond the Professoriate," "Jobs on Toast," and the Twitter chat #withaPhD.
RESPONSE B: Your university should have some info on that. Here's ours at the University of Washington.
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B
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POST: Alternative career paths for Ph.D? What are some alternative careers outside of academia that those with a Ph.D in science (specifically ecology and evolutionary biology) may enjoy? It seems all too often that academia is promoted as the only option for those that stick it out in doctorate programs.
RESPONSE A: Patent Agent. Seriously. I was *this* close to doing it myself. Ended up getting a STEM job though.
RESPONSE B: There is a huge amount of attention on this right now because of how tough the academic job market is. Tons of PhDs are starting consulting companies to help other PhDs get non-academic or "alt-ac" jobs. Check out "Beyond the Professoriate," "Jobs on Toast," and the Twitter chat #withaPhD.
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POST: Alternative career paths for Ph.D? What are some alternative careers outside of academia that those with a Ph.D in science (specifically ecology and evolutionary biology) may enjoy? It seems all too often that academia is promoted as the only option for those that stick it out in doctorate programs.
RESPONSE A: Technical consulting, management consulting, research in industry, science policy, data science, university administration, science communication, patent law, regulatory agencies like the FDA or the EPA, education......
RESPONSE B: There is a huge amount of attention on this right now because of how tough the academic job market is. Tons of PhDs are starting consulting companies to help other PhDs get non-academic or "alt-ac" jobs. Check out "Beyond the Professoriate," "Jobs on Toast," and the Twitter chat #withaPhD.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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POST: Alternative career paths for Ph.D? What are some alternative careers outside of academia that those with a Ph.D in science (specifically ecology and evolutionary biology) may enjoy? It seems all too often that academia is promoted as the only option for those that stick it out in doctorate programs.
RESPONSE A: Many management consulting firms are seeing the value of hiring PhD's over MBA's. Look at companies like McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group and others. The interview process is quite tough but the jobs pay really well, albeit with long hours. Exit opportunities from these companies are quite good once you decide to leave. Another way is to focus on your statistical and programming skills and fashion yourself as a data scientist. A degree in biology may have given you the chance to work with really large datasets, another plus. There are a number of data scientist bootcamps that focus on taking PhD's and preparing them to become data scientists, including exposure to hiring companies. You could also look at getting hired by a think tank that is interested in policy implications relating to ecology and climate change, for example. I like to call myself a recovering academic and I received very little support once I declared my lack of interest in academia. There are lots of opportunities outside of academia, especially for a STEM degree, but the myopia and general mentality in many departments means you are going to have seek them out. Be bold and brave when branding yourself. A PhD is a great signal about your ability to problem solve, focus, work extremely hard, be creative, analyze data, present data, persuade others, work on the boundaries of human knowledge, learn new things quickly, and execute on a vision. These are all really useful skills outside of academia if you market yourself correctly. Good luck!
RESPONSE B: Your university should have some info on that. Here's ours at the University of Washington.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: Alternative career paths for Ph.D? What are some alternative careers outside of academia that those with a Ph.D in science (specifically ecology and evolutionary biology) may enjoy? It seems all too often that academia is promoted as the only option for those that stick it out in doctorate programs.
RESPONSE A: Patent Agent. Seriously. I was *this* close to doing it myself. Ended up getting a STEM job though.
RESPONSE B: Many management consulting firms are seeing the value of hiring PhD's over MBA's. Look at companies like McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group and others. The interview process is quite tough but the jobs pay really well, albeit with long hours. Exit opportunities from these companies are quite good once you decide to leave. Another way is to focus on your statistical and programming skills and fashion yourself as a data scientist. A degree in biology may have given you the chance to work with really large datasets, another plus. There are a number of data scientist bootcamps that focus on taking PhD's and preparing them to become data scientists, including exposure to hiring companies. You could also look at getting hired by a think tank that is interested in policy implications relating to ecology and climate change, for example. I like to call myself a recovering academic and I received very little support once I declared my lack of interest in academia. There are lots of opportunities outside of academia, especially for a STEM degree, but the myopia and general mentality in many departments means you are going to have seek them out. Be bold and brave when branding yourself. A PhD is a great signal about your ability to problem solve, focus, work extremely hard, be creative, analyze data, present data, persuade others, work on the boundaries of human knowledge, learn new things quickly, and execute on a vision. These are all really useful skills outside of academia if you market yourself correctly. Good luck!
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POST: Can I publish my assignment to a personal blog? I'm trying to get back into writing and I'm using a Wordpress blog to sort of build up a new portfolio. One thing I write there is book reviews and I've recently handed in an essay which consisted off a review of an academic text book. I've been very pleased with the overall outcome and feedback and I'd like to showcase it on my blog. Are there any issues about doing this? Do I own the right to the review or does the university? It's only being marked and is not going to be published anywhere else. I did speak to my course leader but even he doesn't seem to know himself.
RESPONSE A: In the US you can publish any of your work any way you wish\-\- it is your intellectual property. In grad school in the 1990s I published two class assignments \(with lots of revision\) and ultimately put versions of my essays for my comprehensive exams up on the web as well. As for blogs, I've actually *required* my undergraduates to create blogs and post their assignments before as part of the class. Your work is your IP. You can't publish the IP of others, so the assignments themselves or any elements created by your instructors would be theirs.
RESPONSE B: This might depend on the jurisdiction, but here the copyright remains with the student on dissertations, theses and other schoolwork. Check the fine print. You can check with the university legal office as well. However, you can't publish the assignments and questions, because they're written by university staff and their copyright belongs to the university. Also, teachers/assistants often prefer not to publish assignments because they may be recycled as exam questions. Also, they can be stolen by other academics. A professor once told a story when he was in a conference and noticed that well, these slides look familiar. This was because he wrote them. Someone just took them without attribution.
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POST: Almost 70% of Orgo class faked their lab assignments? I am a TA for Organic Chemistry 2 lab. This is the first in-person lab session since COVID brought everything online. I also was the TA for Orgo 1 lab before COVID. A new issue came up when I was checking the students' results for their first lab. I started spot-checking melt temps of their samples vs notebooks and noticed that NONE of them matched. I went through and pulled all of their samples and 28/40 of them were completely made up. Like the melt temps were 20*C off of what they wrote in the notebook. It seems like they just looked up the melt temp of their synthesis on Wikipedia and wrote that down instead of reporting their result. I have never had this problem before. Actually, every time I have checked their results previously, there was no discrepancy. Should I remind the class to accurately report their results, or go to the section lead?
RESPONSE A: Go to the section lead. It's not your job to make up class policy on the fly.
RESPONSE B: Hhhmmm tough call. Reporting it is important but so is warning the students. Can you think of an idea to have them fix it, and then take the problem + solution to the Lead for approval of your choice of action?
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B
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POST: Academic Achievements Gamification Hey y'all, So, I am nearing the end of writing my dissertation and realized I nearly had the entire alphabet represented in my references. With the assistance of a colleague, I was able to meet the goal of referencing someone from every letter of the alphabet! I am pretty sure a gaming popup came up in my vision as that happened with the "ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED" flashing lights! So what sorts of silly achievements have you accomplished in your academic work that may mean nothing, but were exciting for you for whatever reason?
RESPONSE A: Ooh, I’m enjoying thinking of new achievements. How about references from 20 years in a row (or choose your own number). Eg 2001, 2002, 2003 etc. They don’t have to appear in the correct order in the references list.
RESPONSE B: I just read the title and went ahead agreeing with an imaginary post that rants about academic career and typed: Sometime I too feel the whole profession is gamified. Small achievements everywhere to keep you going, with a whole industry profiteering in the back. Then I read the post and the comments, it made me smile. EDIT: grammar
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
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POST: Academic Achievements Gamification Hey y'all, So, I am nearing the end of writing my dissertation and realized I nearly had the entire alphabet represented in my references. With the assistance of a colleague, I was able to meet the goal of referencing someone from every letter of the alphabet! I am pretty sure a gaming popup came up in my vision as that happened with the "ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED" flashing lights! So what sorts of silly achievements have you accomplished in your academic work that may mean nothing, but were exciting for you for whatever reason?
RESPONSE A: I just read the title and went ahead agreeing with an imaginary post that rants about academic career and typed: Sometime I too feel the whole profession is gamified. Small achievements everywhere to keep you going, with a whole industry profiteering in the back. Then I read the post and the comments, it made me smile. EDIT: grammar
RESPONSE B: 100 footnotes in an article...BOOM.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: Academic Achievements Gamification Hey y'all, So, I am nearing the end of writing my dissertation and realized I nearly had the entire alphabet represented in my references. With the assistance of a colleague, I was able to meet the goal of referencing someone from every letter of the alphabet! I am pretty sure a gaming popup came up in my vision as that happened with the "ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED" flashing lights! So what sorts of silly achievements have you accomplished in your academic work that may mean nothing, but were exciting for you for whatever reason?
RESPONSE A: No but now I'm gonna find something to do
RESPONSE B: I was able to hide the entirety of Never Gonna Give You Up in my first poster
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
|
POST: Academic Achievements Gamification Hey y'all, So, I am nearing the end of writing my dissertation and realized I nearly had the entire alphabet represented in my references. With the assistance of a colleague, I was able to meet the goal of referencing someone from every letter of the alphabet! I am pretty sure a gaming popup came up in my vision as that happened with the "ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED" flashing lights! So what sorts of silly achievements have you accomplished in your academic work that may mean nothing, but were exciting for you for whatever reason?
RESPONSE A: I used to do this in undergrad when I had a paper due that I had no motivation to write. My friend and I would give each other 3 to 5 ridiculous words and we would have to incorporate them seamlessly into the essay. Bonus if the prof circled it and wrote “great word choice” or something similar. It got me through a lot of papers!
RESPONSE B: No but now I'm gonna find something to do
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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A
|
POST: Academic Achievements Gamification Hey y'all, So, I am nearing the end of writing my dissertation and realized I nearly had the entire alphabet represented in my references. With the assistance of a colleague, I was able to meet the goal of referencing someone from every letter of the alphabet! I am pretty sure a gaming popup came up in my vision as that happened with the "ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED" flashing lights! So what sorts of silly achievements have you accomplished in your academic work that may mean nothing, but were exciting for you for whatever reason?
RESPONSE A: When I was in seminary (doing my M.Div degree), in each class I would have at least one assignment where I cited a paper or book by the professor that was part of the assigned reading. To this day, 20 years later, there are professors there that reference me in their description of outstanding papers and/or students. My Hebrew Bible professor had written two science fictions novels. Both were out of print, but I got them through ILL, and referenced one in a paper on Gilgamesh.
RESPONSE B: No but now I'm gonna find something to do
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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B
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POST: The ethics of authorship order? I'm having a hard time deciding what is most fair, so I would love any insight. Who should go first (note: I am first author, I can't decided who should go second v. third): the person who assisted in designing one of the experiments but then did not contribute in any other way, or the person who did probably 40% of the work to get the data?
RESPONSE A: First author is whoever did that majority of the work. From there it can get a bit of a shit-shower. Either, co-authors in order of decreasing involvement, or alphabetical, or a hybrid of those two. I've also heard of a standardisation in some fields of putting the funding PI last regardless of involvement.
RESPONSE B: It depends on field. A lot.
Which response is better? RESPONSE
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