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hvblx7 | askacademia_train | 0.98 | Should I contact my previous advisor to see how they are doing? I graduated with my masters degree two years ago. I have two academic and research advisor that I guided me throughout the program and I managed to land a very good job and get on my feet after graduation. I want to send an email to two of my advisors to check in. Do you think this is a good idea? Do professors like to hear back from their previous students? ​ I don't know if it matters but im an engineer and they are in school of engineering | fytrud6 | fysspel | 1,595,380,335 | 1,595,361,716 | 3 | 2 | Hearing from former students always fills me with joy and pride. It makes my day. Do it and don’t overthink it. Just drop a note saying “thought of you...” | Absolutely, i would really like it very much personally if i'd hear from one of my previous students. Who knows! There might even be collaborative projects and possible areas for future cooperation. | 1 | 18,619 | 1.5 |
hvblx7 | askacademia_train | 0.98 | Should I contact my previous advisor to see how they are doing? I graduated with my masters degree two years ago. I have two academic and research advisor that I guided me throughout the program and I managed to land a very good job and get on my feet after graduation. I want to send an email to two of my advisors to check in. Do you think this is a good idea? Do professors like to hear back from their previous students? ​ I don't know if it matters but im an engineer and they are in school of engineering | fytrud6 | fytftl9 | 1,595,380,335 | 1,595,373,409 | 3 | 2 | Hearing from former students always fills me with joy and pride. It makes my day. Do it and don’t overthink it. Just drop a note saying “thought of you...” | Yes! | 1 | 6,926 | 1.5 |
hvblx7 | askacademia_train | 0.98 | Should I contact my previous advisor to see how they are doing? I graduated with my masters degree two years ago. I have two academic and research advisor that I guided me throughout the program and I managed to land a very good job and get on my feet after graduation. I want to send an email to two of my advisors to check in. Do you think this is a good idea? Do professors like to hear back from their previous students? ​ I don't know if it matters but im an engineer and they are in school of engineering | fytrud6 | fytgxcj | 1,595,380,335 | 1,595,374,056 | 3 | 2 | Hearing from former students always fills me with joy and pride. It makes my day. Do it and don’t overthink it. Just drop a note saying “thought of you...” | They would love to hear from you. | 1 | 6,279 | 1.5 |
ne4yc7 | askacademia_train | 0.95 | Anyone feel like they are left out of research work because you are not in the clique? I work in an academic research institute where everyone has some type of STEM PhD. I am typically the "get shit done person" (engineering), but left out of the initial decision making process when grants are written because Im not mathy / physicsy enough. Normally not a concern for me, but projects end up being a cluster because the grants are based in theory and implementation is somewhat of an after thought. Additionally, coworkers speak a lot of jargin and/or highly specific language which I am not versed in and eyes get rolled whenever I try to offer constructive criticism. Best analogy I can give is a restaurant owner giving a chef a bunch of tv dinners and telling him to make Michelin star quality food. Just venting I suppose...Anyone else have similar experiences? | gyenf5s | gyevslp | 1,621,224,093 | 1,621,229,624 | 74 | 95 | Doesn’t sound like good colleagues. If you’ve worked there long enough, might be time for a change | Im a chemist working with biologists. So i kinda know how you feel. My advice is to learn their jargon. Afterall.. you are in research. In research because it is in the cutting edge, it would be a disservice to yourself if you keep yourself to a bottle "engineer". You are a scientist. Period. To be relevant, you need to understand their theories and provide them that link if they cant provide that link to you. Build the bridge. Explain to them the limitations of certain theories in application science. Then brainstorm. :) you can do it. And believe me.. when you show you are useful to them..youd be flooded with meetings of people wanting to hear your opinion on things. | 0 | 5,531 | 1.283784 |
ne4yc7 | askacademia_train | 0.95 | Anyone feel like they are left out of research work because you are not in the clique? I work in an academic research institute where everyone has some type of STEM PhD. I am typically the "get shit done person" (engineering), but left out of the initial decision making process when grants are written because Im not mathy / physicsy enough. Normally not a concern for me, but projects end up being a cluster because the grants are based in theory and implementation is somewhat of an after thought. Additionally, coworkers speak a lot of jargin and/or highly specific language which I am not versed in and eyes get rolled whenever I try to offer constructive criticism. Best analogy I can give is a restaurant owner giving a chef a bunch of tv dinners and telling him to make Michelin star quality food. Just venting I suppose...Anyone else have similar experiences? | gyevslp | gyemdlr | 1,621,229,624 | 1,621,223,599 | 95 | 43 | Im a chemist working with biologists. So i kinda know how you feel. My advice is to learn their jargon. Afterall.. you are in research. In research because it is in the cutting edge, it would be a disservice to yourself if you keep yourself to a bottle "engineer". You are a scientist. Period. To be relevant, you need to understand their theories and provide them that link if they cant provide that link to you. Build the bridge. Explain to them the limitations of certain theories in application science. Then brainstorm. :) you can do it. And believe me.. when you show you are useful to them..youd be flooded with meetings of people wanting to hear your opinion on things. | Jargon is big in USA, I’ve heard, where talk is valued very highly and people overstate what they’ve done or what they’re doing. | 1 | 6,025 | 2.209302 |
ne4yc7 | askacademia_train | 0.95 | Anyone feel like they are left out of research work because you are not in the clique? I work in an academic research institute where everyone has some type of STEM PhD. I am typically the "get shit done person" (engineering), but left out of the initial decision making process when grants are written because Im not mathy / physicsy enough. Normally not a concern for me, but projects end up being a cluster because the grants are based in theory and implementation is somewhat of an after thought. Additionally, coworkers speak a lot of jargin and/or highly specific language which I am not versed in and eyes get rolled whenever I try to offer constructive criticism. Best analogy I can give is a restaurant owner giving a chef a bunch of tv dinners and telling him to make Michelin star quality food. Just venting I suppose...Anyone else have similar experiences? | gyevslp | gyers1d | 1,621,229,624 | 1,621,226,844 | 95 | 21 | Im a chemist working with biologists. So i kinda know how you feel. My advice is to learn their jargon. Afterall.. you are in research. In research because it is in the cutting edge, it would be a disservice to yourself if you keep yourself to a bottle "engineer". You are a scientist. Period. To be relevant, you need to understand their theories and provide them that link if they cant provide that link to you. Build the bridge. Explain to them the limitations of certain theories in application science. Then brainstorm. :) you can do it. And believe me.. when you show you are useful to them..youd be flooded with meetings of people wanting to hear your opinion on things. | 10000000%. there’s an old guard that’s all about gatekeeping, and they act like assholes because they can. The good news is you have a lot more control over your career than you think. Dont worry about these kinds of people and just keep doing you. Eventually you’ll find people like yourself with similar interests. I’ve worked with a lot more people internationally than I have within the states. Fuck em. | 1 | 2,780 | 4.52381 |
ne4yc7 | askacademia_train | 0.95 | Anyone feel like they are left out of research work because you are not in the clique? I work in an academic research institute where everyone has some type of STEM PhD. I am typically the "get shit done person" (engineering), but left out of the initial decision making process when grants are written because Im not mathy / physicsy enough. Normally not a concern for me, but projects end up being a cluster because the grants are based in theory and implementation is somewhat of an after thought. Additionally, coworkers speak a lot of jargin and/or highly specific language which I am not versed in and eyes get rolled whenever I try to offer constructive criticism. Best analogy I can give is a restaurant owner giving a chef a bunch of tv dinners and telling him to make Michelin star quality food. Just venting I suppose...Anyone else have similar experiences? | gyemdlr | gyenf5s | 1,621,223,599 | 1,621,224,093 | 43 | 74 | Jargon is big in USA, I’ve heard, where talk is valued very highly and people overstate what they’ve done or what they’re doing. | Doesn’t sound like good colleagues. If you’ve worked there long enough, might be time for a change | 0 | 494 | 1.72093 |
ne4yc7 | askacademia_train | 0.95 | Anyone feel like they are left out of research work because you are not in the clique? I work in an academic research institute where everyone has some type of STEM PhD. I am typically the "get shit done person" (engineering), but left out of the initial decision making process when grants are written because Im not mathy / physicsy enough. Normally not a concern for me, but projects end up being a cluster because the grants are based in theory and implementation is somewhat of an after thought. Additionally, coworkers speak a lot of jargin and/or highly specific language which I am not versed in and eyes get rolled whenever I try to offer constructive criticism. Best analogy I can give is a restaurant owner giving a chef a bunch of tv dinners and telling him to make Michelin star quality food. Just venting I suppose...Anyone else have similar experiences? | gyex3r6 | gyers1d | 1,621,230,575 | 1,621,226,844 | 35 | 21 | It is not clear if you have a PhD or not but this part stood out a bit: > but left out of the initial decision making process when grants are written because Im not mathy / physicsy enough If you don't have a PhD, why would you be part of the decision making process? Surely you can contribute like hundreds of grad students do when their advisors ask them to write up a proposal but the decision making solely rests with PIs and Co-PIs, both of whom need to have terminal degrees. Sorry but that's how it is. PIs and Co-PIs are primarily responsible for achieving whatever goals they say the grant is supposed to work towards. You are absolutely right in that there are pragmatic issues or constructive criticism that can be raised during the brainstorming/writing process but for many researchers that is the "application" phase and not the pure exploratory phase where a lot of work is honestly improvisational and has to be left a bit vague for room to maneuver during actual research. If you already have a PhD then ignore everything. Sorry your colleagues are shitheads. Maybe you can talk to your group manager? > highly specific language which I am not versed in Again, this is a "you" problem. Depending on how long you've been at the institute, this should not be a hurdle whatsoever. If you've joined within the past year, that's ok, you can work towards addressing this. But then that would also explain why you're left out of the grant writing process. It takes time to demonstrate expertise when it comes to writing a grant which is already a stressful process for everyone involved. You can entertain all sorts of pithy, anecdotal comments like "Jargon is big in the USA" and that "people overstate what they're doing" but jargon is useful because if everyone has the same starting point, you can get ideas across very easily and context is already established. I'm not saying that people who intentionally obfuscate their work don't exist, but you can't assume that a majority of people who speak using terms particular to their area of research are doing it intentionally. Edit: pasting my same comment below on "big names getting grants and not worrying about details" Its not exactly unique to academia... That's why you have CEOs and Directors and so on. Someone has to focus on the big picture and not get bogged down by details. Someone else has to worry about the details and not let details derail the long term goal. Unfortunately, one of those roles is not as attractive as the other. That's life. | 10000000%. there’s an old guard that’s all about gatekeeping, and they act like assholes because they can. The good news is you have a lot more control over your career than you think. Dont worry about these kinds of people and just keep doing you. Eventually you’ll find people like yourself with similar interests. I’ve worked with a lot more people internationally than I have within the states. Fuck em. | 1 | 3,731 | 1.666667 |
kfkybb | askacademia_train | 0.99 | Quitting Prof job Hi all, i was wondering if I could get some opinions or advice to the following situation: i’m in my seventh year of assistant professorship, three of these tenure track US and four of these in a permanent position (UK). I am getting ready to apply for promotion. However there are a few issues. First my spouse and child absolutely do not like it here and want to go back to previous country. Second, i’ve been working my ass off especially post covid. I have ten undergrads, five PhD students, led two courses this semester with over 100 students in them. I do the grant applications (not going great but there are small steady funding amounts) and the publishing thing (very productive despite not having many resources or time).... I had to remodel my two courses to work remotely because of Covid whilst homeschooling. Well: just got my evals back and students loved the first module but absolutely hated the second! That one is a difficult, technical subject which is mandatory and half of them usually really loathe it even during non covid times. Others who are more interested love it—- smh. The spread of these evaluations goes from “best course i ever had” to “i’m gonna change my degree now”... I think I might be having an oncoming burnout or something but I just ... want to quit..... right.... NOW! I’m normally calm and rational but i feel like I am trapped in a nightmare. I got scared of myself and have just taken leave over the holidays to let all of this settle - i normally never take any time off since i started in academia about 20 years ago- but i think i want to try getting into a different job. I’ve applied to a museum job on a whim the other day and they want to interview me. The more i think of it the more i like the idea of doing something practical that isn’t such a terrible 80 hour/week slog all the fucking time. I’m so tired and nothing is ever good enough. On the other hand it’s a secure job with benefits and they allow me to do my “research” at night times and weekends .... I’m so confused. | gg90n7o | gg93qbb | 1,608,299,442 | 1,608,301,328 | 76 | 253 | What you describe is a classic stress/ poor MH response to the work conditions you are in right now. Revisit this after your leave, talk with your family and see how you feel. | I think the middle of an extremely stressful pandemic is a)not the time to get down on yourself for bad student evals b) not a great time to make snap major life decisions. I would take a long vacation over winter break and then do next semester and see how you feel next summer. | 0 | 1,886 | 3.328947 |
kfkybb | askacademia_train | 0.99 | Quitting Prof job Hi all, i was wondering if I could get some opinions or advice to the following situation: i’m in my seventh year of assistant professorship, three of these tenure track US and four of these in a permanent position (UK). I am getting ready to apply for promotion. However there are a few issues. First my spouse and child absolutely do not like it here and want to go back to previous country. Second, i’ve been working my ass off especially post covid. I have ten undergrads, five PhD students, led two courses this semester with over 100 students in them. I do the grant applications (not going great but there are small steady funding amounts) and the publishing thing (very productive despite not having many resources or time).... I had to remodel my two courses to work remotely because of Covid whilst homeschooling. Well: just got my evals back and students loved the first module but absolutely hated the second! That one is a difficult, technical subject which is mandatory and half of them usually really loathe it even during non covid times. Others who are more interested love it—- smh. The spread of these evaluations goes from “best course i ever had” to “i’m gonna change my degree now”... I think I might be having an oncoming burnout or something but I just ... want to quit..... right.... NOW! I’m normally calm and rational but i feel like I am trapped in a nightmare. I got scared of myself and have just taken leave over the holidays to let all of this settle - i normally never take any time off since i started in academia about 20 years ago- but i think i want to try getting into a different job. I’ve applied to a museum job on a whim the other day and they want to interview me. The more i think of it the more i like the idea of doing something practical that isn’t such a terrible 80 hour/week slog all the fucking time. I’m so tired and nothing is ever good enough. On the other hand it’s a secure job with benefits and they allow me to do my “research” at night times and weekends .... I’m so confused. | gg91v96 | gg93qbb | 1,608,300,206 | 1,608,301,328 | 22 | 253 | As soon as I read the statement about your spouse and children not liking US, I was convinced that you should leave. Academia will eat up your whole life if you let it! Also there is a r/leavingacademia that might be helpful to you and a recently published book called leaving academia. I’m reading it now and it speaks to my soul. I’m planning my exit and will do it soon! | I think the middle of an extremely stressful pandemic is a)not the time to get down on yourself for bad student evals b) not a great time to make snap major life decisions. I would take a long vacation over winter break and then do next semester and see how you feel next summer. | 0 | 1,122 | 11.5 |
kfkybb | askacademia_train | 0.99 | Quitting Prof job Hi all, i was wondering if I could get some opinions or advice to the following situation: i’m in my seventh year of assistant professorship, three of these tenure track US and four of these in a permanent position (UK). I am getting ready to apply for promotion. However there are a few issues. First my spouse and child absolutely do not like it here and want to go back to previous country. Second, i’ve been working my ass off especially post covid. I have ten undergrads, five PhD students, led two courses this semester with over 100 students in them. I do the grant applications (not going great but there are small steady funding amounts) and the publishing thing (very productive despite not having many resources or time).... I had to remodel my two courses to work remotely because of Covid whilst homeschooling. Well: just got my evals back and students loved the first module but absolutely hated the second! That one is a difficult, technical subject which is mandatory and half of them usually really loathe it even during non covid times. Others who are more interested love it—- smh. The spread of these evaluations goes from “best course i ever had” to “i’m gonna change my degree now”... I think I might be having an oncoming burnout or something but I just ... want to quit..... right.... NOW! I’m normally calm and rational but i feel like I am trapped in a nightmare. I got scared of myself and have just taken leave over the holidays to let all of this settle - i normally never take any time off since i started in academia about 20 years ago- but i think i want to try getting into a different job. I’ve applied to a museum job on a whim the other day and they want to interview me. The more i think of it the more i like the idea of doing something practical that isn’t such a terrible 80 hour/week slog all the fucking time. I’m so tired and nothing is ever good enough. On the other hand it’s a secure job with benefits and they allow me to do my “research” at night times and weekends .... I’m so confused. | gga0lfj | gga2nx1 | 1,608,316,394 | 1,608,317,279 | 14 | 18 | I've been there. I tried applying to museum jobs and talked to museum employees about it and my sense was that it was basically impossible to get a job, and there was no money once you did. I couldn't even convince my local science museum to let me volunteer. Plus museums aren't even open right now... I think there's nothing wrong with wanting a different job. A lot of the people I've met from the US who went to England for academic positions really regret it. The main thing is to figure out what you want to do. Maybe there are data-related industry jobs that will be interesting for you and high paying? | A crisis either clarifies or confuses. You have to decide which one this is for you. You have already been working eight years then you know what it was like before the crisis. Honestly, none of us know what it’s going to be like years down the road. | 0 | 885 | 1.285714 |
kfkybb | askacademia_train | 0.99 | Quitting Prof job Hi all, i was wondering if I could get some opinions or advice to the following situation: i’m in my seventh year of assistant professorship, three of these tenure track US and four of these in a permanent position (UK). I am getting ready to apply for promotion. However there are a few issues. First my spouse and child absolutely do not like it here and want to go back to previous country. Second, i’ve been working my ass off especially post covid. I have ten undergrads, five PhD students, led two courses this semester with over 100 students in them. I do the grant applications (not going great but there are small steady funding amounts) and the publishing thing (very productive despite not having many resources or time).... I had to remodel my two courses to work remotely because of Covid whilst homeschooling. Well: just got my evals back and students loved the first module but absolutely hated the second! That one is a difficult, technical subject which is mandatory and half of them usually really loathe it even during non covid times. Others who are more interested love it—- smh. The spread of these evaluations goes from “best course i ever had” to “i’m gonna change my degree now”... I think I might be having an oncoming burnout or something but I just ... want to quit..... right.... NOW! I’m normally calm and rational but i feel like I am trapped in a nightmare. I got scared of myself and have just taken leave over the holidays to let all of this settle - i normally never take any time off since i started in academia about 20 years ago- but i think i want to try getting into a different job. I’ve applied to a museum job on a whim the other day and they want to interview me. The more i think of it the more i like the idea of doing something practical that isn’t such a terrible 80 hour/week slog all the fucking time. I’m so tired and nothing is ever good enough. On the other hand it’s a secure job with benefits and they allow me to do my “research” at night times and weekends .... I’m so confused. | gg9rb0v | gga2nx1 | 1,608,312,529 | 1,608,317,279 | 7 | 18 | Feel your pain brother. Same here - but senior lecturer. I would ignore all evaluation during this period. Stop wasting time on grants and cut down the publishing to the minimum to meet ref. Also, renegotiate a lower teacher workload with your Dean. Frame it as a "don't abuse me or risk losing me" conversation. | A crisis either clarifies or confuses. You have to decide which one this is for you. You have already been working eight years then you know what it was like before the crisis. Honestly, none of us know what it’s going to be like years down the road. | 0 | 4,750 | 2.571429 |
kfkybb | askacademia_train | 0.99 | Quitting Prof job Hi all, i was wondering if I could get some opinions or advice to the following situation: i’m in my seventh year of assistant professorship, three of these tenure track US and four of these in a permanent position (UK). I am getting ready to apply for promotion. However there are a few issues. First my spouse and child absolutely do not like it here and want to go back to previous country. Second, i’ve been working my ass off especially post covid. I have ten undergrads, five PhD students, led two courses this semester with over 100 students in them. I do the grant applications (not going great but there are small steady funding amounts) and the publishing thing (very productive despite not having many resources or time).... I had to remodel my two courses to work remotely because of Covid whilst homeschooling. Well: just got my evals back and students loved the first module but absolutely hated the second! That one is a difficult, technical subject which is mandatory and half of them usually really loathe it even during non covid times. Others who are more interested love it—- smh. The spread of these evaluations goes from “best course i ever had” to “i’m gonna change my degree now”... I think I might be having an oncoming burnout or something but I just ... want to quit..... right.... NOW! I’m normally calm and rational but i feel like I am trapped in a nightmare. I got scared of myself and have just taken leave over the holidays to let all of this settle - i normally never take any time off since i started in academia about 20 years ago- but i think i want to try getting into a different job. I’ve applied to a museum job on a whim the other day and they want to interview me. The more i think of it the more i like the idea of doing something practical that isn’t such a terrible 80 hour/week slog all the fucking time. I’m so tired and nothing is ever good enough. On the other hand it’s a secure job with benefits and they allow me to do my “research” at night times and weekends .... I’m so confused. | gga0lfj | gg9rb0v | 1,608,316,394 | 1,608,312,529 | 14 | 7 | I've been there. I tried applying to museum jobs and talked to museum employees about it and my sense was that it was basically impossible to get a job, and there was no money once you did. I couldn't even convince my local science museum to let me volunteer. Plus museums aren't even open right now... I think there's nothing wrong with wanting a different job. A lot of the people I've met from the US who went to England for academic positions really regret it. The main thing is to figure out what you want to do. Maybe there are data-related industry jobs that will be interesting for you and high paying? | Feel your pain brother. Same here - but senior lecturer. I would ignore all evaluation during this period. Stop wasting time on grants and cut down the publishing to the minimum to meet ref. Also, renegotiate a lower teacher workload with your Dean. Frame it as a "don't abuse me or risk losing me" conversation. | 1 | 3,865 | 2 |
kfkybb | askacademia_train | 0.99 | Quitting Prof job Hi all, i was wondering if I could get some opinions or advice to the following situation: i’m in my seventh year of assistant professorship, three of these tenure track US and four of these in a permanent position (UK). I am getting ready to apply for promotion. However there are a few issues. First my spouse and child absolutely do not like it here and want to go back to previous country. Second, i’ve been working my ass off especially post covid. I have ten undergrads, five PhD students, led two courses this semester with over 100 students in them. I do the grant applications (not going great but there are small steady funding amounts) and the publishing thing (very productive despite not having many resources or time).... I had to remodel my two courses to work remotely because of Covid whilst homeschooling. Well: just got my evals back and students loved the first module but absolutely hated the second! That one is a difficult, technical subject which is mandatory and half of them usually really loathe it even during non covid times. Others who are more interested love it—- smh. The spread of these evaluations goes from “best course i ever had” to “i’m gonna change my degree now”... I think I might be having an oncoming burnout or something but I just ... want to quit..... right.... NOW! I’m normally calm and rational but i feel like I am trapped in a nightmare. I got scared of myself and have just taken leave over the holidays to let all of this settle - i normally never take any time off since i started in academia about 20 years ago- but i think i want to try getting into a different job. I’ve applied to a museum job on a whim the other day and they want to interview me. The more i think of it the more i like the idea of doing something practical that isn’t such a terrible 80 hour/week slog all the fucking time. I’m so tired and nothing is ever good enough. On the other hand it’s a secure job with benefits and they allow me to do my “research” at night times and weekends .... I’m so confused. | gg9rb0v | ggac83l | 1,608,312,529 | 1,608,321,410 | 7 | 10 | Feel your pain brother. Same here - but senior lecturer. I would ignore all evaluation during this period. Stop wasting time on grants and cut down the publishing to the minimum to meet ref. Also, renegotiate a lower teacher workload with your Dean. Frame it as a "don't abuse me or risk losing me" conversation. | Protip: Wait til you're promoted before you do anything drastic, then you hopefully won't be starting from scratch later. | 0 | 8,881 | 1.428571 |
kfkybb | askacademia_train | 0.99 | Quitting Prof job Hi all, i was wondering if I could get some opinions or advice to the following situation: i’m in my seventh year of assistant professorship, three of these tenure track US and four of these in a permanent position (UK). I am getting ready to apply for promotion. However there are a few issues. First my spouse and child absolutely do not like it here and want to go back to previous country. Second, i’ve been working my ass off especially post covid. I have ten undergrads, five PhD students, led two courses this semester with over 100 students in them. I do the grant applications (not going great but there are small steady funding amounts) and the publishing thing (very productive despite not having many resources or time).... I had to remodel my two courses to work remotely because of Covid whilst homeschooling. Well: just got my evals back and students loved the first module but absolutely hated the second! That one is a difficult, technical subject which is mandatory and half of them usually really loathe it even during non covid times. Others who are more interested love it—- smh. The spread of these evaluations goes from “best course i ever had” to “i’m gonna change my degree now”... I think I might be having an oncoming burnout or something but I just ... want to quit..... right.... NOW! I’m normally calm and rational but i feel like I am trapped in a nightmare. I got scared of myself and have just taken leave over the holidays to let all of this settle - i normally never take any time off since i started in academia about 20 years ago- but i think i want to try getting into a different job. I’ve applied to a museum job on a whim the other day and they want to interview me. The more i think of it the more i like the idea of doing something practical that isn’t such a terrible 80 hour/week slog all the fucking time. I’m so tired and nothing is ever good enough. On the other hand it’s a secure job with benefits and they allow me to do my “research” at night times and weekends .... I’m so confused. | ggbahej | ggarcgu | 1,608,338,849 | 1,608,328,211 | 3 | 2 | I’m tenured and thinking about the same things. The ONLY reason I’m staying on is that I’ve time to do my research. If you don’t absolutely live for your research, get the fuck out. It’s thankless and academia is in absolute peril. I say get out while you are marketable. Get raises every year so you can actually retire one day. | Which semester were these courses in? Tbh, if those evals came from sbd out of the first semester, let them change their degree, it's definitely not your fault! Maybe they changed their decision on the subject after their first real insights... | 1 | 10,638 | 1.5 |
kfkybb | askacademia_train | 0.99 | Quitting Prof job Hi all, i was wondering if I could get some opinions or advice to the following situation: i’m in my seventh year of assistant professorship, three of these tenure track US and four of these in a permanent position (UK). I am getting ready to apply for promotion. However there are a few issues. First my spouse and child absolutely do not like it here and want to go back to previous country. Second, i’ve been working my ass off especially post covid. I have ten undergrads, five PhD students, led two courses this semester with over 100 students in them. I do the grant applications (not going great but there are small steady funding amounts) and the publishing thing (very productive despite not having many resources or time).... I had to remodel my two courses to work remotely because of Covid whilst homeschooling. Well: just got my evals back and students loved the first module but absolutely hated the second! That one is a difficult, technical subject which is mandatory and half of them usually really loathe it even during non covid times. Others who are more interested love it—- smh. The spread of these evaluations goes from “best course i ever had” to “i’m gonna change my degree now”... I think I might be having an oncoming burnout or something but I just ... want to quit..... right.... NOW! I’m normally calm and rational but i feel like I am trapped in a nightmare. I got scared of myself and have just taken leave over the holidays to let all of this settle - i normally never take any time off since i started in academia about 20 years ago- but i think i want to try getting into a different job. I’ve applied to a museum job on a whim the other day and they want to interview me. The more i think of it the more i like the idea of doing something practical that isn’t such a terrible 80 hour/week slog all the fucking time. I’m so tired and nothing is ever good enough. On the other hand it’s a secure job with benefits and they allow me to do my “research” at night times and weekends .... I’m so confused. | ggb6b5z | ggbahej | 1,608,336,405 | 1,608,338,849 | 2 | 3 | I had a nervous breakdown 2 days ago. I am glad to hear you took some time of by yourself. The things that you are saying got me worried. I'm glad you took the time off | I’m tenured and thinking about the same things. The ONLY reason I’m staying on is that I’ve time to do my research. If you don’t absolutely live for your research, get the fuck out. It’s thankless and academia is in absolute peril. I say get out while you are marketable. Get raises every year so you can actually retire one day. | 0 | 2,444 | 1.5 |
kfkybb | askacademia_train | 0.99 | Quitting Prof job Hi all, i was wondering if I could get some opinions or advice to the following situation: i’m in my seventh year of assistant professorship, three of these tenure track US and four of these in a permanent position (UK). I am getting ready to apply for promotion. However there are a few issues. First my spouse and child absolutely do not like it here and want to go back to previous country. Second, i’ve been working my ass off especially post covid. I have ten undergrads, five PhD students, led two courses this semester with over 100 students in them. I do the grant applications (not going great but there are small steady funding amounts) and the publishing thing (very productive despite not having many resources or time).... I had to remodel my two courses to work remotely because of Covid whilst homeschooling. Well: just got my evals back and students loved the first module but absolutely hated the second! That one is a difficult, technical subject which is mandatory and half of them usually really loathe it even during non covid times. Others who are more interested love it—- smh. The spread of these evaluations goes from “best course i ever had” to “i’m gonna change my degree now”... I think I might be having an oncoming burnout or something but I just ... want to quit..... right.... NOW! I’m normally calm and rational but i feel like I am trapped in a nightmare. I got scared of myself and have just taken leave over the holidays to let all of this settle - i normally never take any time off since i started in academia about 20 years ago- but i think i want to try getting into a different job. I’ve applied to a museum job on a whim the other day and they want to interview me. The more i think of it the more i like the idea of doing something practical that isn’t such a terrible 80 hour/week slog all the fucking time. I’m so tired and nothing is ever good enough. On the other hand it’s a secure job with benefits and they allow me to do my “research” at night times and weekends .... I’m so confused. | ggarcgu | ggcc9ji | 1,608,328,211 | 1,608,365,162 | 2 | 3 | Which semester were these courses in? Tbh, if those evals came from sbd out of the first semester, let them change their degree, it's definitely not your fault! Maybe they changed their decision on the subject after their first real insights... | Regarding the museum opportunity find out how they are funded. So many museums are having issues now with funding drying up you want to ensure you’d have a job in a year. We are in a pandemic world right now. I don’t think it’s a good time to make a move in any industry. If you have job stability in your current position which you apparently do, try to stick it out until the global economy stabilizes. | 0 | 36,951 | 1.5 |
kfkybb | askacademia_train | 0.99 | Quitting Prof job Hi all, i was wondering if I could get some opinions or advice to the following situation: i’m in my seventh year of assistant professorship, three of these tenure track US and four of these in a permanent position (UK). I am getting ready to apply for promotion. However there are a few issues. First my spouse and child absolutely do not like it here and want to go back to previous country. Second, i’ve been working my ass off especially post covid. I have ten undergrads, five PhD students, led two courses this semester with over 100 students in them. I do the grant applications (not going great but there are small steady funding amounts) and the publishing thing (very productive despite not having many resources or time).... I had to remodel my two courses to work remotely because of Covid whilst homeschooling. Well: just got my evals back and students loved the first module but absolutely hated the second! That one is a difficult, technical subject which is mandatory and half of them usually really loathe it even during non covid times. Others who are more interested love it—- smh. The spread of these evaluations goes from “best course i ever had” to “i’m gonna change my degree now”... I think I might be having an oncoming burnout or something but I just ... want to quit..... right.... NOW! I’m normally calm and rational but i feel like I am trapped in a nightmare. I got scared of myself and have just taken leave over the holidays to let all of this settle - i normally never take any time off since i started in academia about 20 years ago- but i think i want to try getting into a different job. I’ve applied to a museum job on a whim the other day and they want to interview me. The more i think of it the more i like the idea of doing something practical that isn’t such a terrible 80 hour/week slog all the fucking time. I’m so tired and nothing is ever good enough. On the other hand it’s a secure job with benefits and they allow me to do my “research” at night times and weekends .... I’m so confused. | ggb6b5z | ggcc9ji | 1,608,336,405 | 1,608,365,162 | 2 | 3 | I had a nervous breakdown 2 days ago. I am glad to hear you took some time of by yourself. The things that you are saying got me worried. I'm glad you took the time off | Regarding the museum opportunity find out how they are funded. So many museums are having issues now with funding drying up you want to ensure you’d have a job in a year. We are in a pandemic world right now. I don’t think it’s a good time to make a move in any industry. If you have job stability in your current position which you apparently do, try to stick it out until the global economy stabilizes. | 0 | 28,757 | 1.5 |
kfkybb | askacademia_train | 0.99 | Quitting Prof job Hi all, i was wondering if I could get some opinions or advice to the following situation: i’m in my seventh year of assistant professorship, three of these tenure track US and four of these in a permanent position (UK). I am getting ready to apply for promotion. However there are a few issues. First my spouse and child absolutely do not like it here and want to go back to previous country. Second, i’ve been working my ass off especially post covid. I have ten undergrads, five PhD students, led two courses this semester with over 100 students in them. I do the grant applications (not going great but there are small steady funding amounts) and the publishing thing (very productive despite not having many resources or time).... I had to remodel my two courses to work remotely because of Covid whilst homeschooling. Well: just got my evals back and students loved the first module but absolutely hated the second! That one is a difficult, technical subject which is mandatory and half of them usually really loathe it even during non covid times. Others who are more interested love it—- smh. The spread of these evaluations goes from “best course i ever had” to “i’m gonna change my degree now”... I think I might be having an oncoming burnout or something but I just ... want to quit..... right.... NOW! I’m normally calm and rational but i feel like I am trapped in a nightmare. I got scared of myself and have just taken leave over the holidays to let all of this settle - i normally never take any time off since i started in academia about 20 years ago- but i think i want to try getting into a different job. I’ve applied to a museum job on a whim the other day and they want to interview me. The more i think of it the more i like the idea of doing something practical that isn’t such a terrible 80 hour/week slog all the fucking time. I’m so tired and nothing is ever good enough. On the other hand it’s a secure job with benefits and they allow me to do my “research” at night times and weekends .... I’m so confused. | ggcc9ji | ggbe8cg | 1,608,365,162 | 1,608,341,030 | 3 | 2 | Regarding the museum opportunity find out how they are funded. So many museums are having issues now with funding drying up you want to ensure you’d have a job in a year. We are in a pandemic world right now. I don’t think it’s a good time to make a move in any industry. If you have job stability in your current position which you apparently do, try to stick it out until the global economy stabilizes. | Don't think that you should base your assessments on evaluation from the students. If the promotion doesn't depend on that, I wouldn't care. If it's a secure job, speak to your family. In these times, many are jobless. | 1 | 24,132 | 1.5 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivxqmw4 | ivxmm8n | 1,668,167,820 | 1,668,164,845 | 299 | 3 | Before you report anything, I would advise that you very carefully think through what exactly was said and asked of you. If you were specifically and explicitly asked to falsify anything, then yes, immediately report it and forward any and all information to the appropriate people. But... most PIs are smarter than this, and to be fair, a lot of papers and grant applications sadly attempt to work in a grey zone that blurs the line between rigorous science and salesmanship. For the sake of academic survival, many researchers try to forge a very positive and optimistic interpretation of what the have or plan to achieve. No one will fund you if you fairly disclose that your methods and data are questionable... but this doesn't excuse overselling "bad" science. It's also important to consider whether the 2nd person in that mtg will side with the PI and claim that you grossly misunderstood the conversation. So I strongly suggest that you follow up with an email or documented conversation that can be read by a 3rd party and objectively conclude that they were asking you to do something clearly unethical. And beware: Universities from any country will always act on blatant law breaking...but when it comes to the grey zone of ethics, they will most often give the PI the benefit of the doubt. As leaders in their own field and research niche, administrators often consider the "expert" in deciding what is okay and what is not to be the PI. Unless there is documented evidence, paper trails, or direct proof, I would expect the university to chalk your situation up to a simple miscommunication. I encourage you to do the right thing, but also to tread carefully. Consider another serious conversation with the PI and ask for clarification. Make your concerns clear and then decide what to do based on their response. A premature jump to reporting them can do more harm to you than to them, and it could get you "blacklisted" in terms of your professional career if this person is truly unethical but able to escape justice. Good luck, OP! | The morally correct thing to do would be to report it to a student ombudsman, higher-ups the university, the IRB, etc. I’m not familiar with Italian universities to know if all of those exist but I’d guess they do. You’ll definitely risk retaliation and even if you don’t you may just want to leave the institution at that point. | 1 | 2,975 | 99.666667 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivxmm8n | ivy0bao | 1,668,164,845 | 1,668,173,518 | 3 | 47 | The morally correct thing to do would be to report it to a student ombudsman, higher-ups the university, the IRB, etc. I’m not familiar with Italian universities to know if all of those exist but I’d guess they do. You’ll definitely risk retaliation and even if you don’t you may just want to leave the institution at that point. | There's a difference between interpretation of existing real data and outright fabrication of new data points that never existed. Based on what you wrote (I don't and can't know what the situation actually is like), this can be - or can at least sold as - a difference in opinion on how to interpret existing real data. In this case, it should be caught up in peer review and if it isn't, you can issue an Errata. That's my "Devil's advocate" take on this. | 0 | 8,673 | 15.666667 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivy5j9p | ivy5k5a | 1,668,176,022 | 1,668,176,034 | 13 | 32 | Send an email to them and ask them if they can clarify & verify what was said so you can create the “paper trail” if there is not one already. If you have no evidence and it’s your word against theirs you will lose. If you proceed and anything happens they will throw you under the bus. There is a reason they’re asking you to do this and not doing it themselves. | I’ve been in a somewhat similar situation in the past where a PI told me in person to do unethical conduct. I definitely agree that if all you have is your word, don’t report it yet. The PI will just say you’re lying or misunderstood and you won’t get anywhere. Think hard about what you would want to get out of reporting, and what costs you are willing to pay. Losing your career is always a possibility when going up against a supervisor. My strategy was generally to write an email where I would essentially put my supervisor in a corner to agree that I should actually behave ethically. So like, if my PI in person said “we need this data completed in four weeks, so do unethical thing X”. My email might say, “Hi PI, I was making my plans based on our meeting. I know you said we want data completed in four weeks. Obviously I have to do (ethical thing), so on reflection, I don’t see a way to make the four week goal. Perhaps we could instead (do ethical thing - say maybe complete data in eight weeks)?” This does a few things: it puts in writing that doing the unethical thing is bad, so your PI knows you are unwilling to be unethical for them. It pushes your PI to either change what they are asking, or respond *in writing* asking you to do the unethical thing. (Of course they can just talk more in person? But then it’s weird to not respond to the email.) It sort of hints to your PI that you are getting things in writing, and so maybe they should be more careful about not asking you to do unethical things, because maybe you might try to report them. Every time I did this, my PI changed what he was asking and was willing to do the ethical route. It did make our relationship more strained / tense? But I was able to manage it and move on to the next stage of my career, with a reasonably good recommendation from my PI. If you can, it might also be good to confide in someone you trust who is familiar with your situation- another student, or a past supervisor. That will provide you with some backup if you need it later, and they also might be able to give better advice about how to handle your particular situation than us strangers on the internet. | 0 | 12 | 2.461538 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivy5k5a | ivxmm8n | 1,668,176,034 | 1,668,164,845 | 32 | 3 | I’ve been in a somewhat similar situation in the past where a PI told me in person to do unethical conduct. I definitely agree that if all you have is your word, don’t report it yet. The PI will just say you’re lying or misunderstood and you won’t get anywhere. Think hard about what you would want to get out of reporting, and what costs you are willing to pay. Losing your career is always a possibility when going up against a supervisor. My strategy was generally to write an email where I would essentially put my supervisor in a corner to agree that I should actually behave ethically. So like, if my PI in person said “we need this data completed in four weeks, so do unethical thing X”. My email might say, “Hi PI, I was making my plans based on our meeting. I know you said we want data completed in four weeks. Obviously I have to do (ethical thing), so on reflection, I don’t see a way to make the four week goal. Perhaps we could instead (do ethical thing - say maybe complete data in eight weeks)?” This does a few things: it puts in writing that doing the unethical thing is bad, so your PI knows you are unwilling to be unethical for them. It pushes your PI to either change what they are asking, or respond *in writing* asking you to do the unethical thing. (Of course they can just talk more in person? But then it’s weird to not respond to the email.) It sort of hints to your PI that you are getting things in writing, and so maybe they should be more careful about not asking you to do unethical things, because maybe you might try to report them. Every time I did this, my PI changed what he was asking and was willing to do the ethical route. It did make our relationship more strained / tense? But I was able to manage it and move on to the next stage of my career, with a reasonably good recommendation from my PI. If you can, it might also be good to confide in someone you trust who is familiar with your situation- another student, or a past supervisor. That will provide you with some backup if you need it later, and they also might be able to give better advice about how to handle your particular situation than us strangers on the internet. | The morally correct thing to do would be to report it to a student ombudsman, higher-ups the university, the IRB, etc. I’m not familiar with Italian universities to know if all of those exist but I’d guess they do. You’ll definitely risk retaliation and even if you don’t you may just want to leave the institution at that point. | 1 | 11,189 | 10.666667 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivxmm8n | ivy5j9p | 1,668,164,845 | 1,668,176,022 | 3 | 13 | The morally correct thing to do would be to report it to a student ombudsman, higher-ups the university, the IRB, etc. I’m not familiar with Italian universities to know if all of those exist but I’d guess they do. You’ll definitely risk retaliation and even if you don’t you may just want to leave the institution at that point. | Send an email to them and ask them if they can clarify & verify what was said so you can create the “paper trail” if there is not one already. If you have no evidence and it’s your word against theirs you will lose. If you proceed and anything happens they will throw you under the bus. There is a reason they’re asking you to do this and not doing it themselves. | 0 | 11,177 | 4.333333 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivygx6r | ivyfvx1 | 1,668,180,877 | 1,668,180,450 | 9 | 7 | This sounds more like you and your advisor arm wrestling over how much time the foundational work requires than it does like falsifying anything. | Be calm and don't accuse him of anything. Say you are struggling to see the interpretation of the data in the way he interprets it, ask for the opinion of a external colleague to get a fresh pair of eyes on the data (anonymised of course). If he's trying to pull as fast one he may balk at this suggestion but you can stand firm as it's a fairly reasonable request. A colleague may be able to mediate and help you all reach an understanding about what a fair conclusion is. Like others have said, overstating conclusions is not falsifying data so reporting him is just likely to cause you grief. You'd be surprised how good journals are at picking up on being sold big conclusion on ropy data. | 1 | 427 | 1.285714 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivxmm8n | ivygx6r | 1,668,164,845 | 1,668,180,877 | 3 | 9 | The morally correct thing to do would be to report it to a student ombudsman, higher-ups the university, the IRB, etc. I’m not familiar with Italian universities to know if all of those exist but I’d guess they do. You’ll definitely risk retaliation and even if you don’t you may just want to leave the institution at that point. | This sounds more like you and your advisor arm wrestling over how much time the foundational work requires than it does like falsifying anything. | 0 | 16,032 | 3 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivyey44 | ivygx6r | 1,668,180,063 | 1,668,180,877 | 2 | 9 | Wth Can I ask you, which field do you work in ? | This sounds more like you and your advisor arm wrestling over how much time the foundational work requires than it does like falsifying anything. | 0 | 814 | 4.5 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivz63xz | ivyfvx1 | 1,668,190,971 | 1,668,180,450 | 8 | 7 | Define "overstate reliability". | Be calm and don't accuse him of anything. Say you are struggling to see the interpretation of the data in the way he interprets it, ask for the opinion of a external colleague to get a fresh pair of eyes on the data (anonymised of course). If he's trying to pull as fast one he may balk at this suggestion but you can stand firm as it's a fairly reasonable request. A colleague may be able to mediate and help you all reach an understanding about what a fair conclusion is. Like others have said, overstating conclusions is not falsifying data so reporting him is just likely to cause you grief. You'd be surprised how good journals are at picking up on being sold big conclusion on ropy data. | 1 | 10,521 | 1.142857 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivz5lgk | ivz63xz | 1,668,190,766 | 1,668,190,971 | 5 | 8 | So are you to actually falsify data, as in make it up or or cherry pick insignificant amount of it for your conclusions, or are to overstate what *you think* is the importance of data that you correctly acquired? The former is a big problem, the latter is what you’ll be doing daily for the rest of your life as a scientist anywhere. | Define "overstate reliability". | 0 | 205 | 1.6 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivxmm8n | ivz63xz | 1,668,164,845 | 1,668,190,971 | 3 | 8 | The morally correct thing to do would be to report it to a student ombudsman, higher-ups the university, the IRB, etc. I’m not familiar with Italian universities to know if all of those exist but I’d guess they do. You’ll definitely risk retaliation and even if you don’t you may just want to leave the institution at that point. | Define "overstate reliability". | 0 | 26,126 | 2.666667 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivyey44 | ivz63xz | 1,668,180,063 | 1,668,190,971 | 2 | 8 | Wth Can I ask you, which field do you work in ? | Define "overstate reliability". | 0 | 10,908 | 4 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivxmm8n | ivyfvx1 | 1,668,164,845 | 1,668,180,450 | 3 | 7 | The morally correct thing to do would be to report it to a student ombudsman, higher-ups the university, the IRB, etc. I’m not familiar with Italian universities to know if all of those exist but I’d guess they do. You’ll definitely risk retaliation and even if you don’t you may just want to leave the institution at that point. | Be calm and don't accuse him of anything. Say you are struggling to see the interpretation of the data in the way he interprets it, ask for the opinion of a external colleague to get a fresh pair of eyes on the data (anonymised of course). If he's trying to pull as fast one he may balk at this suggestion but you can stand firm as it's a fairly reasonable request. A colleague may be able to mediate and help you all reach an understanding about what a fair conclusion is. Like others have said, overstating conclusions is not falsifying data so reporting him is just likely to cause you grief. You'd be surprised how good journals are at picking up on being sold big conclusion on ropy data. | 0 | 15,605 | 2.333333 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivyfvx1 | ivyey44 | 1,668,180,450 | 1,668,180,063 | 7 | 2 | Be calm and don't accuse him of anything. Say you are struggling to see the interpretation of the data in the way he interprets it, ask for the opinion of a external colleague to get a fresh pair of eyes on the data (anonymised of course). If he's trying to pull as fast one he may balk at this suggestion but you can stand firm as it's a fairly reasonable request. A colleague may be able to mediate and help you all reach an understanding about what a fair conclusion is. Like others have said, overstating conclusions is not falsifying data so reporting him is just likely to cause you grief. You'd be surprised how good journals are at picking up on being sold big conclusion on ropy data. | Wth Can I ask you, which field do you work in ? | 1 | 387 | 3.5 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivz5lgk | ivxmm8n | 1,668,190,766 | 1,668,164,845 | 5 | 3 | So are you to actually falsify data, as in make it up or or cherry pick insignificant amount of it for your conclusions, or are to overstate what *you think* is the importance of data that you correctly acquired? The former is a big problem, the latter is what you’ll be doing daily for the rest of your life as a scientist anywhere. | The morally correct thing to do would be to report it to a student ombudsman, higher-ups the university, the IRB, etc. I’m not familiar with Italian universities to know if all of those exist but I’d guess they do. You’ll definitely risk retaliation and even if you don’t you may just want to leave the institution at that point. | 1 | 25,921 | 1.666667 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivz5lgk | ivyey44 | 1,668,190,766 | 1,668,180,063 | 5 | 2 | So are you to actually falsify data, as in make it up or or cherry pick insignificant amount of it for your conclusions, or are to overstate what *you think* is the importance of data that you correctly acquired? The former is a big problem, the latter is what you’ll be doing daily for the rest of your life as a scientist anywhere. | Wth Can I ask you, which field do you work in ? | 1 | 10,703 | 2.5 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivxmm8n | iw0ah5z | 1,668,164,845 | 1,668,207,920 | 3 | 5 | The morally correct thing to do would be to report it to a student ombudsman, higher-ups the university, the IRB, etc. I’m not familiar with Italian universities to know if all of those exist but I’d guess they do. You’ll definitely risk retaliation and even if you don’t you may just want to leave the institution at that point. | Generous interpretation isn’t falsification | 0 | 43,075 | 1.666667 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | ivyey44 | iw0ah5z | 1,668,180,063 | 1,668,207,920 | 2 | 5 | Wth Can I ask you, which field do you work in ? | Generous interpretation isn’t falsification | 0 | 27,857 | 2.5 |
ys57oa | askacademia_train | 0.98 | My PI is asking me to falsify data. What is my recourse? I am a postdoc at an Italian research university. In a meeting yesterday, my PI and a senior professor instructed me to rush necessary foundational research and greatly overstate the reliability of certain data in order to produce results that would generate a great deal of press. This is data falsification. I will not be a part of it, but I have never dealt with a similar situation. What next? | iw0bg7k | ivyey44 | 1,668,208,364 | 1,668,180,063 | 3 | 2 | I always record all my meetings with supervisors etc on my phone recorder. Just to go back and listen to it and if I need to | Wth Can I ask you, which field do you work in ? | 1 | 28,301 | 1.5 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9wbzak | i9vs0au | 1,653,453,081 | 1,653,442,953 | 216 | 133 | Got my first decent sized grant and my Dad told me it was a waste of tax money so just enjoy their enthusiasm 😂 | Dude, chill out. Let your family be proud of you and stop messing around with it. Not everybody has that kind of extended support. | 1 | 10,128 | 1.62406 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9vtnwi | i9wbzak | 1,653,443,729 | 1,653,453,081 | 129 | 216 | Honestly, let them celebrate you and accept it - having a supportive family is not a blessing to be taken lightly. You might consider that you have a tendency to minimize your own accomplishments by feeling that they are "not that impressive". This is a very common affliction in academia, often tied in with a case of imposter syndrome which has you convinced in your own mind that your work isn't as good as anyone else's. It is okay to take pride in yourself and maybe even celebrate a little bit out of proportion to how you feel is appropriate - after all, if you do not advocate for yourself and take pride in yourself, no one else in the academic world will, so you may as well take on that task. That being said, if it genuinely bothers you it is also okay to not necessarily share every development until it has reached a point you are more confident in celebrating. Maybe don't share, for example, that your advisor and yourself are considering pursuing a patent, but instead share that you have submitted a patent application (or at least are working on one seriously, as patent applications can take a while to finish). This way you and your family can still celebrate, but only when things "actually happen" which may assuage your own feelings. | Got my first decent sized grant and my Dad told me it was a waste of tax money so just enjoy their enthusiasm 😂 | 0 | 9,352 | 1.674419 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9wbzak | i9vybf2 | 1,653,453,081 | 1,653,445,918 | 216 | 130 | Got my first decent sized grant and my Dad told me it was a waste of tax money so just enjoy their enthusiasm 😂 | You're a first-gen, aren't you? Let them be happy for you. I had aunts and extended family who were like this. They don't understand higher ed because they've never been there, so everything seems like a big deal to them. It's much better than the reactions some of my fellow undergrads got from their families. Some people, believe it or not, are actually hostile and distrusting of higher education. One classmate's family was openly hostile to her graduate degree, and I had a former classmate tell me I needed to "quit playing at school and get a real job." | 1 | 7,163 | 1.661538 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9w036g | i9wbzak | 1,653,446,767 | 1,653,453,081 | 106 | 216 | When I read the title I thought this was about family celebrating/making a bigger deal about the accomplishments of nonacademics so they don't feel inadequate. Like down playing the accomplishments of their kid getting a PhD, while telling everyone/anyone who will listen about their high school drop out/quits everything other kid buying a camper van to sell cupcakes from (who didn't research and has no permits for this idea). This way sucks. It's great that your family is supportive. It's innocent and sweet. Maybe they don't understand 100% of what you do/study, let them cheer you on. If it makes them happy, why not. | Got my first decent sized grant and my Dad told me it was a waste of tax money so just enjoy their enthusiasm 😂 | 0 | 6,314 | 2.037736 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9wbzak | i9w1434 | 1,653,453,081 | 1,653,447,266 | 216 | 19 | Got my first decent sized grant and my Dad told me it was a waste of tax money so just enjoy their enthusiasm 😂 | Honestly, count your blessings--plenty of grad students (myself included) have the opposite problem, with family members who think we don't do anything all day and don't understand our accomplishments at all. | 1 | 5,815 | 11.368421 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9w9v7q | i9wbzak | 1,653,451,838 | 1,653,453,081 | 9 | 216 | They’re proud of you, and they love you. That’s what people do when they’re proud of someone. It sounds like you’re pretty humble about it, but it’s okay for you to be proud of yourself too. | Got my first decent sized grant and my Dad told me it was a waste of tax money so just enjoy their enthusiasm 😂 | 0 | 1,243 | 24 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9w0rah | i9wbzak | 1,653,447,089 | 1,653,453,081 | 5 | 216 | I would cut ties, they seem to have some hidden motives. Like love or appreciation for you, both of which I detest and would recommend you do the same. | Got my first decent sized grant and my Dad told me it was a waste of tax money so just enjoy their enthusiasm 😂 | 0 | 5,992 | 43.2 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9wiimv | i9vs0au | 1,653,457,318 | 1,653,442,953 | 142 | 133 | I was embarrassed too at first. Then for a while I let them have their excitement. Now as I pass the midpoint of my career (just turned 44) I'm coming to agree with them. The things we do - making inventions and discoveries, filing patents, publishing in scientific journals, giving talks at international conferences, winning 6- or 7-figure research grants - are all achievements to be proud of. I'm very priveleged to have a job where this is what I do for a living. We do incredible things 9 to 5. | Dude, chill out. Let your family be proud of you and stop messing around with it. Not everybody has that kind of extended support. | 1 | 14,365 | 1.067669 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9vtnwi | i9wiimv | 1,653,443,729 | 1,653,457,318 | 129 | 142 | Honestly, let them celebrate you and accept it - having a supportive family is not a blessing to be taken lightly. You might consider that you have a tendency to minimize your own accomplishments by feeling that they are "not that impressive". This is a very common affliction in academia, often tied in with a case of imposter syndrome which has you convinced in your own mind that your work isn't as good as anyone else's. It is okay to take pride in yourself and maybe even celebrate a little bit out of proportion to how you feel is appropriate - after all, if you do not advocate for yourself and take pride in yourself, no one else in the academic world will, so you may as well take on that task. That being said, if it genuinely bothers you it is also okay to not necessarily share every development until it has reached a point you are more confident in celebrating. Maybe don't share, for example, that your advisor and yourself are considering pursuing a patent, but instead share that you have submitted a patent application (or at least are working on one seriously, as patent applications can take a while to finish). This way you and your family can still celebrate, but only when things "actually happen" which may assuage your own feelings. | I was embarrassed too at first. Then for a while I let them have their excitement. Now as I pass the midpoint of my career (just turned 44) I'm coming to agree with them. The things we do - making inventions and discoveries, filing patents, publishing in scientific journals, giving talks at international conferences, winning 6- or 7-figure research grants - are all achievements to be proud of. I'm very priveleged to have a job where this is what I do for a living. We do incredible things 9 to 5. | 0 | 13,589 | 1.100775 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9wiimv | i9vybf2 | 1,653,457,318 | 1,653,445,918 | 142 | 130 | I was embarrassed too at first. Then for a while I let them have their excitement. Now as I pass the midpoint of my career (just turned 44) I'm coming to agree with them. The things we do - making inventions and discoveries, filing patents, publishing in scientific journals, giving talks at international conferences, winning 6- or 7-figure research grants - are all achievements to be proud of. I'm very priveleged to have a job where this is what I do for a living. We do incredible things 9 to 5. | You're a first-gen, aren't you? Let them be happy for you. I had aunts and extended family who were like this. They don't understand higher ed because they've never been there, so everything seems like a big deal to them. It's much better than the reactions some of my fellow undergrads got from their families. Some people, believe it or not, are actually hostile and distrusting of higher education. One classmate's family was openly hostile to her graduate degree, and I had a former classmate tell me I needed to "quit playing at school and get a real job." | 1 | 11,400 | 1.092308 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9w036g | i9wiimv | 1,653,446,767 | 1,653,457,318 | 106 | 142 | When I read the title I thought this was about family celebrating/making a bigger deal about the accomplishments of nonacademics so they don't feel inadequate. Like down playing the accomplishments of their kid getting a PhD, while telling everyone/anyone who will listen about their high school drop out/quits everything other kid buying a camper van to sell cupcakes from (who didn't research and has no permits for this idea). This way sucks. It's great that your family is supportive. It's innocent and sweet. Maybe they don't understand 100% of what you do/study, let them cheer you on. If it makes them happy, why not. | I was embarrassed too at first. Then for a while I let them have their excitement. Now as I pass the midpoint of my career (just turned 44) I'm coming to agree with them. The things we do - making inventions and discoveries, filing patents, publishing in scientific journals, giving talks at international conferences, winning 6- or 7-figure research grants - are all achievements to be proud of. I'm very priveleged to have a job where this is what I do for a living. We do incredible things 9 to 5. | 0 | 10,551 | 1.339623 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9w1434 | i9wiimv | 1,653,447,266 | 1,653,457,318 | 19 | 142 | Honestly, count your blessings--plenty of grad students (myself included) have the opposite problem, with family members who think we don't do anything all day and don't understand our accomplishments at all. | I was embarrassed too at first. Then for a while I let them have their excitement. Now as I pass the midpoint of my career (just turned 44) I'm coming to agree with them. The things we do - making inventions and discoveries, filing patents, publishing in scientific journals, giving talks at international conferences, winning 6- or 7-figure research grants - are all achievements to be proud of. I'm very priveleged to have a job where this is what I do for a living. We do incredible things 9 to 5. | 0 | 10,052 | 7.473684 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9w9v7q | i9wiimv | 1,653,451,838 | 1,653,457,318 | 9 | 142 | They’re proud of you, and they love you. That’s what people do when they’re proud of someone. It sounds like you’re pretty humble about it, but it’s okay for you to be proud of yourself too. | I was embarrassed too at first. Then for a while I let them have their excitement. Now as I pass the midpoint of my career (just turned 44) I'm coming to agree with them. The things we do - making inventions and discoveries, filing patents, publishing in scientific journals, giving talks at international conferences, winning 6- or 7-figure research grants - are all achievements to be proud of. I'm very priveleged to have a job where this is what I do for a living. We do incredible things 9 to 5. | 0 | 5,480 | 15.777778 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9wiimv | i9we8tq | 1,653,457,318 | 1,653,454,486 | 142 | 3 | I was embarrassed too at first. Then for a while I let them have their excitement. Now as I pass the midpoint of my career (just turned 44) I'm coming to agree with them. The things we do - making inventions and discoveries, filing patents, publishing in scientific journals, giving talks at international conferences, winning 6- or 7-figure research grants - are all achievements to be proud of. I'm very priveleged to have a job where this is what I do for a living. We do incredible things 9 to 5. | Don't take it for granted. | 1 | 2,832 | 47.333333 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9wiimv | i9w0rah | 1,653,457,318 | 1,653,447,089 | 142 | 5 | I was embarrassed too at first. Then for a while I let them have their excitement. Now as I pass the midpoint of my career (just turned 44) I'm coming to agree with them. The things we do - making inventions and discoveries, filing patents, publishing in scientific journals, giving talks at international conferences, winning 6- or 7-figure research grants - are all achievements to be proud of. I'm very priveleged to have a job where this is what I do for a living. We do incredible things 9 to 5. | I would cut ties, they seem to have some hidden motives. Like love or appreciation for you, both of which I detest and would recommend you do the same. | 1 | 10,229 | 28.4 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9vtnwi | i9vybf2 | 1,653,443,729 | 1,653,445,918 | 129 | 130 | Honestly, let them celebrate you and accept it - having a supportive family is not a blessing to be taken lightly. You might consider that you have a tendency to minimize your own accomplishments by feeling that they are "not that impressive". This is a very common affliction in academia, often tied in with a case of imposter syndrome which has you convinced in your own mind that your work isn't as good as anyone else's. It is okay to take pride in yourself and maybe even celebrate a little bit out of proportion to how you feel is appropriate - after all, if you do not advocate for yourself and take pride in yourself, no one else in the academic world will, so you may as well take on that task. That being said, if it genuinely bothers you it is also okay to not necessarily share every development until it has reached a point you are more confident in celebrating. Maybe don't share, for example, that your advisor and yourself are considering pursuing a patent, but instead share that you have submitted a patent application (or at least are working on one seriously, as patent applications can take a while to finish). This way you and your family can still celebrate, but only when things "actually happen" which may assuage your own feelings. | You're a first-gen, aren't you? Let them be happy for you. I had aunts and extended family who were like this. They don't understand higher ed because they've never been there, so everything seems like a big deal to them. It's much better than the reactions some of my fellow undergrads got from their families. Some people, believe it or not, are actually hostile and distrusting of higher education. One classmate's family was openly hostile to her graduate degree, and I had a former classmate tell me I needed to "quit playing at school and get a real job." | 0 | 2,189 | 1.007752 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9wqdox | i9w1434 | 1,653,463,400 | 1,653,447,266 | 33 | 19 | You’re getting mostly pushback on this, but I understand where you’re coming from. The feeling is imposter syndrome. You have the perspective to know that these accomplishments are par for the course in your field, so having them celebrated makes you feel as though you are being seen as something greater than you know yourself to be. It *is* uncomfortable, but the fixation on it doesn’t serve you. What I’m about to suggest isn’t a switch you flip, but a practice you learn: Compartmentalize the perceptions of others from your own narrative truth. It has exactly zero tangible impact on your reality how others perceive it. From their point of view, these things are genuinely exceptional. That interpretation is just as valid for them as yours is for you, but that doesn’t mean you have to take it on. Focus on the writing of your own first person narrative, the ones they write about you are sweet, but you don’t have to edit your own to accommodate theirs. As a thought experiment, imagine the inverse reaction: imagine that they see your accomplishments as menial, trivial, less than they are. Many people from blue collar families in academia experience this, where their families don’t see their accomplishments as being in the “real world.” Now of course, that doesn’t make it true, any more than it is true when academic elitists undervalue the building of a deck or the framing of a house. Having existed on both worlds, I’ve come to recognize the merits of each, but people are operating with different “world building” and it causes them to interpret things differently. Once you accept that, it can actually become a beautiful thing rather than an invalidating one. | Honestly, count your blessings--plenty of grad students (myself included) have the opposite problem, with family members who think we don't do anything all day and don't understand our accomplishments at all. | 1 | 16,134 | 1.736842 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9wqdox | i9w9v7q | 1,653,463,400 | 1,653,451,838 | 33 | 9 | You’re getting mostly pushback on this, but I understand where you’re coming from. The feeling is imposter syndrome. You have the perspective to know that these accomplishments are par for the course in your field, so having them celebrated makes you feel as though you are being seen as something greater than you know yourself to be. It *is* uncomfortable, but the fixation on it doesn’t serve you. What I’m about to suggest isn’t a switch you flip, but a practice you learn: Compartmentalize the perceptions of others from your own narrative truth. It has exactly zero tangible impact on your reality how others perceive it. From their point of view, these things are genuinely exceptional. That interpretation is just as valid for them as yours is for you, but that doesn’t mean you have to take it on. Focus on the writing of your own first person narrative, the ones they write about you are sweet, but you don’t have to edit your own to accommodate theirs. As a thought experiment, imagine the inverse reaction: imagine that they see your accomplishments as menial, trivial, less than they are. Many people from blue collar families in academia experience this, where their families don’t see their accomplishments as being in the “real world.” Now of course, that doesn’t make it true, any more than it is true when academic elitists undervalue the building of a deck or the framing of a house. Having existed on both worlds, I’ve come to recognize the merits of each, but people are operating with different “world building” and it causes them to interpret things differently. Once you accept that, it can actually become a beautiful thing rather than an invalidating one. | They’re proud of you, and they love you. That’s what people do when they’re proud of someone. It sounds like you’re pretty humble about it, but it’s okay for you to be proud of yourself too. | 1 | 11,562 | 3.666667 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9we8tq | i9wqdox | 1,653,454,486 | 1,653,463,400 | 3 | 33 | Don't take it for granted. | You’re getting mostly pushback on this, but I understand where you’re coming from. The feeling is imposter syndrome. You have the perspective to know that these accomplishments are par for the course in your field, so having them celebrated makes you feel as though you are being seen as something greater than you know yourself to be. It *is* uncomfortable, but the fixation on it doesn’t serve you. What I’m about to suggest isn’t a switch you flip, but a practice you learn: Compartmentalize the perceptions of others from your own narrative truth. It has exactly zero tangible impact on your reality how others perceive it. From their point of view, these things are genuinely exceptional. That interpretation is just as valid for them as yours is for you, but that doesn’t mean you have to take it on. Focus on the writing of your own first person narrative, the ones they write about you are sweet, but you don’t have to edit your own to accommodate theirs. As a thought experiment, imagine the inverse reaction: imagine that they see your accomplishments as menial, trivial, less than they are. Many people from blue collar families in academia experience this, where their families don’t see their accomplishments as being in the “real world.” Now of course, that doesn’t make it true, any more than it is true when academic elitists undervalue the building of a deck or the framing of a house. Having existed on both worlds, I’ve come to recognize the merits of each, but people are operating with different “world building” and it causes them to interpret things differently. Once you accept that, it can actually become a beautiful thing rather than an invalidating one. | 0 | 8,914 | 11 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9wqdox | i9w0rah | 1,653,463,400 | 1,653,447,089 | 33 | 5 | You’re getting mostly pushback on this, but I understand where you’re coming from. The feeling is imposter syndrome. You have the perspective to know that these accomplishments are par for the course in your field, so having them celebrated makes you feel as though you are being seen as something greater than you know yourself to be. It *is* uncomfortable, but the fixation on it doesn’t serve you. What I’m about to suggest isn’t a switch you flip, but a practice you learn: Compartmentalize the perceptions of others from your own narrative truth. It has exactly zero tangible impact on your reality how others perceive it. From their point of view, these things are genuinely exceptional. That interpretation is just as valid for them as yours is for you, but that doesn’t mean you have to take it on. Focus on the writing of your own first person narrative, the ones they write about you are sweet, but you don’t have to edit your own to accommodate theirs. As a thought experiment, imagine the inverse reaction: imagine that they see your accomplishments as menial, trivial, less than they are. Many people from blue collar families in academia experience this, where their families don’t see their accomplishments as being in the “real world.” Now of course, that doesn’t make it true, any more than it is true when academic elitists undervalue the building of a deck or the framing of a house. Having existed on both worlds, I’ve come to recognize the merits of each, but people are operating with different “world building” and it causes them to interpret things differently. Once you accept that, it can actually become a beautiful thing rather than an invalidating one. | I would cut ties, they seem to have some hidden motives. Like love or appreciation for you, both of which I detest and would recommend you do the same. | 1 | 16,311 | 6.6 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9w1434 | i9w0rah | 1,653,447,266 | 1,653,447,089 | 19 | 5 | Honestly, count your blessings--plenty of grad students (myself included) have the opposite problem, with family members who think we don't do anything all day and don't understand our accomplishments at all. | I would cut ties, they seem to have some hidden motives. Like love or appreciation for you, both of which I detest and would recommend you do the same. | 1 | 177 | 3.8 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9w0rah | i9w9v7q | 1,653,447,089 | 1,653,451,838 | 5 | 9 | I would cut ties, they seem to have some hidden motives. Like love or appreciation for you, both of which I detest and would recommend you do the same. | They’re proud of you, and they love you. That’s what people do when they’re proud of someone. It sounds like you’re pretty humble about it, but it’s okay for you to be proud of yourself too. | 0 | 4,749 | 1.8 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9we8tq | i9wrduj | 1,653,454,486 | 1,653,464,265 | 3 | 8 | Don't take it for granted. | My family does this and tbh it gets under my skin too. I’ve just become more selective with what I tell them about over the years | 0 | 9,779 | 2.666667 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9wrduj | i9w0rah | 1,653,464,265 | 1,653,447,089 | 8 | 5 | My family does this and tbh it gets under my skin too. I’ve just become more selective with what I tell them about over the years | I would cut ties, they seem to have some hidden motives. Like love or appreciation for you, both of which I detest and would recommend you do the same. | 1 | 17,176 | 1.6 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9wxwsu | i9xj1ji | 1,653,470,184 | 1,653,484,243 | 5 | 7 | >it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. That "strange feeling" is your imposter syndrome calling out in excruciating pain over your achievements being celebrated. I suggest you shut it down and remind yourself that your achievements are not that small, nor are they undeserved. A loving and supportive family is a gift, even if they don't understand all the intricate details of the academic world. Allow yourself the happiness, even in the smallest of steps. | I told my mom I got the job I applied for as a university assistant (I teach undergrads while getting my PhD). She doesn't really understand academia or the hierarchy or names of any positions. In her mind professors work at the university so she just told the entire family I am now working as a professor lmao. I agree with the other comments, let them be happy and celebrate you. I realize it's really hard for people to understand any of it. I found it helps to describe my accomplishments rather than using any academic terms they don't understand so they don't immediately jump to their conclusions. | 0 | 14,059 | 1.4 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9we8tq | i9xj1ji | 1,653,454,486 | 1,653,484,243 | 3 | 7 | Don't take it for granted. | I told my mom I got the job I applied for as a university assistant (I teach undergrads while getting my PhD). She doesn't really understand academia or the hierarchy or names of any positions. In her mind professors work at the university so she just told the entire family I am now working as a professor lmao. I agree with the other comments, let them be happy and celebrate you. I realize it's really hard for people to understand any of it. I found it helps to describe my accomplishments rather than using any academic terms they don't understand so they don't immediately jump to their conclusions. | 0 | 29,757 | 2.333333 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9xj1ji | i9w0rah | 1,653,484,243 | 1,653,447,089 | 7 | 5 | I told my mom I got the job I applied for as a university assistant (I teach undergrads while getting my PhD). She doesn't really understand academia or the hierarchy or names of any positions. In her mind professors work at the university so she just told the entire family I am now working as a professor lmao. I agree with the other comments, let them be happy and celebrate you. I realize it's really hard for people to understand any of it. I found it helps to describe my accomplishments rather than using any academic terms they don't understand so they don't immediately jump to their conclusions. | I would cut ties, they seem to have some hidden motives. Like love or appreciation for you, both of which I detest and would recommend you do the same. | 1 | 37,154 | 1.4 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9xj1ji | i9x6hnl | 1,653,484,243 | 1,653,477,109 | 7 | 2 | I told my mom I got the job I applied for as a university assistant (I teach undergrads while getting my PhD). She doesn't really understand academia or the hierarchy or names of any positions. In her mind professors work at the university so she just told the entire family I am now working as a professor lmao. I agree with the other comments, let them be happy and celebrate you. I realize it's really hard for people to understand any of it. I found it helps to describe my accomplishments rather than using any academic terms they don't understand so they don't immediately jump to their conclusions. | Hi, I don’t know if this will help but I kind of understand what you’re going through as I’ve had similar experiences. I think it’s the prematureness of it and them telling something has already been achieved when you’re yet to hear the results. When this happens to me, it makes me nervous because sometimes some members in my extended family end up inflating what I’ve done, or worse, what hasn’t even happened for me yet. I dislike it because if they spread the wrong information, I feel guilty and feel like I have to explain my situation and correct what my relatives said and I’d really rather not do that. I much prefer that if they do talk about me, they say exactly what it is I have managed or not at all. I feel very nervous when I have to tell people no they got the wrong information and that too from people I am close to and care about. Also I feel like a fraud most of the time, so when this happens, it just gets worse and worse | 1 | 7,134 | 3.5 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9wxwsu | i9xk03t | 1,653,470,184 | 1,653,484,708 | 5 | 6 | >it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. That "strange feeling" is your imposter syndrome calling out in excruciating pain over your achievements being celebrated. I suggest you shut it down and remind yourself that your achievements are not that small, nor are they undeserved. A loving and supportive family is a gift, even if they don't understand all the intricate details of the academic world. Allow yourself the happiness, even in the smallest of steps. | This is the least of my concerns. I'm much more concerned with the family members who believe that higher education is fundamentally a traitors' scam where we bilk hardworking families out of a quarter million dollars in order to brainwash their children into hating America. | 0 | 14,524 | 1.2 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9we8tq | i9wxwsu | 1,653,454,486 | 1,653,470,184 | 3 | 5 | Don't take it for granted. | >it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. That "strange feeling" is your imposter syndrome calling out in excruciating pain over your achievements being celebrated. I suggest you shut it down and remind yourself that your achievements are not that small, nor are they undeserved. A loving and supportive family is a gift, even if they don't understand all the intricate details of the academic world. Allow yourself the happiness, even in the smallest of steps. | 0 | 15,698 | 1.666667 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9xk03t | i9we8tq | 1,653,484,708 | 1,653,454,486 | 6 | 3 | This is the least of my concerns. I'm much more concerned with the family members who believe that higher education is fundamentally a traitors' scam where we bilk hardworking families out of a quarter million dollars in order to brainwash their children into hating America. | Don't take it for granted. | 1 | 30,222 | 2 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9w0rah | i9xk03t | 1,653,447,089 | 1,653,484,708 | 5 | 6 | I would cut ties, they seem to have some hidden motives. Like love or appreciation for you, both of which I detest and would recommend you do the same. | This is the least of my concerns. I'm much more concerned with the family members who believe that higher education is fundamentally a traitors' scam where we bilk hardworking families out of a quarter million dollars in order to brainwash their children into hating America. | 0 | 37,619 | 1.2 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9xk03t | i9x6hnl | 1,653,484,708 | 1,653,477,109 | 6 | 2 | This is the least of my concerns. I'm much more concerned with the family members who believe that higher education is fundamentally a traitors' scam where we bilk hardworking families out of a quarter million dollars in order to brainwash their children into hating America. | Hi, I don’t know if this will help but I kind of understand what you’re going through as I’ve had similar experiences. I think it’s the prematureness of it and them telling something has already been achieved when you’re yet to hear the results. When this happens to me, it makes me nervous because sometimes some members in my extended family end up inflating what I’ve done, or worse, what hasn’t even happened for me yet. I dislike it because if they spread the wrong information, I feel guilty and feel like I have to explain my situation and correct what my relatives said and I’d really rather not do that. I much prefer that if they do talk about me, they say exactly what it is I have managed or not at all. I feel very nervous when I have to tell people no they got the wrong information and that too from people I am close to and care about. Also I feel like a fraud most of the time, so when this happens, it just gets worse and worse | 1 | 7,599 | 3 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9xrjt2 | i9we8tq | 1,653,488,132 | 1,653,454,486 | 5 | 3 | My Dad has a PhD of his own, and yet he still presented me with a framed copy of my first published article. I cringe a little, but also love that I have done something to make him so proud. I understand why it might make you a bit uncomfortable but I would also encourage you to reframe it and try to appreciate having a loving family who celebrates you. | Don't take it for granted. | 1 | 33,646 | 1.666667 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9xrjt2 | i9x6hnl | 1,653,488,132 | 1,653,477,109 | 5 | 2 | My Dad has a PhD of his own, and yet he still presented me with a framed copy of my first published article. I cringe a little, but also love that I have done something to make him so proud. I understand why it might make you a bit uncomfortable but I would also encourage you to reframe it and try to appreciate having a loving family who celebrates you. | Hi, I don’t know if this will help but I kind of understand what you’re going through as I’ve had similar experiences. I think it’s the prematureness of it and them telling something has already been achieved when you’re yet to hear the results. When this happens to me, it makes me nervous because sometimes some members in my extended family end up inflating what I’ve done, or worse, what hasn’t even happened for me yet. I dislike it because if they spread the wrong information, I feel guilty and feel like I have to explain my situation and correct what my relatives said and I’d really rather not do that. I much prefer that if they do talk about me, they say exactly what it is I have managed or not at all. I feel very nervous when I have to tell people no they got the wrong information and that too from people I am close to and care about. Also I feel like a fraud most of the time, so when this happens, it just gets worse and worse | 1 | 11,023 | 2.5 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9ygqpq | i9we8tq | 1,653,498,180 | 1,653,454,486 | 4 | 3 | An undergraduate wins a football scholarship, the family celebrates. He plays his first college game, the family celebrates. He makes a touchdown, the family celebrates. They win the game, the family celebrates. They win the championship. The family celebrates. You are the intellectual equivalent of the star athlete. Enjoy it! Hope you make it to the big leagues. | Don't take it for granted. | 1 | 43,694 | 1.333333 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9xxcac | i9ygqpq | 1,653,490,537 | 1,653,498,180 | 3 | 4 | One thing to remember is that for you it may just be part of your job, but to them it is something they could never imagine being able to do. Think about an Olympic athlete scoring an 82 pt run in an event. They normally can get in the 90s and don't feel what they did was impressive. But to a spectator, even their worst run is amazing. | An undergraduate wins a football scholarship, the family celebrates. He plays his first college game, the family celebrates. He makes a touchdown, the family celebrates. They win the game, the family celebrates. They win the championship. The family celebrates. You are the intellectual equivalent of the star athlete. Enjoy it! Hope you make it to the big leagues. | 0 | 7,643 | 1.333333 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9x6hnl | i9xxcac | 1,653,477,109 | 1,653,490,537 | 2 | 3 | Hi, I don’t know if this will help but I kind of understand what you’re going through as I’ve had similar experiences. I think it’s the prematureness of it and them telling something has already been achieved when you’re yet to hear the results. When this happens to me, it makes me nervous because sometimes some members in my extended family end up inflating what I’ve done, or worse, what hasn’t even happened for me yet. I dislike it because if they spread the wrong information, I feel guilty and feel like I have to explain my situation and correct what my relatives said and I’d really rather not do that. I much prefer that if they do talk about me, they say exactly what it is I have managed or not at all. I feel very nervous when I have to tell people no they got the wrong information and that too from people I am close to and care about. Also I feel like a fraud most of the time, so when this happens, it just gets worse and worse | One thing to remember is that for you it may just be part of your job, but to them it is something they could never imagine being able to do. Think about an Olympic athlete scoring an 82 pt run in an event. They normally can get in the 90s and don't feel what they did was impressive. But to a spectator, even their worst run is amazing. | 0 | 13,428 | 1.5 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9yfn6u | i9ygqpq | 1,653,497,757 | 1,653,498,180 | 3 | 4 | Don't tell them about the ones not worth celebrating. | An undergraduate wins a football scholarship, the family celebrates. He plays his first college game, the family celebrates. He makes a touchdown, the family celebrates. They win the game, the family celebrates. They win the championship. The family celebrates. You are the intellectual equivalent of the star athlete. Enjoy it! Hope you make it to the big leagues. | 0 | 423 | 1.333333 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9x6hnl | i9ygqpq | 1,653,477,109 | 1,653,498,180 | 2 | 4 | Hi, I don’t know if this will help but I kind of understand what you’re going through as I’ve had similar experiences. I think it’s the prematureness of it and them telling something has already been achieved when you’re yet to hear the results. When this happens to me, it makes me nervous because sometimes some members in my extended family end up inflating what I’ve done, or worse, what hasn’t even happened for me yet. I dislike it because if they spread the wrong information, I feel guilty and feel like I have to explain my situation and correct what my relatives said and I’d really rather not do that. I much prefer that if they do talk about me, they say exactly what it is I have managed or not at all. I feel very nervous when I have to tell people no they got the wrong information and that too from people I am close to and care about. Also I feel like a fraud most of the time, so when this happens, it just gets worse and worse | An undergraduate wins a football scholarship, the family celebrates. He plays his first college game, the family celebrates. He makes a touchdown, the family celebrates. They win the game, the family celebrates. They win the championship. The family celebrates. You are the intellectual equivalent of the star athlete. Enjoy it! Hope you make it to the big leagues. | 0 | 21,071 | 2 |
ux6c0w | askacademia_train | 0.87 | How do you guys cope with non-academic family members over-celebrating accomplishments? I receive what I would consider to be a participation award, and they go on and on about how I am somehow one of the most accomplished graduate students at my university. I mention that I am having a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of pursuing a patent, and they go around pretty much telling people that I have a patent. Etc. Obviously I really appreciate my family’s support, but when their excitement and celebrations feel disproportionate to the actual achievement, it makes me feel strange. I can’t quite pin down what the emotion is. It can be offsetting because even though I am actually excited about something, I then feel the need to repeatedly explain to them why it’s not actually as exciting as they think. And when I do try to explain, no one listens to or believes me/they say I’m just being modest, which can be pretty frustrating. How do you manage these sorts of situations? | i9x6hnl | i9yfn6u | 1,653,477,109 | 1,653,497,757 | 2 | 3 | Hi, I don’t know if this will help but I kind of understand what you’re going through as I’ve had similar experiences. I think it’s the prematureness of it and them telling something has already been achieved when you’re yet to hear the results. When this happens to me, it makes me nervous because sometimes some members in my extended family end up inflating what I’ve done, or worse, what hasn’t even happened for me yet. I dislike it because if they spread the wrong information, I feel guilty and feel like I have to explain my situation and correct what my relatives said and I’d really rather not do that. I much prefer that if they do talk about me, they say exactly what it is I have managed or not at all. I feel very nervous when I have to tell people no they got the wrong information and that too from people I am close to and care about. Also I feel like a fraud most of the time, so when this happens, it just gets worse and worse | Don't tell them about the ones not worth celebrating. | 0 | 20,648 | 1.5 |
rm119y | askacademia_train | 0.98 | When did the publishing model become so effed up? I don’t think there is a business model where an entity gets paid for acquiring the product and selling it! I understand if authors pay to publish in not-for-profit journals. But how come we have to pay to publish in for profit journals and endure all the biases of selection and even unqualified reviewers (Even in big name journals)? When did that become acceptable? And shouldn’t we do something about it? | hpjk0pu | hpjqxd1 | 1,640,170,153 | 1,640,175,275 | 40 | 42 | The solution should come from the top. Ban publicly funded research from being published in privately owned journals and at the same time fund university owned journals. There are very slow and shy moves in this direction, but nothing big. | Well maybe if we allowed scholarly activities that aren’t published articles to count for tenure then this problem would disappear. | 0 | 5,122 | 1.05 |
rm119y | askacademia_train | 0.98 | When did the publishing model become so effed up? I don’t think there is a business model where an entity gets paid for acquiring the product and selling it! I understand if authors pay to publish in not-for-profit journals. But how come we have to pay to publish in for profit journals and endure all the biases of selection and even unqualified reviewers (Even in big name journals)? When did that become acceptable? And shouldn’t we do something about it? | hpjqxd1 | hpjg9hi | 1,640,175,275 | 1,640,166,970 | 42 | 24 | Well maybe if we allowed scholarly activities that aren’t published articles to count for tenure then this problem would disappear. | >I understand if authors pay to publish in not-for-profit journals. Buthow come we have to pay to publish in for profit journals and endure all the biases of selection and even unqualified reviewers (Even in bignme journals)? We don't, *but* there's a constant cost-benefit analysis taking place here and a constant struggle over how much power each stakeholder has: Does one publish in a journal that reaps profits but which is more likely to cede greater attention (read: *not* access) to his or her research? Does one publish in an open-access journal, which may or may not charge a publishing fee, and which may or may not have recognition in the field but which will allow a greater number of people to access the research? Does one publish independently and retain greater control over the final product but run the risk of having this research not be viewed as a 'real' publication? Etc. I don't know the answer or solution to what you're describing here, as many of the problems have almost nothing to do with the publishing model itself: If a faculty member could lose his or her job by not publishing in for-profit journals, then this reinforces the need for and existence of those journals. If a faculty member can publish in whichever type of journal he or she desires, then this could erode the quality of published results. If a faculty member can publish independently, then what prevents a layperson from otherwise 'becoming' a faculty member? Sorry, I have no answers -- just more gasoline for the trash fire. | 1 | 8,305 | 1.75 |
rm119y | askacademia_train | 0.98 | When did the publishing model become so effed up? I don’t think there is a business model where an entity gets paid for acquiring the product and selling it! I understand if authors pay to publish in not-for-profit journals. But how come we have to pay to publish in for profit journals and endure all the biases of selection and even unqualified reviewers (Even in big name journals)? When did that become acceptable? And shouldn’t we do something about it? | hpjqxd1 | hpjjayn | 1,640,175,275 | 1,640,169,559 | 42 | 11 | Well maybe if we allowed scholarly activities that aren’t published articles to count for tenure then this problem would disappear. | I pay tax for science. Science gets published. I have to pay to read what I payed for. Please start from here! How should anti-vaxers read science if they don’t have access to it? Ex: The 2 page justifications for brain-death made by the Ad-Hoc Brain Dead committee is behind a 35€ paywall. It’s not like brain death is a big part of modern medicine. I think there is a lot of disregard for the ones that work a 9-5 to pay taxes. And there is also the Elseviers that bribed scientists to think that selling their rights to a company is a good ideea. And now, the cherry on top, the “you will not get taken seriously if you don’t publish to us” argument. Hypernormalisation… | 1 | 5,716 | 3.818182 |
rm119y | askacademia_train | 0.98 | When did the publishing model become so effed up? I don’t think there is a business model where an entity gets paid for acquiring the product and selling it! I understand if authors pay to publish in not-for-profit journals. But how come we have to pay to publish in for profit journals and endure all the biases of selection and even unqualified reviewers (Even in big name journals)? When did that become acceptable? And shouldn’t we do something about it? | hpjqxd1 | hpje5fy | 1,640,175,275 | 1,640,165,193 | 42 | 5 | Well maybe if we allowed scholarly activities that aren’t published articles to count for tenure then this problem would disappear. | The problem, my friend, is that you think of academic publishing as a business. It isn't. Research and academia, by and large, are activities funded by the State and academics are similar to government employees. Publishing companies are also looking to suck some of that sweet, sweet government money from research grants. As a rule, anytime you have government money floating around and people want to grab it, tomfoolery happens. Public spending, pork barrelled projects, the list of Milton Friedman's and neoliberals' complaints about government inefficiency, defence spending, Military-Industrial-Congress-Complex, Yes, Minister/Prime Minister, etc ... Consider the publishing fee the cost of keeping the moderation and quality up. Editors from cracked.com once pointed out that any unmoderated forum turns into a white supremacist and conspiracy theorist cesspit. Yes, journals charge us through the nose, but they hire editors. Our conspiracy theorist uncles that "did his research" are free, but don't cut it. If you think of the solution to be along the neoliberal and libertarian "get government out", "small government", "free market", "deregulation", then well, look at the eroding trusts in science, research, scientists, academia, governments, institutions, and what not. We have been doing this for decades and look at where it got us. The only thing I can say is to be conscious of the role of academia and research vis-à-vis society and the role of State power and money vis-à-vis academia and research. My nemesis is of course Milton Friedman and his adherents, for he, too, sucked on that sweet government money for decades before jumping on the soapbox and launching the movement against it. | 1 | 10,082 | 8.4 |
rm119y | askacademia_train | 0.98 | When did the publishing model become so effed up? I don’t think there is a business model where an entity gets paid for acquiring the product and selling it! I understand if authors pay to publish in not-for-profit journals. But how come we have to pay to publish in for profit journals and endure all the biases of selection and even unqualified reviewers (Even in big name journals)? When did that become acceptable? And shouldn’t we do something about it? | hpjk0pu | hpjg9hi | 1,640,170,153 | 1,640,166,970 | 40 | 24 | The solution should come from the top. Ban publicly funded research from being published in privately owned journals and at the same time fund university owned journals. There are very slow and shy moves in this direction, but nothing big. | >I understand if authors pay to publish in not-for-profit journals. Buthow come we have to pay to publish in for profit journals and endure all the biases of selection and even unqualified reviewers (Even in bignme journals)? We don't, *but* there's a constant cost-benefit analysis taking place here and a constant struggle over how much power each stakeholder has: Does one publish in a journal that reaps profits but which is more likely to cede greater attention (read: *not* access) to his or her research? Does one publish in an open-access journal, which may or may not charge a publishing fee, and which may or may not have recognition in the field but which will allow a greater number of people to access the research? Does one publish independently and retain greater control over the final product but run the risk of having this research not be viewed as a 'real' publication? Etc. I don't know the answer or solution to what you're describing here, as many of the problems have almost nothing to do with the publishing model itself: If a faculty member could lose his or her job by not publishing in for-profit journals, then this reinforces the need for and existence of those journals. If a faculty member can publish in whichever type of journal he or she desires, then this could erode the quality of published results. If a faculty member can publish independently, then what prevents a layperson from otherwise 'becoming' a faculty member? Sorry, I have no answers -- just more gasoline for the trash fire. | 1 | 3,183 | 1.666667 |
rm119y | askacademia_train | 0.98 | When did the publishing model become so effed up? I don’t think there is a business model where an entity gets paid for acquiring the product and selling it! I understand if authors pay to publish in not-for-profit journals. But how come we have to pay to publish in for profit journals and endure all the biases of selection and even unqualified reviewers (Even in big name journals)? When did that become acceptable? And shouldn’t we do something about it? | hpjjayn | hpjk0pu | 1,640,169,559 | 1,640,170,153 | 11 | 40 | I pay tax for science. Science gets published. I have to pay to read what I payed for. Please start from here! How should anti-vaxers read science if they don’t have access to it? Ex: The 2 page justifications for brain-death made by the Ad-Hoc Brain Dead committee is behind a 35€ paywall. It’s not like brain death is a big part of modern medicine. I think there is a lot of disregard for the ones that work a 9-5 to pay taxes. And there is also the Elseviers that bribed scientists to think that selling their rights to a company is a good ideea. And now, the cherry on top, the “you will not get taken seriously if you don’t publish to us” argument. Hypernormalisation… | The solution should come from the top. Ban publicly funded research from being published in privately owned journals and at the same time fund university owned journals. There are very slow and shy moves in this direction, but nothing big. | 0 | 594 | 3.636364 |
rm119y | askacademia_train | 0.98 | When did the publishing model become so effed up? I don’t think there is a business model where an entity gets paid for acquiring the product and selling it! I understand if authors pay to publish in not-for-profit journals. But how come we have to pay to publish in for profit journals and endure all the biases of selection and even unqualified reviewers (Even in big name journals)? When did that become acceptable? And shouldn’t we do something about it? | hpjk0pu | hpje5fy | 1,640,170,153 | 1,640,165,193 | 40 | 5 | The solution should come from the top. Ban publicly funded research from being published in privately owned journals and at the same time fund university owned journals. There are very slow and shy moves in this direction, but nothing big. | The problem, my friend, is that you think of academic publishing as a business. It isn't. Research and academia, by and large, are activities funded by the State and academics are similar to government employees. Publishing companies are also looking to suck some of that sweet, sweet government money from research grants. As a rule, anytime you have government money floating around and people want to grab it, tomfoolery happens. Public spending, pork barrelled projects, the list of Milton Friedman's and neoliberals' complaints about government inefficiency, defence spending, Military-Industrial-Congress-Complex, Yes, Minister/Prime Minister, etc ... Consider the publishing fee the cost of keeping the moderation and quality up. Editors from cracked.com once pointed out that any unmoderated forum turns into a white supremacist and conspiracy theorist cesspit. Yes, journals charge us through the nose, but they hire editors. Our conspiracy theorist uncles that "did his research" are free, but don't cut it. If you think of the solution to be along the neoliberal and libertarian "get government out", "small government", "free market", "deregulation", then well, look at the eroding trusts in science, research, scientists, academia, governments, institutions, and what not. We have been doing this for decades and look at where it got us. The only thing I can say is to be conscious of the role of academia and research vis-à-vis society and the role of State power and money vis-à-vis academia and research. My nemesis is of course Milton Friedman and his adherents, for he, too, sucked on that sweet government money for decades before jumping on the soapbox and launching the movement against it. | 1 | 4,960 | 8 |
rm119y | askacademia_train | 0.98 | When did the publishing model become so effed up? I don’t think there is a business model where an entity gets paid for acquiring the product and selling it! I understand if authors pay to publish in not-for-profit journals. But how come we have to pay to publish in for profit journals and endure all the biases of selection and even unqualified reviewers (Even in big name journals)? When did that become acceptable? And shouldn’t we do something about it? | hpjg9hi | hpje5fy | 1,640,166,970 | 1,640,165,193 | 24 | 5 | >I understand if authors pay to publish in not-for-profit journals. Buthow come we have to pay to publish in for profit journals and endure all the biases of selection and even unqualified reviewers (Even in bignme journals)? We don't, *but* there's a constant cost-benefit analysis taking place here and a constant struggle over how much power each stakeholder has: Does one publish in a journal that reaps profits but which is more likely to cede greater attention (read: *not* access) to his or her research? Does one publish in an open-access journal, which may or may not charge a publishing fee, and which may or may not have recognition in the field but which will allow a greater number of people to access the research? Does one publish independently and retain greater control over the final product but run the risk of having this research not be viewed as a 'real' publication? Etc. I don't know the answer or solution to what you're describing here, as many of the problems have almost nothing to do with the publishing model itself: If a faculty member could lose his or her job by not publishing in for-profit journals, then this reinforces the need for and existence of those journals. If a faculty member can publish in whichever type of journal he or she desires, then this could erode the quality of published results. If a faculty member can publish independently, then what prevents a layperson from otherwise 'becoming' a faculty member? Sorry, I have no answers -- just more gasoline for the trash fire. | The problem, my friend, is that you think of academic publishing as a business. It isn't. Research and academia, by and large, are activities funded by the State and academics are similar to government employees. Publishing companies are also looking to suck some of that sweet, sweet government money from research grants. As a rule, anytime you have government money floating around and people want to grab it, tomfoolery happens. Public spending, pork barrelled projects, the list of Milton Friedman's and neoliberals' complaints about government inefficiency, defence spending, Military-Industrial-Congress-Complex, Yes, Minister/Prime Minister, etc ... Consider the publishing fee the cost of keeping the moderation and quality up. Editors from cracked.com once pointed out that any unmoderated forum turns into a white supremacist and conspiracy theorist cesspit. Yes, journals charge us through the nose, but they hire editors. Our conspiracy theorist uncles that "did his research" are free, but don't cut it. If you think of the solution to be along the neoliberal and libertarian "get government out", "small government", "free market", "deregulation", then well, look at the eroding trusts in science, research, scientists, academia, governments, institutions, and what not. We have been doing this for decades and look at where it got us. The only thing I can say is to be conscious of the role of academia and research vis-à-vis society and the role of State power and money vis-à-vis academia and research. My nemesis is of course Milton Friedman and his adherents, for he, too, sucked on that sweet government money for decades before jumping on the soapbox and launching the movement against it. | 1 | 1,777 | 4.8 |
rm119y | askacademia_train | 0.98 | When did the publishing model become so effed up? I don’t think there is a business model where an entity gets paid for acquiring the product and selling it! I understand if authors pay to publish in not-for-profit journals. But how come we have to pay to publish in for profit journals and endure all the biases of selection and even unqualified reviewers (Even in big name journals)? When did that become acceptable? And shouldn’t we do something about it? | hpjjayn | hpje5fy | 1,640,169,559 | 1,640,165,193 | 11 | 5 | I pay tax for science. Science gets published. I have to pay to read what I payed for. Please start from here! How should anti-vaxers read science if they don’t have access to it? Ex: The 2 page justifications for brain-death made by the Ad-Hoc Brain Dead committee is behind a 35€ paywall. It’s not like brain death is a big part of modern medicine. I think there is a lot of disregard for the ones that work a 9-5 to pay taxes. And there is also the Elseviers that bribed scientists to think that selling their rights to a company is a good ideea. And now, the cherry on top, the “you will not get taken seriously if you don’t publish to us” argument. Hypernormalisation… | The problem, my friend, is that you think of academic publishing as a business. It isn't. Research and academia, by and large, are activities funded by the State and academics are similar to government employees. Publishing companies are also looking to suck some of that sweet, sweet government money from research grants. As a rule, anytime you have government money floating around and people want to grab it, tomfoolery happens. Public spending, pork barrelled projects, the list of Milton Friedman's and neoliberals' complaints about government inefficiency, defence spending, Military-Industrial-Congress-Complex, Yes, Minister/Prime Minister, etc ... Consider the publishing fee the cost of keeping the moderation and quality up. Editors from cracked.com once pointed out that any unmoderated forum turns into a white supremacist and conspiracy theorist cesspit. Yes, journals charge us through the nose, but they hire editors. Our conspiracy theorist uncles that "did his research" are free, but don't cut it. If you think of the solution to be along the neoliberal and libertarian "get government out", "small government", "free market", "deregulation", then well, look at the eroding trusts in science, research, scientists, academia, governments, institutions, and what not. We have been doing this for decades and look at where it got us. The only thing I can say is to be conscious of the role of academia and research vis-à-vis society and the role of State power and money vis-à-vis academia and research. My nemesis is of course Milton Friedman and his adherents, for he, too, sucked on that sweet government money for decades before jumping on the soapbox and launching the movement against it. | 1 | 4,366 | 2.2 |
rm119y | askacademia_train | 0.98 | When did the publishing model become so effed up? I don’t think there is a business model where an entity gets paid for acquiring the product and selling it! I understand if authors pay to publish in not-for-profit journals. But how come we have to pay to publish in for profit journals and endure all the biases of selection and even unqualified reviewers (Even in big name journals)? When did that become acceptable? And shouldn’t we do something about it? | hpk3vrp | hpk8479 | 1,640,182,705 | 1,640,184,661 | 2 | 5 | >When did the publishing model become so effed up? When journals realized that there was money to be made. Tbf, it requires effort and human resources to edit and put together papers into journals and people who do that should be compensated accordingly. But I agree with you, charging readers fees to read papers written by scientists funded mostly by public money is utter BS. And the best part is the people who review the papers do so in their free time and get nothing in return. > And shouldn’t we do something about it? We probably should but that would require a tremendous amount of effort from scientists and researchers across the globe because the system is pretty much set in stone and we have all gotten used to it. On top of that most people who read these papers don't pay for the papers themselves anyway, they are paid by their institutions through annual subscription fees. So there really isn't much of a motivation for individual scientist and researcher to change the system. I know some people publish in open-source and non-profit journals but these journals are usually very small and barely anyone reads them. At the end of the day, people want their papers read, if publishing in for profit journals is the way, people will continue to do it. | There's a bit of pushback now depending on your field. I've seen more scholars posting their preprints to ResearchGate and other open access sites, which is technically against a lot of journals' ToS. I was actually just talking about this with my spouse a couple of weeks ago, especially since there was a bit of a Twitter storm about the number of man-hours and their calculated worth towards publishing and reviewing. I think that one way we could "take back power," is to get university administration (God help us) on board, and have universities take back publishing by creating their own not-for-profit publications. Since most journals are online now, anyway, there would be limited cost, and it could be a job for librarians (perhaps at least somewhat revitalizing libraries) to act as editors. Universities could act as publishing houses and host servers for their respective journals, and each university could have a journal for their flagship field programs. Scholars could publish for free, or very limited cost, and we could create options for open-access that would permit students and associated scholars unlimited access, and a fixed-ratio schedule for payment (like some newspapers) for open access per user. Might even limit some of the oversteps I've seen in editor power recently. | 0 | 1,956 | 2.5 |
rm119y | askacademia_train | 0.98 | When did the publishing model become so effed up? I don’t think there is a business model where an entity gets paid for acquiring the product and selling it! I understand if authors pay to publish in not-for-profit journals. But how come we have to pay to publish in for profit journals and endure all the biases of selection and even unqualified reviewers (Even in big name journals)? When did that become acceptable? And shouldn’t we do something about it? | hpl483e | hpk3vrp | 1,640,197,935 | 1,640,182,705 | 3 | 2 | Join the boycott! http://thecostofknowledge.com/ | >When did the publishing model become so effed up? When journals realized that there was money to be made. Tbf, it requires effort and human resources to edit and put together papers into journals and people who do that should be compensated accordingly. But I agree with you, charging readers fees to read papers written by scientists funded mostly by public money is utter BS. And the best part is the people who review the papers do so in their free time and get nothing in return. > And shouldn’t we do something about it? We probably should but that would require a tremendous amount of effort from scientists and researchers across the globe because the system is pretty much set in stone and we have all gotten used to it. On top of that most people who read these papers don't pay for the papers themselves anyway, they are paid by their institutions through annual subscription fees. So there really isn't much of a motivation for individual scientist and researcher to change the system. I know some people publish in open-source and non-profit journals but these journals are usually very small and barely anyone reads them. At the end of the day, people want their papers read, if publishing in for profit journals is the way, people will continue to do it. | 1 | 15,230 | 1.5 |
rm119y | askacademia_train | 0.98 | When did the publishing model become so effed up? I don’t think there is a business model where an entity gets paid for acquiring the product and selling it! I understand if authors pay to publish in not-for-profit journals. But how come we have to pay to publish in for profit journals and endure all the biases of selection and even unqualified reviewers (Even in big name journals)? When did that become acceptable? And shouldn’t we do something about it? | hpkjct2 | hpl483e | 1,640,189,506 | 1,640,197,935 | 2 | 3 | The old guard with tenure are the only ones with the clout to change it right now, and they simply don't give a shit. A core part of our career is being exploited for labor without pay, and it's the only way to get a job. | Join the boycott! http://thecostofknowledge.com/ | 0 | 8,429 | 1.5 |
jc7vv5 | askacademia_train | 0.96 | PhD students, how much of your time is spent on administrative tasks? It's mentally exhausting. I keep track of my time, and I can see that over the past year and a half, 26% of my time was spent between meetings, preparing for meetings, filling out university and committee forms, and reading and writing emails. Is this normal? This is not including the time I spend preparing for classes and teaching either, so there are some weeks where I feel like I haven't actually worked on anything. That's not to say that meetings are not productive - they're often necessary. I've just realized how long it takes to prepare for them, and of course that's something I need to work on. I'm just curious if people have more or less administrative stuff to do and whether it also feels like an added mental drain or whether it feels like something that is more integrated with your research as a whole. | g8zr6y0 | g8zsdt7 | 1,602,848,394 | 1,602,849,359 | 11 | 185 | Filling out forms should not take up that much time in a yearly perspective. Email is an important communication, asking for advice, responding to queries . If you’re spending alot of time composing emails then i would worry. Admin tasks are part of life, completing online trainings , updating profiles, organizing info. My research group had weekly meetings plus presentations every couple of weeks so at some point i stopped prepping for the subgroup meetings with the proper format unless i had plots and data. Many times it was just a discussion, however going back it was helpful to see what experiments were done which week and easy to search. As an organizational nut, i spent alot of time on planning out my week making schedules and calendars each week for which lab if be working in, admin tasks, home adult tasks, TA duties , other job duties Ill end with my long windy response to your question with not really, and it only increases with industry in my experience. Now, Its a 3 step process to download and run software to use for work lol | Maybe this is just me, but I would not consider preparing for meetings and email correspondence with advisors to be administrative. Preparing for meetings allows you to think about all your updates and distill them, communicate them clearly and solicit feedback. Advisors, committee members and even collaborators are busy people, if you do not invest sufficient time in communicating well with them, you fail to use them properly. This is very valuable skill, learned over time. The rest of the stuff you describe (barring teaching) generally does not occupy much of my time, maybe \~5% at most? It's true that when we teach, it can feel unproductive, but I encourage you to consider a different perspective: when I do research I'm often stuck and real progress comes sporadically, so teaching can actually make me feel productive: I've actually helped someone learn! | 0 | 965 | 16.818182 |
jc7vv5 | askacademia_train | 0.96 | PhD students, how much of your time is spent on administrative tasks? It's mentally exhausting. I keep track of my time, and I can see that over the past year and a half, 26% of my time was spent between meetings, preparing for meetings, filling out university and committee forms, and reading and writing emails. Is this normal? This is not including the time I spend preparing for classes and teaching either, so there are some weeks where I feel like I haven't actually worked on anything. That's not to say that meetings are not productive - they're often necessary. I've just realized how long it takes to prepare for them, and of course that's something I need to work on. I'm just curious if people have more or less administrative stuff to do and whether it also feels like an added mental drain or whether it feels like something that is more integrated with your research as a whole. | g8zr6y0 | g8zyfz8 | 1,602,848,394 | 1,602,853,618 | 11 | 35 | Filling out forms should not take up that much time in a yearly perspective. Email is an important communication, asking for advice, responding to queries . If you’re spending alot of time composing emails then i would worry. Admin tasks are part of life, completing online trainings , updating profiles, organizing info. My research group had weekly meetings plus presentations every couple of weeks so at some point i stopped prepping for the subgroup meetings with the proper format unless i had plots and data. Many times it was just a discussion, however going back it was helpful to see what experiments were done which week and easy to search. As an organizational nut, i spent alot of time on planning out my week making schedules and calendars each week for which lab if be working in, admin tasks, home adult tasks, TA duties , other job duties Ill end with my long windy response to your question with not really, and it only increases with industry in my experience. Now, Its a 3 step process to download and run software to use for work lol | It seems like you think that if you aren’t being in the lab, working at a bench, you aren’t dosing science. Presenting data to your lab group (and preparing for it), meeting with your advisor, emailing with people about projects, filling out forms (you say you only do 4-5 hours a year which isn’t worth worrying about, but generally there are tasks like obtaining and maintaining approval for experiments, doing budgets, keeping current with safety protocols etc)— all of that is also science. It’s just part of the real job of a scientist not the fantasy of a job as a scientist. Grad school is in part for you to do a dissertation but also for you to gain the skills you need to know to go to your next position- all of these things will take more time as you move up. I would reframe what you’re thinking of as ‘administrative’, these are all important skills too. | 0 | 5,224 | 3.181818 |
jc7vv5 | askacademia_train | 0.96 | PhD students, how much of your time is spent on administrative tasks? It's mentally exhausting. I keep track of my time, and I can see that over the past year and a half, 26% of my time was spent between meetings, preparing for meetings, filling out university and committee forms, and reading and writing emails. Is this normal? This is not including the time I spend preparing for classes and teaching either, so there are some weeks where I feel like I haven't actually worked on anything. That's not to say that meetings are not productive - they're often necessary. I've just realized how long it takes to prepare for them, and of course that's something I need to work on. I'm just curious if people have more or less administrative stuff to do and whether it also feels like an added mental drain or whether it feels like something that is more integrated with your research as a whole. | g8zyfz8 | g8zxfe3 | 1,602,853,618 | 1,602,852,966 | 35 | 4 | It seems like you think that if you aren’t being in the lab, working at a bench, you aren’t dosing science. Presenting data to your lab group (and preparing for it), meeting with your advisor, emailing with people about projects, filling out forms (you say you only do 4-5 hours a year which isn’t worth worrying about, but generally there are tasks like obtaining and maintaining approval for experiments, doing budgets, keeping current with safety protocols etc)— all of that is also science. It’s just part of the real job of a scientist not the fantasy of a job as a scientist. Grad school is in part for you to do a dissertation but also for you to gain the skills you need to know to go to your next position- all of these things will take more time as you move up. I would reframe what you’re thinking of as ‘administrative’, these are all important skills too. | I have 3 RA jobs and one teaching assistant job. Sometimes, 60%of my time in a week is just meetings, with 25% being time taken up by emails. I would say I work fulltime and do my PhD work on the side. Meetings are exhausting and draining but my jobs pay well enough. If you don't have any RAs or TAs, I'm not sure what forms you're filling out. I only have to complete one annual form related to my PhD work. Edit: just noticed your STEM flare. We probably havent different experiences, I'm in humanities | 1 | 652 | 8.75 |
jc7vv5 | askacademia_train | 0.96 | PhD students, how much of your time is spent on administrative tasks? It's mentally exhausting. I keep track of my time, and I can see that over the past year and a half, 26% of my time was spent between meetings, preparing for meetings, filling out university and committee forms, and reading and writing emails. Is this normal? This is not including the time I spend preparing for classes and teaching either, so there are some weeks where I feel like I haven't actually worked on anything. That's not to say that meetings are not productive - they're often necessary. I've just realized how long it takes to prepare for them, and of course that's something I need to work on. I'm just curious if people have more or less administrative stuff to do and whether it also feels like an added mental drain or whether it feels like something that is more integrated with your research as a whole. | g8ztrrn | g8zyfz8 | 1,602,850,423 | 1,602,853,618 | 4 | 35 | Learn to say “no”. | It seems like you think that if you aren’t being in the lab, working at a bench, you aren’t dosing science. Presenting data to your lab group (and preparing for it), meeting with your advisor, emailing with people about projects, filling out forms (you say you only do 4-5 hours a year which isn’t worth worrying about, but generally there are tasks like obtaining and maintaining approval for experiments, doing budgets, keeping current with safety protocols etc)— all of that is also science. It’s just part of the real job of a scientist not the fantasy of a job as a scientist. Grad school is in part for you to do a dissertation but also for you to gain the skills you need to know to go to your next position- all of these things will take more time as you move up. I would reframe what you’re thinking of as ‘administrative’, these are all important skills too. | 0 | 3,195 | 8.75 |
jc7vv5 | askacademia_train | 0.96 | PhD students, how much of your time is spent on administrative tasks? It's mentally exhausting. I keep track of my time, and I can see that over the past year and a half, 26% of my time was spent between meetings, preparing for meetings, filling out university and committee forms, and reading and writing emails. Is this normal? This is not including the time I spend preparing for classes and teaching either, so there are some weeks where I feel like I haven't actually worked on anything. That's not to say that meetings are not productive - they're often necessary. I've just realized how long it takes to prepare for them, and of course that's something I need to work on. I'm just curious if people have more or less administrative stuff to do and whether it also feels like an added mental drain or whether it feels like something that is more integrated with your research as a whole. | g8zr6y0 | g9051wv | 1,602,848,394 | 1,602,857,541 | 11 | 14 | Filling out forms should not take up that much time in a yearly perspective. Email is an important communication, asking for advice, responding to queries . If you’re spending alot of time composing emails then i would worry. Admin tasks are part of life, completing online trainings , updating profiles, organizing info. My research group had weekly meetings plus presentations every couple of weeks so at some point i stopped prepping for the subgroup meetings with the proper format unless i had plots and data. Many times it was just a discussion, however going back it was helpful to see what experiments were done which week and easy to search. As an organizational nut, i spent alot of time on planning out my week making schedules and calendars each week for which lab if be working in, admin tasks, home adult tasks, TA duties , other job duties Ill end with my long windy response to your question with not really, and it only increases with industry in my experience. Now, Its a 3 step process to download and run software to use for work lol | Not one of those is even close to being an "administrative task" | 0 | 9,147 | 1.272727 |
jc7vv5 | askacademia_train | 0.96 | PhD students, how much of your time is spent on administrative tasks? It's mentally exhausting. I keep track of my time, and I can see that over the past year and a half, 26% of my time was spent between meetings, preparing for meetings, filling out university and committee forms, and reading and writing emails. Is this normal? This is not including the time I spend preparing for classes and teaching either, so there are some weeks where I feel like I haven't actually worked on anything. That's not to say that meetings are not productive - they're often necessary. I've just realized how long it takes to prepare for them, and of course that's something I need to work on. I'm just curious if people have more or less administrative stuff to do and whether it also feels like an added mental drain or whether it feels like something that is more integrated with your research as a whole. | g8zzig4 | g9051wv | 1,602,854,290 | 1,602,857,541 | 6 | 14 | Welcome to academia. This is what all of your faculty are doing, in a larger scale. | Not one of those is even close to being an "administrative task" | 0 | 3,251 | 2.333333 |
jc7vv5 | askacademia_train | 0.96 | PhD students, how much of your time is spent on administrative tasks? It's mentally exhausting. I keep track of my time, and I can see that over the past year and a half, 26% of my time was spent between meetings, preparing for meetings, filling out university and committee forms, and reading and writing emails. Is this normal? This is not including the time I spend preparing for classes and teaching either, so there are some weeks where I feel like I haven't actually worked on anything. That's not to say that meetings are not productive - they're often necessary. I've just realized how long it takes to prepare for them, and of course that's something I need to work on. I'm just curious if people have more or less administrative stuff to do and whether it also feels like an added mental drain or whether it feels like something that is more integrated with your research as a whole. | g9021pl | g9051wv | 1,602,855,822 | 1,602,857,541 | 5 | 14 | It is great that youbare thinking about time management. Im a new PI and time management is basically half of what determines our success. I would echo what people are sayingng about meetings--stitch in time saves nine and all, meetings are important. Id would consider making meetings even more important to your bench science--can you make schemes for your talks that will eventually be yohr papers graphical abstract? As you prepare for meetings can you make pub quality figures/organize your data for writing papers will be easy... can you refine your background slides e rytime to point they are pro level anx ready to use for defense? Can you use deadline of meeting to force yoursel e to reD and highlight one new key paper for literature (and write 3 line blueb with ref so your thesis and paper intro writing woll be breeze etc... | Not one of those is even close to being an "administrative task" | 0 | 1,719 | 2.8 |
jc7vv5 | askacademia_train | 0.96 | PhD students, how much of your time is spent on administrative tasks? It's mentally exhausting. I keep track of my time, and I can see that over the past year and a half, 26% of my time was spent between meetings, preparing for meetings, filling out university and committee forms, and reading and writing emails. Is this normal? This is not including the time I spend preparing for classes and teaching either, so there are some weeks where I feel like I haven't actually worked on anything. That's not to say that meetings are not productive - they're often necessary. I've just realized how long it takes to prepare for them, and of course that's something I need to work on. I'm just curious if people have more or less administrative stuff to do and whether it also feels like an added mental drain or whether it feels like something that is more integrated with your research as a whole. | g9051wv | g8zxfe3 | 1,602,857,541 | 1,602,852,966 | 14 | 4 | Not one of those is even close to being an "administrative task" | I have 3 RA jobs and one teaching assistant job. Sometimes, 60%of my time in a week is just meetings, with 25% being time taken up by emails. I would say I work fulltime and do my PhD work on the side. Meetings are exhausting and draining but my jobs pay well enough. If you don't have any RAs or TAs, I'm not sure what forms you're filling out. I only have to complete one annual form related to my PhD work. Edit: just noticed your STEM flare. We probably havent different experiences, I'm in humanities | 1 | 4,575 | 3.5 |
jc7vv5 | askacademia_train | 0.96 | PhD students, how much of your time is spent on administrative tasks? It's mentally exhausting. I keep track of my time, and I can see that over the past year and a half, 26% of my time was spent between meetings, preparing for meetings, filling out university and committee forms, and reading and writing emails. Is this normal? This is not including the time I spend preparing for classes and teaching either, so there are some weeks where I feel like I haven't actually worked on anything. That's not to say that meetings are not productive - they're often necessary. I've just realized how long it takes to prepare for them, and of course that's something I need to work on. I'm just curious if people have more or less administrative stuff to do and whether it also feels like an added mental drain or whether it feels like something that is more integrated with your research as a whole. | g9051wv | g8zyr6k | 1,602,857,541 | 1,602,853,815 | 14 | 5 | Not one of those is even close to being an "administrative task" | This sounds pretty normal, and this is even more prevalent when you become an academic or move into industry. | 1 | 3,726 | 2.8 |
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